Chapter # 2 Paragraph # 3 Study # 2
August 13, 2019
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(096)
1901 ASV
19 And Jesus said unto them, Can the
sons of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
20 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast in that day.
21 No man seweth a piece of undressed cloth on an old garment: else that which should fill it up taketh from it, the new from the old, and a worse rent is made.
22 And no man putteth new wine into old
wine-skins; else the wine will burst the skins, and the wine perisheth, and the skins: but [
they put] new wine into fresh wine-skins.
- I. Jesus' Response To Those Who Challenged Him, Part One.
- A. This is the second time Jesus has been subjected to criticism by those who think they know how "Life" works.
- 1. The first time, His response was irrefutable: healthy people need no doctor, but those who are unhealthy do.
- 2. This time also, His response is irrefutable: the sons of the bridechamber cannot legitimately "fast" (respond to deep grief) while in the presence of the bridegroom, but their time of "fasting" is coming.
- 3. The "point": anyone who, because he/she thinks he/she knows how "life" works, feels free to criticize Jesus, is significantly imbecilic. The level of wicked arrogance of such a one is beyond description, but those in this condition almost never "see" their own stupidity (Job 11:12 as translated by the NASB).
- B. This response focuses upon the universally recognized incongruity of "feeling and expressing deep grief" while being in the presence of the "groom" within the context of his wedding.
- 1. On the face of it, there are some things that are simply "not done"; things that are so "out of order", given the circumstances, that everyone recognizes how out of place such behavior is.
- 2. The point is that Jesus was "way ahead of" His detractors because they thought too much of their own importance and "wisdom".
- C. There is, however, also this: Jesus' choice of the "bridegroom" metaphor was doubtlessly deliberate.
- 1. In the prior criticism paragraph, Jesus self-identified as a "doctor"; He identified the tax collectors and sinners as "those having it badly" (the diseased); and He identified the critics as "the healthy" (a tongue-in-cheek "permission" of self-destruction because of selfrighteousness as the key to "Life"; the critics were far from "healthy", but they thought of themselves in that light in a "harmonic" of John 9:41).
- 2. In like manner, in this criticism paragraph, Jesus self-identified as "the bridegroom"; He identified His disciples as "the sons of the bridechamber"; and He identified those who were boastful in their "fasting" as "outside of the loop of His friends" by virtue of His completely ignoring their claims to "godliness".
- a. According to John's Gospel, it was at a wedding feast that Jesus performed His first "telling" miracle ("telling" in the sense that it revealed something highly significant) [John 2:11 compared with 20:31]: the "joy" that arises from imbibing the best wine ever tasted is a metaphor of Jesus' "joy" at the prospect of His own wedding.
- b. In his next chapter, John records that John the Baptizer identified Jesus as "The Bridegroom" (3:29).
- c. Whether, or not, the critics would have picked up on this metaphor, the point is made: Jesus is the groom and His disciples are His "sons of the bridechamber" (closest friends).
- D. Also, there is Jesus' cryptic declaration that days were coming when there will be a definite breach in the "joy" of the groom and His friends because of His departure from them. When that happens, they will "fast".
- II. Jesus' Response To Those Who Challenged Him, Part Two.
- A. Again, Jesus uses a universally recognized pair of facts to legitimize His "doctrine".
- 1. The desire to repair a torn garment.
- a. "No one" (universal recognition) tries to "fix" a ripped "old garment" by patching it with new, un-shrunken, cloth.
- b. In our context, "teaching disciples to fast" in the face of the fact of the presence of the Pure Face of Grace and Truth would be likened unto attempting to "fix" an old and used up garment (The Law) by joining it to a brand new piece of cloth (Grace and Truth).
- c. The function of the "old garment" is to clothe the nakedness of a person so that his/her nakedness not appear (Revelation 3:18), and the tear in the garment makes this task difficult if not impossible. Thus, if the function is to be perpetuated, "old" methods must be used. But Jesus' refusal to impose the old method (fasting) means that His "cloth" is a new method that cannot be used to "fix" the unfixable.
- 2. The desire to preserve the new wine.
- a. A harvest time has come and the grapes have been crushed in the winepress so that there is a need for "containers" to put it in.
- b. The development of the juice as it develops into wine gives off gases that will create pressure in the containers.
- c. If the pressure exceeds the containers' capacities to "adapt", both the containers and the new wine will be lost.
- d. In "Law", the original harvest was put into new wine skins and the "wine of the Law" matured and stressed the skins to their capacities, and then the skins lost their elasticity over time. But, that old wine proved to be less than capable of producing true joy, so a new harvest of grapes was desired to produce a better wine. But, this desire would be completely frustrated if the error of trying to preserve the new wine in old, hardened, skins was made. Everyone knew this from experience. Thus, the new wine of Grace and Truth was not to be poured into the containers that held the deficient wine: a disastrous loss would occur if Grace and Truth were forced to occupy the space that "fasting" held in the process.
