Fasting, Wineskins and Life

What do fasting and wineskins have to do with each other? Jesus answers those questions here.

Jesus was always teaching. Most of his recorded teaching takes place in informal settings and in the course of conversation, often with questions and answers. By the way, you can still ask Jesus questions today.

Fasting was a popular point of contention between Jesus and religious authorities. Jesus sheds a little new light on the subject when he is challenged by the disciples of John.

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

Matthew 9:14-17 (ESV)

Fasting

In this context, Jesus talks about fasting in relationship to his physical presence. When he was with his disciples, there was little reason to fast. Now that he is with the Father, there is a reason to fast. We fast to express our longing for Jesus’ return!

Fasting is a challenging spiritual discipline; one I admit to having trouble doing consistently. Yet it is satisfying and certainly an expectation that Jesus has of his mature and growing disciples.

Wineskins

We again approach all Jesus says from the perspective of the Kingdom of Heaven (God) that Jesus ushered in!

When new wine is put in wineskins, the wine expands which stretches the wineskin. If you put new wine in old wineskins, it will burst the skins – they have already been stretched as far as they can go! But Jesus was not talking about wine!

He was talking about the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven did not fit into the rigid traditions established by the New Temple Judaism of Jesus’ day!

The Kingdom of Heaven is new. It requires an entirely new look at the Old Covenant. It requires a completely new understanding about God’s work of salvation in the world. The Old Covenant could not make anyone righteous. It simply gave a code by which to live in relationship with God. The relationship was always the key but the code was more visible so the relationship took a back seat to the observance of the law!

The New Covenant would never work within those constraints. The New Covenant is about our relationship with God – the indwelling of God’s Spirit – that brings that relationship alive! It is a powerful relationship that transcends form, tradition and doctrine!!

Life

Fasting is of some benefit – but never at the expense of compassion and mercy. In fact, fasting accompanying acts of mercy and compassion is powerful. Read Isaiah 58 for more about fasting.

Our relationship with God is a living and growing thing that defies a rigid set of ritual and tradition! While ritual and tradition are fine, they are no substitute for knowing and following Jesus every day!