Bible Study Series: Mark 2:18-22. How did he respond to the challenge from the people? He teaches them about new wine and new wineskin and the presence of the bridegroom among them.
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Scripture: Mark 2:18-22
18 Now there were disciples of John and the Pharisees fasting. Some people came and said to Jesus, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but the disciples belonging to you do not fast?” 19 Jesus said to them, “The friends of the bridegroom, while the bridegroom is with them, cannot fast, can they? For as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and at that time they will fast on that day.
21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, the whole patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse. 22 And no one puts new wine in old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will tear the wineskins, and the wine and wineskins are ruined, but new wine is for new wineskins.” (Mark 2:18-22)
Comments:
Three analogies from everyday life:
The first (a wedding celebration) illustrates a time of celebration, not solemnity. The second and third (a new patch on old clothing and new wine in old wineskins) explains the nature and significance of this celebration. The kingdom of God is inaugurating a new age of salvation that is fundamentally incompatible with the old. Jesus is not here to put a patch on Judaism, but to inaugurate the new creation (Strauss, p. 137).
Perfect.
18:
In the previous pericope or section, the Pharisees criticized Jesus’s behavior because he ate with tax collectors and sinners. The disciples of John did not like Jesus’s apparent free-wheeling and free-dealing license of living it up, while the disciples of John and the Pharisees don’t do such frivolous things. They fast and offer prayers. Fasting was commanded on special occasions (Lev. 16:29-34; 23:26-32; Num. 29:7-11). Individual fasts were done for God’s deliverance (2 Sam. 12:16-20; 1 Kings 21:27; Ps. 35:13; 69:10). Others fasted to turn aside calamity (Judg. 20:26; 1 Sam. 7:6; 1 Kings 21:9; Jer. 36:6, 9; 2 Chron. 20:3-4). Isaiah said fasting should be done accompanied by justice and good works and releasing those in bondage (Is. 58).
“disciples”: It basically means a learner or apprentice.
Wessel and Strauss teach us that Pharisees fasted twice a week, on Monday and Thursday (see Luke 18:12) (p. 732).
Let’s look more generally at the practice of fasting from a biblical point of view. There are all sorts of ways to fast:
Eating no food, but drinking water, which is standard;
No food and no water, but only for a short time (Acts 9:9);
No delicacies (Dan. 10:3);
And anything in between.
In the OT the purposes of fasting were as follows:
Preparing for God’s law (Ex. 34:28; Dt. 9:9, 18);
Preparing for the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29, 31);
Showing grief at time of death (1 Sam. 31:13; 2 Sam. 1:12);
Showing remorse for sin (1 Kings 21:27; Neh. 9:1; Ps. 35:13);
Praying in time of national need (2 Chron. 20:3; Ezr. 8:21; Est. 4:16; Joel 2:15-17);
Praying for personal reasons (2 Sam. 12:16, 21; Neh. 1:4; Dan. 9:3-4);
But be warned: prophets criticized fasting for outward show (Is. 58:3-7; Jer. 14:12; Zec. 7:4-10).
In the NT, the purposes of fasting were as follows:
Jesus fasted to overcome temptation and prepare for his ministry (Matt. 4:1-11 // Luke 4:1-13);
Saul fasted after his conversion to humble himself and work out the massive change in his worldview (Acts 9:9);
Part of worship (Acts 13:2);
Preparing for ministry (Acts 13:1-3; 14:23);
Sending off for ministry (Acts 13:3; 14:23);
Jesus’s disciples did not fast while he was there, but when he was gone, they would fast (Matt. 9:14-15);
Jesus criticized fasting for its outward show (Matt. 6:16-18; Luke 18:9-14).
You can look up those verses to expand on those reasons. It is interesting, however, that nowhere does it say in the NT that believers should fast to prove their remorse and sorrow for sin. Forgiveness is not added to or enhanced by our outer show of works (fasting is a religious work). Forgiveness of sins is received by repentance and faith in Jesus (Acts 13:38).
19:
In this section about the old and the new, from here on, Jesus will be the center of these illustrations. He will be the bridegroom and the new.
Jesus is the bridegroom. The kingdom of God has broken through, by his coming. While he is with the friends of the bridegrooms (literally “sons”), it would be out of place for them to be severe and austere with fastings and offering prayers of pleading and begging. It is time to celebrate. In Greek the question is formulated to expect the answer, “No, no one can make them fast.”
Strauss insightfully points out:
Jesus does not reject fasting as a spiritual discipline (cf. Matt. 6:6-18). Rather, he is giving an object lesson about the kingdom of God. A wedding celebration was the greatest celebratory event of Palestinian village life, and everyone anticipated the arrival of the bride and the groom with joy and excitement. In the same way, the coming of the Messiah—the bridegroom at the messianic banquet—was the most exciting and anticipated event in human history. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, all creation had languished in sin, death, and decay. But God is now stepping in to begin restoring creation to its intended destiny. This is not time for gloom and doom; it time to throw a party!” (p. 140).
20:
So when will the bridegroom be taken? It is his death on the cross and burial in the tomb. The disciples were scared. Would they also be arrested, as revolutionaries? No doubt they fasted, though not ritually, and offered prayers. The point is that the celebrations were about to be over. Now what happens at the resurrection and the ascension? They had to get on with the work of preaching Jesus and the kingdom of God. Then it will be time for regular fasting and prayer.
Let’s take a step back. The image of the groom and wedding often comes in the context of messianic times (Is. 54:5-6; 62:4-5; Jer. 2:2; Ezek. 16; Hos. 2:14-23). Even in Judaism at the time of Jesus the association between the metaphor of wedding and the Messianic Age was known. God is portrayed as the bridegroom of his people. Fasting was appropriate to usher in the Messianic Age, but now it is here. No need to fast to bring it in. Jesus is hinting—for those with enough biblical knowledge—that the Messiah is right here, in front of them. While he is, let’s celebrate. Mark and other NT authors use the “already” and “not yet” aspect of the kingdom through the wedding and marriage imagery. It is already here, but it is not here in its fulness: (Luke 12:35-36; Matt. 22:1; 25:1; Eph. 5:23-33; Rev. 19:7; 21:2). Those verses in the Revelation describe the kingdom that is here in its fulness.
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
“The closest parallel may be Isa. 53:8, where it is said of the suffering Servant, ‘By oppression and judgment he was taken away’” (Strauss).
21:
The next illustration is designed to look absurd. It seems to appear out of nowhere, but it has a point. No one puts an unshrunk patch on an old garment.
In this verse, the new and the old don’t fit or match. Jesus is the new, and the old is Judaism and the old law. The way of the Pharisees, with their interpretations and maintaining the traditions—one interpretation piled on top of another—has to be thrown out. Or at least the new garment cannot be used to repair the old. There’s a mismatch.
22:
Wineskins were made of treated and groomed animal skins, and the neck of the animal was used for the opening of the large container. Two animal skins were sewn together (Josh. 9:13; Job 32:19; Jer. 13:12; Hab. 2:15). After a while, the skin became brittle. Putting new wine, which expanded with fermentation, would burst the old brittle skin.
Obvious parallel: Jesus is the new wine, and old Judaism is the brittle wineskin. God is doing a new thing. You see, you have to imagine Pharisees and teachers of the law going about the country and into towns—sometimes living in them—dishing out rules and regulations on how to keep the law. As noted, they read their history in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). They knew that God had judged their nation because the ancient Israelites broke the laws of the covenant (together called the law of Moses). So their motives were honorable. But things just got too complicated.
Now Jesus comes along, to take God’s way with man in a new direction. He is currently ushering in the new kingdom, the new covenant. God is in the process of leaving behind the old. With the cross, the resurrection and the ascension, the departure from the old will be completed, and the new direction will go full force.
What Does the New Covenant Retain from the Old?
Do Christians Have to ‘Keep’ the Ten Commandments?
Ten Commandments: God’s Great Compromise with Humanity’s Big Failure
One Decisive Difference Between Sinai Covenant and New Covenant
Jesus’s point here is that old Judaism is on the way out. In the Gospel of Mark, when national Israel rejects its Messiah, God will place Judaism and the whole Levitical system under judgment (Luke 19:41-45; 21:20-24; 23:26-31; Matt. 21:33-45), though numerous individual priests (Acts 6:7) and thousands of Jews of Jerusalem and Judea converted to their Messiah (Acts 2:41; 4:4; 21:20). God loves people, but he is not enamored with systems.
New wine is for a new container. Discard the old, brittle container. The old religious system and the establishment in Jerusalem will keep the old because it is comforting and intoxicating. However, it is better to choose the new wine. It will open up a greater horizon as to who God is.
GrowApp for Mark 2:18-22
1. God sometimes has to take the old things away from you. What are the old things you had to give up in order to follow Jesus?
2. Have you fasted? Did you give up food? Social media? Entertainment?
RELATED
Parable of New Cloth and New Wine
10. Eyewitness Testimony in Mark’s Gospel
2. Church Fathers and Mark’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
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