5. New Wine and Old Wineskins

A Question About Fasting

Luke 5:33-39

They said to him, “Why do John’s disciples often fast and pray, likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?”

³⁴He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast, while the bridegroom is with them? ³⁵But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days.”

³⁶He also told a parable to them. “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷No one puts new wine into old wine skins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. ³⁸But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved. ³⁹No man having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’”

Mark 2:18-22

John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and asked him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?”

¹⁹Jesus said to them, “Can the groomsmen fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they can’t fast. ²⁰But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

²¹“No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, or else the patch shrinks and the new tears away from the old, and a worse hole is made. ²²No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine pours out, and the skins will be destroyed; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins.”

Matthew 9:14-17

Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?”

¹⁵Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

¹⁶“No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch would tear away from the garment, and a worse hole is made. ¹⁷Neither do people put new wine into old wineskins, or else the skins would burst, and the wine be spilled, and the skins ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Key Verses:

“Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” (Matthew 9v15)

“No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine pours out, and the skins will be destroyed; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2v22)

“No man having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’” (Luke 5v39)

Discuss:

FASTING OR FEASTING?

When is the right time for fasting?
When is the right time for feasting?

NEW WINE AND OLD WINESKINS

What did Jesus mean by new wineskins?
What are the old and new wineskins?
How does this apply to us today?
What does Luke 5v39 mean? – “The old is better.”

Insights:

Isaiah 58:1-5 (BSB)

“Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins. (2) For day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not forsake the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”

(3) “Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?”

“Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please,
and you oppress all your workers. (4)
You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist.

You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.

(5) Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD?

Isaiah 58:6-9a

(6) “Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen:

to break the chains of wickedness,
to untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke?
(7) Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry,
to bring the poor and homeless into your home,
to clothe the naked when you see him, and
not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

(8) Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
(9) Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

Isaiah 58:9b-12

If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk, (10)
and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul,

then your light will go forth in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.
(11) The LORD will always guide you;
He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
(12) Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins;
you will restore the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling.

Isaiah 58:13-14

(13) If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath, from doing as you please on My holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
if you honor it by not going your own way or seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words,

(14) then you will delight yourself in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the land
and feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.”

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Take-Aways:

What lessons can we take away from this story? – REPLY IN COMMENTS!