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People Ask about Going without Eating

(Mark 2.18-22; Luke 5.33-39)

14 Some followers of John the Baptist came and asked Jesus, “Why do we and the Pharisees often go without eating,[a] while your disciples never do?”

15 Jesus answered:

The friends of a bridegroom aren't sad while he is still with them. But the time will come when he will be taken from them. Then they will go without eating.

16 No one uses a new piece of cloth to patch old clothes. The patch would shrink and tear a bigger hole.

17 No one pours new wine into old wineskins. The wine would swell and burst the old skins.[b] Then the wine would be lost, and the skins would be ruined. New wine must be put into new wineskins. Both the skins and the wine will then be safe.

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Footnotes

  1. 9.14 without eating: See the note at 4.2.
  2. 9.17 swell and burst the old skins: While the juice from grapes was becoming wine, it would swell and stretch the skins in which it had been stored. If the skins were old and stiff, they would burst.

Jesus Questioned About Fasting(A)

14 Then John’s(B) disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often,(C) but your disciples do not fast?”

15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them?(D) The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.(E)

16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

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