Parading their self-righteousness, the Pharisees, the religious elite of Christ’s time, and their followers fasted twice a week. Yet the disciples of Christ did not. The religious leaders demanded to know from Christ why his followers didn’t fast. Jesus answered with a parable about wineskins and garments.
“Then He spoke a parable to them: ‘No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined,”’ (Luke 5:36-37).
After washing, a patch made with new cloth would shrink and begin to tear an old garment. Likewise, the materials would not match, the new would be uniquely different from the old. So it is with wineskins. An old wineskin has already stretched out due to the fermentation of the first batch of wine. To add more new wine would cause further stretching and finally burst the old wineskin.
The new cloth and the new wineskin symbolize a new way of life that Christ was revealing at that time. We must change our total approach to God when we are converted and become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ used this parable to make a graphic distinction between two diverse ways of life, the new and the old. We can’t fit God’s truth into our old way of life. As God was calling me and teaching me His way of life, there was no way that I could mix the truth of God’s Word with my former way of life; it just wasn’t compatible with God’s Way.
The main reason for fasting is for us to get closer to God (Isaiah 58: 6-11). Jesus’ disciples didn’t need to fast because He was right there with them. Christ as the bridegroom was present then, but later they would need to fast when the bridegroom was taken away (Luke 5:34-35). And Christ, indeed, gave instructions on how to fast properly (Matthew 6: 16-18).
The Pharisees weren’t ready to accept or “drink” the new wine that Christ was bringing, so they still fasted even though Christ was among them. They thought that the “old wine” of their customs, doctrines, and traditions was better. Change is difficult; it takes us out of our comfort zone.
Christ was emphasizing a total change. He asks us to move from a mere physical obedience to a physical law, to the full spiritual intent of God’s spiritual law. This internal transformation takes place in our minds and in our hearts. Just as new wine continues to ferment and expand, we can use fasting as a tool to help us grow into the spiritual maturity of the family of God!
Gary MacPherson