Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 5:33
And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise [the disciples] of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?
33. And they said ] St Luke here omits the remarkable fact that the disciples of John, who still formed a distinct body, joined the Pharisees in asking this question. It is clear that they were sometimes actuated by a not unnatural human jealousy, from which their great teacher was wholly free (Joh 3:26), but which Jesus always treated with the utmost tenderness (Luk 7:24-28).
the disciples of John fast often ] They would naturally adopt the ascetic habits of the Baptist.
and make prayers ] Rather, supplications. Of course the disciples prayed, but perhaps they did not use so ‘much speaking’ and connect their prayers with fastings. The preservation of these words by St Luke alone, in spite of the emphasis which he lays on prayer, shews his perfect fidelity.
the disciples of the Pharisees ] Those who in Jewish writings are so often spoken of as the ‘pupils of the wise.’ See on Luk 18:12, “I fast twice in the week.” Our Lord points out how much self-seeking and hypocrisy were mingled with their fasting, Mat 6:16, and the prophets had forcibly taught the utter uselessness of an abstinence dissociated from goodness and charity (Isa 58:3-6; Mic 6:6-8; Amo 5:21-24).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See this passage illustrated in the notes at Mat 9:14-17.
Luk 5:39
Having drunk old wine … – Wine increases its strength and flavor, and its mildness and mellowness, by age, and the old is therefore preferable. They who had tasted such mild and mellow wine would not readily drink the comparatively sour and astringent juice of the grape as it came from the press. The meaning of this proverb in this place seems to be this: You Pharisees wish to draw my disciples to the austere and rigid duties of the ceremonial law – to fasting and painful rites; but they have come under a milder system. They have tasted the gentle and tender blessings of the gospel; they have no relish for your stern and harsh requirements. To insist now on their observing them would be like telling a man who had tasted of good, ripe, and mild wine to partake of that which is sour and unpalatable. At the proper time all the sterner duties of religion will be properly regarded; but at present, to teach them to fast when they see no occasion for it – when they are full of joy at the presence of their Master – would be like putting a piece of new cloth on an old garment, or new wine into old bottles, or drinking unpleasant wine after one had tasted that which was more pleasant. It would be ill-timed, inappropriate, and incongruous.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Luk 5:33-34
And they said unto Him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers?
—
Christian mutual tolerance
The whole passage illustrates the breadth and tolerance of our Lords teaching. He is claiming for His disciples that their spiritual life be left to unfold itself naturally, that they be not fettered by forms, that they be not judged by religious traditions and old habits, that they be free to show themselves glad when they have cause of gladness, and that their expressions of sorrow and their self-discipline follow their feeling of sorrow and their need of discipline. He adds also a plea for the sincere among the Pharisees and Johns disciples; He tells His own followers that they must be tolerant of these. No man accustomed to old wine will readily relish new. These parables have a perpetual application. They affirm the propriety of all forms of religious life that are the true outcome of spiritual experience, and they plead for consideration of one another in the differences which perpetually arise between Christians of varying experience and habitude.
I. CHRISTS VINDICATION OF FREEDOM TO ALL HIS DISCIPLES.
II. CHRISTS PLEA FOR CONSIDERATION OF ONE ANOTHER. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
Wisdom justified of her children
The outward religious life of Christ differed from that of John. One was social, the other ascetic. To the astonish ment created by this difference among worldly people and Pharisees, Jesus voucheared no reply but wisdom is justified of her children. Once, however, He did condescend to explain the difference between His life and the life of John. And the reply goes deep into the grounds of a religious life.
I. THE REASONS FOR THE ASTONISHMENT WHICH CAUSED THE QUESTION,
1. The Divine life was social, whereas the popular conceptions of religious life are drawn naturally from those evidences which are most visible, fasting and prayers.
2. There is a tendency in disciples to copy and idolize the peculiarities of a master. Matthew tells us that it was Johns disciples who put the question of the text.
3. The indifference of Christ to ascetic forms astonished, because there is a real influence in asceticism. The principle of Christianity is from within outwards. The ascetic principle reverses this.
II. THE REASONS FOR WHICH JESUS DID NOT IMPOSE THE ASCETIC LIFE ON HIS DISCIPLES.
1. Because it is unnatural Can the children of the bridechamber mourn? &c.
2. Because of the results. The result of the forcing system is twofold:
(1) The destruction of religion. The weak old wine-skins, the weak old cloth, are rent.
(2) Hypocrisy. The piece agreeth not. No harmony between the form and the life. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Privileges as well as duties to be attended to
When Dr. John Mason Good, the distinguished and excellent author of the Book of Nature, was on his death-bed he said, I have taken what unfortunately the generality of Christians too much take. I have taken the middle walk of Christianity. I have endeavoured to live up to its duties and doctrines, but I have lived below its privileges. Is not this, alas l but too true of the great body of those of us who call ourselves Christians, and who may indeed be so? Are we not living below the spirituality, and of course without the enjoyment, which God designs for His children, and so without the example and usefulness that should mark the life of every Christian? Far better, with Whitefield, to pray that he might be an extraordinary Christian, and to endeavour, by Gods grace, so to live as to be an example to all of a true and living Christianity.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Luk 5:33-38
No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old
The patched garment
We appreciate easily the offensiveness of what is incongruous.
It is fatal alike to beauty, to symmetry, and to effectiveness. A sparrow is not as beautiful as a bird of Paradise, yet the little brown bird is a pleasant sight. Try to fasten upon him the gorgeous plumage of the other bird, and you make him ridiculous at once. His beauty consists in being simply himself. An inferior thing that is constant to its own ideal, consistent, true, is a far more useful and a far more pleasurable thing than when you try to make it look like something else, or do the work of something else, or take it out of its place and put it in circumstances to which it has no adaptation. Take a plain stone wall, for instance. There is nothing very artistic about it, but if it be well and truly built, a simple wall and nothing else, it is not an unpleasing object. But now go to the ruins of that Gothic church, and bring away the sculptured keystone of an arch, the fragments of a carved screen, a column with an elaborately cut capital, and sundry pinnacles and gargoyles, and work these into the masonry of your wall, and set up your pinnacles along the top, and let your gargoyles protrude their hideous heads at intervals: you have made a ridiculous thing out of your stone wall. People at once see that something is there which belongs to quite another order of things. Everybody acknowledges the difference between the church and the plain wall, and the difference offends no one so long as each keeps its place and is simply itself. But the attempt to patch one with the other emphasizes the difference offensively. The rent is made worse: the beauty is taken from the church, and the wall is made ugly. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
Theology must tally with experience
I remember an old farmer who, when he was about sixty years of age, professed faith in Christ. He was full of zeal, and, for a time, was like a flaming torch in the neighbourhood. I never saw a man who seemed to feel so keenly the awful risk he had run in delaying his salvation so long. He could not be in a prayer-meeting without rising to warn his fellow-men against his mistake. But he was also an ignorant man, and his new experience only deepened his sense of his ignorance of the things of God; and he used to shut himself in his room with volumes on systematic theology, and painfully wade through their contents, and then come down to the prayer-meeting and attempt to reproduce what he had read; and you can easily imagine the result. So long as he kept to his own experience, so long as he was just himself, speaking of what he knew and felt, he spoke with power. The moment he cried to patch the theologian upon the plain farmer, he spoiled it all. The theology was ruined, and so was the personal experience. The ignorance which no one would have thought of in the plain man speaking out of a full heart, was thrust into prominence by the ridiculous attempt to play the part of a theological teacher. The rent was made worse. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
The unity of the gospel
The gospel is a unit, one and inseparable. It is sufficient unto itself. It asks no aid from any source outside of itself. It needs no combination to develop its peculiar virtues. The great truth it sets before men is Christ all, and in all. And it does its work for and in man upon the condition that it be received as it is; entire, adding nothing and subtracting nothing. It does not engage that there shall be virtue in its fragments apart from the whole. You may take up the lock of that rifle, and pull and snap it as much as you please, and it will be a good while before you shoot anything. You must combine it with the barrel and the stock, Neither lock, stock, nor barrel is good for anything, except as they together make up a rifle. Similarly, 1 cannot answer for the effect of a single Christian precept or doctrine disjoined from the whole. It is only a patch, cut out from a good, solid garment, and refusing to match with any other fabric. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
No patch-work morality
You say, and say honestly no doubt, that you want to be right and to do right, but you can accept the gospel only in part. Christs moral code is all very well, but the doctrine of the new birth you cannot accept. So you go to cutting patches again. You cut the moral code clean from the new birth. You will keep Christs precepts without being a new creature. You will sew the new code upon the old nature. Very well. Some people in a city think they will build a fountain. They engage an engineer, and a noted sculptor. A beautiful design is carried out in stone or bronze. The water is to pour from vases in the hands of sea-nymphs, and to spout from the horns of tritons. At last all is ready. The crowd assemble to witness the opening of the fountain. The signal is given, there is a little spirt from a jet here and there, and then all is dry as before. The stupid engineer has drawn his water from a point almost as low as the base of the fountain, and there is no head to send the water through the pipes. But a more competent workman comes to the rescue. He lays a large main. He leads it to a deep lake or reservoir far up above the town; and now, at the signal, the crystal waters shoot high into the air, and drape the beautiful forms with their falling spray. Oh, my friend, I greatly fear you have not rightly estimated that moral system of Christ. It is grander than you think; higher than you are aware; and to make your life flow through it to refresh the world, you will need something besides the pressure of your feeble will. Your reservoir is too low down. If your life is to fill that godlike out-line of virtue, its impulse must be Divine. If your impulse is earthly, your life will be earthly. That moral code was meant for a new man, and nothing but a birth from above, nothing but an impulse generated and maintained by God Himself, will ever enable you to live it. The new code and the new man will not be separated. If they shall not go together the gospel will be caricatured by you, and the new precepts will break loose continually from the old will and the old passions and the old habits, and the rent will be worse. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
Worthlessness of a patched character
Men talk of turning over a new leaf–of beginning over again. How many times you hear it. Yes, I have been careless, self-indulgent, hasty and passionate; I am going to try to do better. Never does the old year strike its last hour, that hundreds and thousands of people are not lying wakeful and thoughtful upon their beds, or sitting with sober meditation in their closets, and gathering up their faculties into mighty resolutions for the year to come. I will swear no more. I will drink no more. I will go to the house of God. I will begin to read my Bible. The resolutions are good and honest, no doubt. It is a good thing that ones attention has been called to those faults. It will be a better thing if he can carry out his resolution and master them; but, alas, neither the good resolutions nor their accomplishment go far enough. It is patch-work still; patching pieces of the gospel on the old nature; a temperance piece, and a Bible-reading piece, and a church-going piece, upon a nature which, in its very quality and essence, is estranged from God. The man gives up an indulgence here and there, says to God in effect, Your moral law may come and occupy this ground which has been occupied by my misdoing; but such an entrance of Gods law is like the occupation of some remote outpost of a fortified town by an invader. The citadel is still unreached. The situation is commanded by the garrison of the town. There is no conquest until the invader gets in there. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
Christianity will not amalgamate with Judaism
If any of the Pharisees, moved by the miracles which Christ wrought, had felt disposed to receive Him as a teacher from God, the thing which they would most naturally have attempted would have been the making a compound of their own religion and the Christian, so that, whilst they kept what they liked most in their tenets and observances, they might have the advantage of the new revelation; and therefore, what Christ had to denounce in the case of these Pharisees was the lurking notion that Christianity might admit some admixtures from other religions, so that men might bring into its profession their own favourite theories, and find them amalgamate very well with its doctrines. This notion Christ denounces most emphatically. Christianity, though far enough from being a new revelation, required that the scene should be swept clear for its institutions, peremptorily refusing that there should be blended with the revealed mode of a sinners acceptance anything of ceremonial ordinance, demanding to be received without admixture, or rejected without reserve. And it is against this that men in every age have rebelled. They have wanted not only to keep some part of their own favourite systems, but to keep it for the very end which, according to their own theory, it had heretofore answered. Thus generally with good works. It does not content them that Christianity demands good works, that it makes salvation impossible without them, and thus transfers to its system the favourite part of their own; they have been accustomed to account their works meritorious, and they would fain have Christianity account them so too; and this Christianity will not do. If it require and retain fasting and almsgiving, it will not allow them any justifying merit; it may be said to alter their character in granting them admission. Thus, whilst it has much in common with other systems, it is wholly against the being compounded with those systems, in order that the produce may give a mixed mode of obtaining salvation. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Christianity a new dispensation
Our Lord is referring to the proposal to enforce the ascetic leanings of the forerunner, and the pharisaic regulations which had become a parasitic growth on the old dispensation, upon the glad simplicity of the new dispensation. To act thus was much the same thing as using the gospel by way of a mere adjunct to–a mere purple patch upon–the old garment of the law. The teaching of Christ was a new and seamless robe which would only be spoilt by being rent. It was impossible to tear a few doctrines and precepts from Christianity, and use them as ornaments and improvements of Mosaism. If this were attempted
(1) the gospel would be maimed by the rending from its entirety;
(2) the contrast between the new and the old system would be made more glaring;
(3) the decay of the evanescent institutions would only be violently accelerated. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
Suitable external forms
Jesus here applies a great principle to all external rites and ceremonies. They have their value. As the wineskin retains the wine, so are feelings and aspirations aided, and even preserved, by suitable external forms. Without these, emotion would lose itself for want of restraint, wasted like spilt wine, by diffuseness. And if the forms are unsuitable and outworn, the same calamity happens, the strong new feelings break through them, and the wine perisheth, and the skins. The coming of a new revelation meant the repeal of old observances, and Christ refused to sew His new faith like a patchwork upon ancient institutions, of which it would only complete the ruin. Thus He anticipated the decision of His apostles releasing the Gentiles from the law of Moses. (Dean Chadwick.)
A mixed garment
Just as it was forbidden by the law of Moses to wear a mixed garment of linen and of wool, so there was a deeper and a more essential incongruity involved in every attempt to patch the old and tattered garments of the law with the new and seamless robe of the gospel. Just as the insertion of a piece of undressed cloth, which shrinks when wetted, and takes along with it a part of the old and worn garment, does but increase the rent which it is designed to mend; just as the unfermented wine put into old skins, bursts the skins and perishes with them, even so our Lord declares that all attempts to combine the bondage of the law with the liberty of the gospel involves a fundamental ignorance of the nature and design of both. The two similitudes employed by our Lord seem to exhibit this truth in different ways.
1. The similitude of the old garment patched with a piece of new cloth seems more immediately applicable to external rites and ceremonies, such as the observance of those prescribed days and months and years which caused St. Paul to stand in doubt of the Galatian Church.
2. The similitude of the new wine seems to have reference to the inner life and spirit–the very life and soul of the Christian dispensation which could not be restrained within the trammels of the worldly sanctuary of Judaism. The history of the Church, in all after ages, teaches how greatly this lesson was needed, and how imperfectly it has been learned. (C. J. Elliot, M. A.)
New cloth on an old garment
This, we may add, is what the Church of Christ has too often done in her work as the converter of the nations. Sacramental ordinances, or monastic vows, or Puritan formulae, or Quaker conventionalities, have been engrafted on lives that were radically barbarous or heathen, or worldly, and the contrast has been glaring, and the rent made worse. The more excellent way which our Lord pursued, and which it is our wisdom to pursue, is to take the old garment and to transform it, as by a renewing power from within, thread by thread, till old things are passed away and all things are become new. (Dean Plumptre.)
The broken bottles
The doctrines of religion demand a certain suitableness, or preparedness, in the persons to whom they are taught; and if there be no attempt in the persons to fit themselves for the doctrines–to adapt the bottles to the wine–there is nothing to be looked for but that the doctrines will be wasted, and the persons, like the bottles, be only injured by what they have received. It may be the pure, the generous wine which is poured forth–the preacher may dispense nothing but the unadulterated gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the great mass of hearers come up to Gods house without the smallest preparation of heart, with scarce a thought given beforehand to the solemn duty in which they are about to engage. In place of having been secretly in prayer that God would give unto them the hearing ear and the understanding heart; in place of having been endeavouring to purge out the old leaven of worldliness and prejudice, that so they might bring with them candid and unoccupied minds; they rush to the sanctuary, as they would to some scene of business or pleasure; conversing, perhaps, up to the moment of entering it on politics, or scandal, or commerce, or fashion; and continuing to give the same things their thoughts, when restrained by the place from giving them their tongues. And what is to be looked for from the attempt to pour the new wine into these unseasoned bottles, but that the wine will be lost and the bottles themselves broken? Yes–you are not to overlook this peculiarity in the parable–the bottles are broken through the action of the wine; not through any external violence, but simply through the workings of the generous liquid. It is thus with the moral facts which the parable illustrates. The preaching of the gospel is no inefficient thing, producing no injury where it produces no benefit is the savour of death unto death, where it fails to be the savour of life unto life. This may be little thought of by numbers who, perhaps, attend church regularly on Sundays, and spend the intermediate days as those who are ignorant of judgment to come. Yet it is of all hardening things the most hardening, to remain unrenewed under the preaching of the gospel. Alas l for an audience accustomed to hear the gospel, but to hear it only with the understanding whilst they shut up the heart! I may pour in the wine–but, at every fresh pouring, there is, so to speak, a fresh rent in the bottles. Every Sunday does but make the matter worse, dismissing the hearers to their engrossing pursuits, and their ensnaring amusements, but with another unimproved opportunity for which to account, another warning neglected, another effort on Gods part resisted, and, therefore, another nerve added to the power of resistance. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
New wine in old bottles
As the action of organized churches has too often reproduced the mistake of sewing the patch of new cloth on the old garment, so in the action of enthusiastic or mystic sects, in the history of Montanism, Quakerism in its earlier stages, the growth of the so-called Catholic and Apostolic Church, which had its origin in the history of Edward Irving, we have that of pouring new wine into old bottles. (Dean Plumptre.)
Permanence of the old
When Mr. Lincoln was a young man, he was awakened one night by the good deacon with whom he boarded, and told that the stars were falling and the world coming to an end. He looked out of the window, and saw the air full of meteors, but, looking beyond, he saw the grand old constellations firm in their places where he had always seen them from childhood; and he went to bed, feeling that all was well so long as the old constellations were unmoved. (D. E. Lancing, D. D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
We have also both in Matthew and Mark met with this piece of history. See Poole on “Mat 9:14“, and following verses to Mat 9:17; See Poole on “Mar 2:18“, and following verses to Mar 2:22. Both Matthew and Mark say, that they were the disciples of John who came, and thus said to our Saviour. In our notes upon the two former evangelists, we have fully opened this piece of history. John the Baptist was of a more severe deportment than our Saviour thought fit to show himself; and complying more with the practices of the Pharisees (though in much more sincerity) in their exercises of discipline, the Pharisees did more easily get his disciples to join with them in this address to our Saviour; though probably Johns disciples did it more out of infirmity, and the Pharisees out of malice, that they might have whereby to lessen Christs reputation amongst the people: thus weak, though good, men are often drawn in by those who are more subtle and malicious to promote their designs. Besides, we naturally desire to be the standard to all, and that others should take their measures from us, and possibly Johns disciples might have a little of that envy for their masters sake, which we find them sick of, Joh 3:26. Our Lord, who might have told them that he was to be their exemplar, and not they his, dealeth more gently with them, and gives them sufficient reason why, as yet, he did not inure his disciples to those severer acts of religion:
1. Because this was all the rejoicing time they were like to have. He was now with them; when he should be gone from them, before which it would not be long, they should have time to mourn.
2. That they were but newly entered into his discipleship, and therefore not at first to be discouraged, that they might not have a temptation upon them to leave off as soon as they began. But see the notes more fully upon the same history in Matthew and Mark.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And they say unto him,…. The Scribes and Pharisees, or the disciples of John; see Mt 9:14
why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers? set times apart frequently for fasting and prayer. The Ethiopic version reads, “why do the disciples of John baptize frequently, fast, and make prayers?” in which the former clause is added; and as without any authority, so without judgment, since it must suppose that the Pharisees did so likewise, whereas they rejected the baptism of John; for it follows, and “likewise” the disciples of “the Pharisees”; who fasted often, at least twice in the week, and made frequent prayers in the synagogues, and corners of the streets, and in widows’ houses.
But thine eat and drink? instead of fasting and praying;
[See comments on Mt 9:14].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Often (). Only in Luke. Common word for thick, compact, often.
And make supplications ( ). Only in Luke.
But thine ( ). Sharp contrast between the conduct of the disciples of Jesus and those of John and the Pharisees who here appear together as critics of Christ and his disciples (Mark 2:18; Matt 9:14), though Luke does not bring that out sharply. It is probable that Levi had his reception for Jesus on one of the Jewish fast days and, if so, this would give special edge to their criticism.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Often [] . Only here, Act 24:26; 1Ti 5:23. The word literally means close – packed, as a thicket, or the plumage of a bird.
Prayers [] . Used by no other evangelist. From deomai, to want, and hence distinctively of petitionary prayer. In classical Greek the word is not restricted to sacred uses, but is employed of requests preferred to men. Rev., more correctly, supplications.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And they said unto him,” (hoi de eipan pros auton) “And they (the scribes and Pharisees) replied to him,” finding further fault in His modus operandi, mode of operation, joined also by the disciples of John the Baptist in the indicting inquiry, Mat 9:14.
2) “Why do, the disciples of John fast often,” (hoti mathetai loannou nesteuosin pukna) “The disciples of John (the Baptist) fast often,” as asserted Luk 7:33; Mar 2:18.
3) “And make prayers,”(kai deeseis poiountai) “And they make (offer) prayers,” or supplications, often, though neither Matthew nor Mark’s account refers to prayers. It is believed that prayers from ancient times accompanied fasting, Mat 6:17; Luk 18:12.
4) “And likewise the disciples of the Pharisees;” (homoiois kai hois ton Pharisaion) “And likewise those disciples of the Pharisees,” also fast, with long and pious faces, Mat 6:16; Perhaps the Pharisees incited the disciples of John the Baptist to join them in this complaint.
5) “But thine eat and drink.” (hoi de soi esthiousin kai pinousin) “But yours eat and drink,” and are gluttons, etc., Luk 7:34, as they accused Him later.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
Luk. 5:33.St. Luke here omits the remarkable fact, noted by St. Matthew and St. Mark, that disciples of John the Baptist joined with disciples of the Pharisees in putting this question. Fast often, etc.I.e. follow the ascetical example of their master. Make prayers.Rather, make supplications (R.V.).
Luk. 5:34. Children of the bride-chamber.The groomsmen or friends of the bridegroom: they accompanied him to the house of the bride, and escorted the newly married pair to their new home. This was followed by a feast: hence fasting and mourning would be out of place. The figure is a singularly appropriate one, as the Baptist himself had spoken of Jesus as the Bridegroom (Joh. 3:29).
Luk. 5:35. Taken away.A violent death is here hinted at, as in the earlier conversation with Nicodemus (Joh. 3:14). Then shall they fast.I.e, have reason for fasting and mourning: outward expressions of grief will be appropriate. Neither here nor in any other part of the New Testament is fasting prescribed.
Luk. 5:36.The R.V. is much clearer: No man rendeth a piece from a new garment and putteth it upon an old garment; else he will rend the new, and also the piece from the new will not agree with the old. In the parallel passages in St. Matthew and St. Mark the figure is slightly varied: in them stress is laid upon the idea of patching the old garment with a piece of new, unfulled cloth, which in course of time will shrink and do harm to the hitherto uninjured part of the old. Here a new garment is spoiled in order to get a patch for the old, which does not agree with it. The idea of this and of the following verses is that the new life of Christianity is not adapted to the old forms of Judaism: it will have its own fasts and festivals, but these will correspond to its own distinctive character.
Luk. 5:37. Bottles.I.e. wine-skins. The old skins would be rent, if filled with new fermenting wine.
Luk. 5:38. New wine new bottles.Rather, New wine fresh wine-skins (R.V.). And both are preserved.Omitted in R.V.
Luk. 5:39. Straightway.Omit: omitted in R.V. The old is better.Rather, the old is good (R.V.). This is a very kindly apology, as it were, for those who had become habituated to the old religious system and could not as yet accept and enjoy the new wine of Christianity. The old is not better in itself, but better in their estimation.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Luk. 5:33-39
A Lesson in Religious Liberty.From the question here put we learn incidentally that in the matter of fasting the school of the Baptist and the sect of the Pharisees were agreed in their general practice. As Jesus told the Pharisees at a later date, John came in their own way of legal righteousness. But it was a case of extremes meeting; for no two religious parties could be more remote in some respects than the two just named. But the difference lay rather in the motives than in the external acts of their religious life. Both did the same thingsfasted, practised ceremonial ablutions, made many prayersonly they did them with a different mind. John and his disciples performed their religious duties in simplicity, godly sincerity, and moral earnestness; the Pharisees, as a class, did all these works ostentatiously, hypocritically, and as matters of mechanical routine. Jesus made reply to the question, remarkable at once for originality, point, and pathos, setting forth in lively parabolic style the great principles by which the conduct of His disciples could be vindicated, and by which He desired the conduct of all who bore His name to be regulated. Jesus does not blame Johns disciples for fasting, but contents Himself with defending His own disciples for abstaining from fasting. He takes up the position of one who virtually says, To fast may be right for you, the followers of John: not to fast is equally right for My followers. In His reply He makes use of three beautiful and suggestive similitudes.
I. The children of the bride-chamber.His reply is to this effect: I am the Bridegroom, as John said; it is right that the children of the bride-chamber come to Me; and it is also right that, when they have come, they should adapt their mode of life to their altered circumstances. Therefore they do well not to fast, for fasting is the expression of sadness; and how should they be sad in My company! As well might men be sad at a marriage festival. The days will come when the children of the bride-chamber shall be sad, for the Bridegroom will not always be with them; and at the dark hour of His departure it will be natural and seasonable for them to fast, for then they shall be in a fasting moodweeping, lamenting, sorrowful, and disconsolate. The principle is that men should fast when they are sad, or in a state of mind akin to sadnessabsorbed, preoccupiedas at some great solemn crisis in the life of an individual or a community, such as that in the history of Peter, when he was exercised on the great question of the admission of the Gentiles to the Church, or such as that in the history of the Christian community at Antioch, when they were about to ordain the first missionaries to the heathen world. Christs doctrine is that fasting in any other circumstances is forced, unnatural, unreala thing which men may be made to do as a matter of form, but which they do not with their heart and soul. Can ye make the children of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? He asked, virtually asserting that it was impossible.
II. The new patch on the old garment, and the new wine in old skins.The design of these parables is much the same as that of the first part of His reply, viz. to enforce the law of congruity in relation to fasting and similar mattersthat is, to show that in all voluntary religious service, where we are free to regulate our own conduct, the outward act should be made to correspond with the inward condition of mind, and that no attempt should be made to force particular acts or habits on men without reference to that correspondence. In natural things, He meant to say, we observe this law of congruity. No man putteth a piece of new cloth on an old garment. Neither do men put new wine into old skins, and that not merely out of regard to propriety, but to avoid bad consequences. The good cloth would be wasted, the patchwork would be unseemly and unsatisfactory, and the old skin bottles will burst under the fermenting force of the new liquor, and the wine will be spilled and lost. The old cloth and old bottles in these metaphors represent old ascetic fashions in religion; the new cloth and the new wine represent the new joyful life in Christ, not possessed by those who tenaciously adhered to the old fashions. The parables were applied primarily to Christs own age, but they admit of application to all transition epochs; indeed, they find new illustration in almost every generation. New wine is always in course of being produced by the eternal vine of truth, demanding in some particulars of belief and practice new bottles for its preservation, and receiving for answer an order to be content with the old ones. Without going the length of denunciation or direct attempt at suppression, those who stand by the old often oppose the new by the milder method of disparagement. They eulogise the venerable past, and contrast it with the present, to the disadvantage of the latter. The old wine is vastly superior to the new: how mellow, mild, fragrant, wholesome, the one! how harsh and fiery the other! Those who say so are not the worst of men: they are often the best; the men of taste and feeling, the gentle, the reverent, and the good, who are themselves excellent samples of the old vintage. Their opposition forms by far the most formidable obstacle to the public recognition and toleration of what is new in religious life; for it naturally creates a strong prejudice against any cause when the saintly disapprove of it. Observe, then, how Christ answers the honest admirers of the old wine. He concedes the point; He admits that their preference is natural. It is as if He had said, I do not wonder that you love the old wine of Jewish piety, fruit of a very ancient vintage. But what then? Do men object to the existence of new wine, or refuse to have it in their possession, because the old is superior in flavour? No; they drink the old, but they carefully preserve the new, knowing that the old will get exhausted, and that the new will mend with age. Even so should you behave towards the new wine of My kingdom. You may not straightway desire it, because it is strange and novel; but surely you might deal more wisely with it than merely to spurn it, or spill and destroy it! Too seldom for the Churchs good have lovers of old ways understood Christs wisdom, and lovers of new ways sympathised with His charity. When will young men and old men, liberals and conservatives, broad Christians and narrow, learn to bear with one another, yea, to recognise each in the other the necessary complement of his own one-sidedness?Bruce.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk. 5:33-39
Luk. 5:33. Thy disciples eat and drink.The second accusation is still levelled against the disciples: it is that not only do they sometimes feast with publicans, but do not observe either the Jewish fasts or those practised by the disciples of John the Baptist, and do not engage in stated actions of prayer and fasting. The form in which the objection is cast leaves the question open as to whether the disciples of Jesus were inattentive to rules they had received from Him, or acted as they did in accordance with the spirit of His teaching.
Luk. 5:34-35. The Present and the Future.The reply of Jesus is virtually that these devotional actions (though He mentions fasting only) should be spontaneousthe expression of actual feelingand not the subjects of legislation and commandment. He does not speak of fasting as an unnecessary piece of asceticism, but as a practice inappropriate for His disciples at that stage of their religious life. While He was with them their joy was complete, and fasting would be out of place: a time would come when He would be taken away from them, and they would be in the mood for fasting. [In like manner He did not impose forms of prayer; but when the disciples, moved by His example, requested Him to teach them to pray, He at once acceded to their desire (Luk. 11:1-4).] The time of mourning to which Christ refers must not be limited to the short period after His death and before His disciples were assured of His resurrection. It is to be understood of the whole period of His separation from the Churchthe time during which, in the absence of the heavenly Bridegroom, the Church is exposed to trials and oppression (cf. Luk. 18:7). The contrast between the thoughts of Luk. 5:34 and Luk. 5:35 is very striking: in the one Jesus speaks of the present time as joyousthe Bridegroom rejoicing in the bride; in the other the shadow of death falls upon the scene, and He depicts the grief of separation.
Jesus the Bridegroom.It is worthy of being noted that Jesus compares Himself to a bridegroom. He thus takes up the representation of His relationship that was made by John himself, and not unlikely in the hearing of those very disciples who were now questioning Him (Joh. 3:29). He also, as it were, takes home to Himself those frequent Old Testament representations which culminate in the Forty-fifth Psalm and the Song of Solomon, and which reappear so interestingly in the Epistle to the Ephesians (Luk. 5:22-33) and the Book of Revelation (Luk. 19:7-9; Luk. 21:9). The Church is the bride of Jesus. Jesus is the Bridegroom of His believing people. The love between them is ineffable; but the holy wooing and the winning have been all on His side.Morison.
The Messianic Consciousness of Jesus.These verses clearly show that from the very beginning of His ministry Jesus
(1) realised the fact that He was the Messiah,
(2) that He identified His coming with that of Jehovah, the husband of Israel and of humanity (Hos. 2:19), and
(3) that even then He foresaw and announced a death by violence which He was to suffer.Godet.
Luk. 5:36-39. Garments and Wineskins.By these illustrations our Lord conveyed a lesson on
I. The charm of naturalness, and the law of congruity in religion.Times of transition are critical. Jesus teaches that He had not come to patch up Pharisaism, or garnish Rabbinism, or pour His doctrines into the rigid forms of later Judaism. From Him was to date a new era.
II. A forced junction of the old and the new would be injurious to both.The new force is disruptive of the old. Let the law of congruity be observed. The Christian life needed its own forms of development.Fraser.
Luk. 5:36. A piece of a new garment.Jesus now contrasts the spirit of the old dispensation with that of the new; and suggested as the conversation had been by the feast in the house of Matthew, the figures He employs, of robes and wine, are appropriate to the occasion. The figure as St. Luke gives it is that of tearing off a piece of a new garment with which to patch an old one. The injury done is twofold:
(1) the new garment is injured, and
(2) the patch does not agree with the old garment, and gives it an odd look, so that no one would care to wear it. St. Matthew gives it under the form of the rent in the old garment which has been repaired in this way being made worse by the new unfulled cloth shrinking and breaking away from the material in which it has been inserted. The point of the figure is that the Jewish system was now becoming old and ready to vanish away (Heb. 8:13), and Christ was about to replace it by something new. The Pharisees had multiplied fasts and ceremonies, which were like patches upon the whole system; and even John the Baptist had nothing better to suggest, but had followed the same method in his work of reformation. Christ did not purpose to repair the old garment, but to give a new one. The whole Pauline system, what the apostle himself calls his gospel, the contrast between the two covenants, the mutual exclusion of the rule of the law and that of grace, the oldness of the letter and the newness of of the spirit (Rom. 7:6), which form the substance of the Epistles to the Romans and the Galatians, are here contained under the homely image of a garment patched with a piece of cloth or of another garment that is new (Godet). There is something very wonderful in the simple way in which these new and great ideas are thrown out by Jesusin the ease with which they are suggestedwithout effort, without elaboration, and yet containing an infinite depth of meaning.
Luk. 5:37-38. New wine old bottles.From the difference of principle between the old dispensation and the new Jesus passes to the persons representing the two. For in these consecutive figures of the robes and of the wine and wine-skins we have, as in all the double parables, fresh ideas suggested. The robes refer to differing forms of religious life, the new wine to an inward life, and the wine-skins to the persons to whom that life is imparted. Those whom He chose to receive His teaching and to become organs of it were new men: they were not those who had grown old and stiff in religious ceremonialism, whose religious life had taken a definite set, and could not be disturbed without being shattered. But they were marked by great receptivity; and if they had much to learn, they had nothing to unlearn. They are indeed babes, but to them that is revealed which has been hidden from the wise and prudent. The disastrous result of putting the new wine into old bottles is illustrated in the later history of the Church, when certain of the sect of the Pharisees who believed (Act. 15:5) imported into the Christian society their former prejudices and practices, and attempted to compel all to conform to the ceremonial law of Moses. The history of this controversy and of the course followed by the Judaizing party are a commentary on the words, The new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles will perish.
Luk. 5:39. No man desireth new.Jesus here counsels consideration to be shown toward those who are not able instantly to appreciate the worth of the new life and principle. It may be and is better than that to which they have been accustomed, but they will need time to become acquainted with its merits. Often there is something acrid and restless in the enthusiasm of the new convert which is unwelcome to those whose minds are not like his, in a ferment with fresh ideas and emotions. Let him not count those as his enemies, and enemies to the truth, who cannot appreciate his fervour. There are always those who cling to the old ways, just as there are always those who strike out new ways. Both are needed to make up the worldthe conservative and the progressive parties. After a little the new wine becomes oldit grows mellow and improved in tone, and will get full credit for the good qualities it possesses. There is a touch of bright humour in the picture of the connoisseurfor he saith, The old is good.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Appleburys Comments
The Complaint About Fasting
Scripture
Luk. 5:33-39 And they said unto him, The disciples of John fact often, and make supplications; likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink. 34 And Jesus said unto them, Can ye make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come; and when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then will they fast in those days. 36 And he spake also a parable unto them: No man rendeth a piece from a new garment and putteth it upon an old garment; else he will rend the new, and also the piece from the new will not agree with the old. 37 And no man putteth new wine into old wine-skins; else the new wine will burst the skins, and itself will be spilled, and the skins will perish. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no man having drunk old wine desireth new; for he saith, The old is good.
Comments
They said unto him.According to Mat. 9:14, it was the disciples of John who raised the question about fasting. The Pharisees took up the issue and asked, Why do your disciples eat and drink? Johns didnt and the Pharisees didnt. They implied that Jesus and His disciples were doing wrong by eating and drinking with the publicans and sinners.
while the bridegroom is with them?Jesus answered the complainers with the illustration of the wedding feast. It wouldnt be fitting to hold a fast at a wedding; even Johns disciples would see the correctness of His position. The time for fasting would be when the bridegroom was taken away. Jesus is the Bridegroom, His disciples are the attendants. After the crucifixion, He was to ascend to the Father. It is appropriate for the disciples to fast while awaiting His return (Act. 13:2).
a piece from a new garment.A second illustration enforces His argument. Fasting while Jesus was with them was just as much out of place as putting a piece from a new garment on an old garment. There is a tendency for people to resist change. Jesus said, No man having drunk old wine desireth new. Jesus understood why they didnt want to see the time-honored custom of fasting set aside even while He was with them.
Summary
The chapter begins with the account of two dramatic incidents in Jesus Galilean ministry of healing and teaching. It continues with the account of the beginnings of the tide of complaint against Him that reached its crest at Calvary.
On the shores of Lake Genessaret, a crowd had gathered to hear Jesus speak the word of God. He sat in Simon Peters boat and taught the people. When He finished speaking, He said to Peter, Put out into the deep and let down the nets for a catch. Peter, experienced fisherman that he was, said, We toiled all night and took nothing, but if you say so we will let down the nets again. They did and the miracle took place! So many fish were caught that the nets were breaking and the boats were beginning to sink.
When Peter saw it, he fell on his knees before Jesus and said, Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man. But Jesus said, From now on you shall catch men. Then the disciples left all and followed Him.
A man who was full of leprosy came up to Jesus and said, If you will, you can make me clean. Jesus said, I will; be clean. And again a miracle happened; his leprosy was gone!
Jesus told him to tell no one, but go and show himself to the priest. Instead, he told everybody what happened, and crowds came to hear Jesus and to be healed. Then Jesus withdrew into a lonely place to pray.
The great popularity of Jesus was bound to arouse the opposition of the leaders of the Jews. He healed a paralytic after He had forgiven his sins, but they complained that He was speaking blasphemies. They reasoned that only God could forgive sins, but they were unaware of the deity of Jesus and that the Son of Man had authority on earth to forgive sins.
They complained about His association with publicans, but Jesus answered, Those who are in good health do not need a physician, but the sick do. They complained that He did not observe the time-honored custom of fasting, but He answered by showing that fasting was out of place while He, the bridegroom, was present. The time would come, however, when fasting would be appropriate. He implied that He would not be with them always, for He was going to the Father.
His answers to the complaints were clear and adequate, but the enemy was interested only in destroying any confidence the people might have in Him. They kept it up until the people were persuaded at His trial to cry out, Away with him; let Him be crucified.
Questions
1.
Under what circumstances did Jesus teach the lesson about becoming fishers of men?
2.
Where did Jesus do most of His teaching?
3.
What are the other names for the Sea of Galilee?
4.
What name did Luke use.
5.
How did Jesus use the miracle of catching fish to teach the lesson about fishers of men?
6.
Why did Peter protest when Jesus said, Put out into the deep and let down the nets for a catch?
7.
What is the meaning of the word master which Peter used in addressing Jesus?
8.
How does it differ in meaning from Lord?
9.
How did Peter show his confidence in Jesus?
10.
What did Peter say when he saw that a miracle had happened?
11.
What basic mistake did he make?
12.
What proof is there that it was a genuine miracle?
13.
When did Jesus perform another miracle like it?
14.
What was Peters response at that time?
15.
Who were the sons of Zebedee? What were they to Peter?
16.
Although the word catch literally means take alive, what point did Jesus make in using it?
17.
What did the disciples do after they witnessed the miracle?
18.
What are the facts about the cure of leprosy in Bible times?
19.
In what ways is the disease of leprosy like sin?
20.
What were the O. T. regulations about leprosy and its cure?
21.
Who are the three O. T. characters who were stricken with leprosy because of their acts of sin?
22.
What did the leper say to Jesus?
23.
Why did Jesus forbid him to tell about his healing?
24.
Why did he disobey?
25.
Why do some disobey the gospel command to tell the good news to all the world?
26.
What was Jesus attitude toward all the sick who were brought to Him?
27.
Why did He withdraw to a quiet place?
28.
How was Luke able to write such vivid accounts of the ministry of Jesus?
29.
What are some of the facts about Jesus prayers?
30.
How can the story of Jesus become a living reality to us?
31.
What was the primary purpose of Jesus miracles?
32.
Why did Jesus and the apostles teach in the synagogues of the Jews?
33.
Who were the Pharisees?
34.
What are the beliefs of the Pharisees and the Sadducees?
35.
Who were the scribes? What was their work?
36.
Where was the principal opposition to Jesus located?
37.
Why did Jesus carry on the greater part of His ministry in Galilee?
38.
What is meant by seeing their faith?
39.
Why did Jesus forgive the sins of the paralytic before He healed him?
40.
Explain the reasoning of those who said that Jesus had spoken blasphemies.
41.
What is meant by the heart as the term is used in Scripture?
42.
How does the gospel act upon the heart?
43.
Which was easier for Jesus to say, Your sins are forgiven or Arise and walk?
44.
Why did Jesus say to the paralytic, Arise and walk?
45.
What was the reaction of the people to the miracle of healing the paralytic?
46.
Who was Levi? What was his other name?
47.
What did Levi do after becoming a follower of Jesus?
48.
What was the attitude of the Pharisees when they saw Jesus at Levis feast?
49.
How did Jesus answer their complaint?
50.
How did Jesus answer the complaint about fasting?
51.
What was implied by His remark?
52.
What does the Bible say about fasting on the part of Christians?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(33-39) Why do the disciples of John fast?See Notes on Mat. 9:14-17, Mar. 2:18-22. St. Luke is less definite than the other two in stating who the questioners were. It is only from St. Mark that we learn that they included the two classes to whom the question referred.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often, and make supplications, likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees, But yours eat and drink.” ’
The complaint is brought by ‘they’ who are unidentified. They may be puzzled onlookers or critical opponents. Their problem is that while both the disciples of John and of the Pharisees regularly fast, and make supplications, this is not true of His own disciples. They rather eat and drink. This last links with the feasting in the previous passage. But the question is concerned with whether His disciples have the right attitude to spiritual things. Is it not right to fast?
We know that the Pharisees encouraged twice a week fasting (Luk 18:12) on Mondays and Thursdays, and may presume that John’s disciples did similarly, although not necessarily on the same days. The purpose of such fasting was linked with mourning because the Kingly Rule of God had not yet come, and probably in the case of John’s disciples because he was in prison. The ‘supplications’ would be in order to put right what was wrong, and now that Jesus was here would be no longer necessary. They would be replaced by new supplications as given in the Lord’s prayer.
‘The disciples of the Pharisees.’ This is shorthand for the disciples of the Pharisaic Rabbis/Scribes (there were also Sadducean Scribes) who were the Pharisaic equivalent of John.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A Question About Fasting. Jesus Has Come As The Promised Bridegroom (5:33-35).
The revelation of the glory of Jesus continues. Not only is He the Son of Man Who can forgive sins, and God’s Physician Who can restore the outcast, but he is the Promised Bridegroom Who brings rejoicing and a new beginning for His people.
The revelation results from a mundane question about fasting. We can analyse this chapter as follows:
a They said to him, “The disciples of John fast often, and make supplications, likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees, But yours eat and drink” (Luk 5:33).
b Jesus said to them, “Can you make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?
c But the days will come, and when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then will they fast in those days” (Luk 5:34-35)
d He spoke also a parable to them, “No man tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not agree with the old” (Luk 5:36).
c And no man puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and itself will be spilled, and the skins will perish” (Luk 5:37).
b “But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins” (Luk 5:38).
A And no man having drunk old wine desires new, for he says, “The old is good” (Luk 5:39).
Note that in ‘a’ the disciples of John and the Pharisees prefer the old ways, and in the parallel those who drink old wine prefer it to the new. In ‘b’ the sons of the bride-chamber opt for the new ways, and in the parallel new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. In ‘c’ there is to be mourning because the Bridegroom will be taken away, and in the parallel the use of old wineskins with new wine result in a perishing. In ‘d’ the central thought is that the old garment must not be patched with the new.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A question of fasting:
v. 33. And they said unto Him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but Thine eat and drink?
v. 34. And He said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them?
v. 35. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. The Pharisees had allies, more or less openly, in the disciples of John. Misunderstanding the austere manner of living of their Master and imitating it in a false way, they believed such conduct necessary for a devout Jew. And therefore some of these, representing both parties, came to Jesus with a question concerning some of these strict observances in frequent fasting and the practice of prayer, which the disciples of the Lord in no way observed. The implication was a laxness of morals and a disregard of the proper customs. Note: Observances of this kind are well enough in themselves, are, as Luther expresses it, a fine outward training. But to ascribe any other power and value to them as works of merit in the sight of God is foolish, and therefore the attitude of the Pharisees was foolish. Jesus gives His answer in figurative language. He is the Bridegroom; His disciples are the sons of the bridal feast, the best men at the wedding. The time of Christ’s sojourn on earth is the wedding-feast. Now it would obviously be altogether wrong for the chief guests at a marriage-feast to give any evidence of mourning, such as fasting. Only joy and happiness should fill their hearts at this time, and find expression in their actions, Joh 3:29; Son 5:1. But in the days when the Bridegroom would be taken from them, when Christ would have to enter upon the path of suffering and be taken from them, as to His visible presence, by death, then they would mourn, Joh 6:20, then they would give evidence of sorrow.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
30 But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.
32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
33 And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?
Ver. 33. See Trapp on “ Mat 9:14 “ See Trapp on “ Mar 2:18 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
33. ] On the difference in the persons who ask this question, see on Matt. and Mark.
. ] See ch. Luk 11:1 . These prayers must be understood in connexion with an ascetic form of life, not as only the usual prayers of devout men.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 5:33-39 . Fasting (Mat 9:14-17 , Mar 2:18-22 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Luk 5:33 . connects what follows with what goes before as a continuation of the same story. Not so in Mk.: connection there simply topical. The supposed speakers are the Pharisees and scribes (Luk 5:30 ). In Mk. Phar. and John’s disciples. In Mt. the latter only. If the Pharisees and scribes were the spokesmen, their putting John’s disciples first in stating the common practice would be a matter of policy = John held in respect by Jesus, why then differ even from him? (neuter plural, from , dense), frequently. , make prayers, on system; added to complete the picture of an ascetic life; cf. Luk 2:37 ; referred to again in Luk 11:1 ; probably the question really concerned only fasting , hence omitted in the description of the life of the Jesus-circle even in Lk. , eat and drink; on the days when we fast, making no distinction of days.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 5:33-39
33And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.” 34And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” 36And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. 38But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.'”
Luk 5:33 In the parallel (and probably the original account) Mar 2:18 has the Jewish leaders asking Jesus’ disciples a question (cf. MSS cf8i*,2, A, C, D, and the Vulgate and Syriac translations), but in Luke it is a statement (cf. MSS P4, cf8 i1, B, L, W, and several Coptic translations). The UBS4 translation committee said Luke’s statement was “almost certain” (B rating) to be the original. Later, scribes changed the form to make it conform to Mark’s account.
“fast” The Pharisees and John’s disciples were culturally conditioned to fast twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays (cf. Luk 18:12). The Mosaic Law had only one fasting day a year, the Day of Atonement (cf. Leviticus 16). These twice-a-week fasts are a good example of developed traditionalism (cf. Zechariah 7-8). Fasting loses its spiritual value when it becomes mandatory and draws attention to itself (cf. Mat 6:16-18). See Special Topic following.
SPECIAL TOPIC: FASTING
Luk 5:34-35 “the bridegroom” The question of Luk 5:34 expects a “no” answer. There is so much OT imagery involved in the concept of “bridegroom.” In the OT YHWH is the bridegroom or husband of Israel. However, it is never a Messianic title. In this context Jesus is the bridegroom and the church is the bride (cf. Eph 5:23-32). In Luk 5:35 “the bridegroom is taken away” refers to a time when a separation will occur.
Now, as interpreters, we have two choices. First, we can see this as a cultural metaphor about a time of joy connected to a wedding. No one fasts during a wedding! Second, we can see it as parabolic of Jesus’ time on earth and His coming crucifixion. Mark (who recorded Peter’s sermons in Rome and developed them into the first Gospel) would have known the full implication of these metaphorically-laden terms (in Judaism the bridegroom was a metaphor, not of the Messiah, but of the coming Kingdom of God). Is this a prediction of Jesus’ death? He has clearly revealed His Messiahship and deity through His words and deeds (i.e., exorcism, healings, forgiving of sins). His followers will fast in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time.
Luk 5:36 The Markan (Luk 2:21) and Matthean (Luk 9:16) parallels help us understand this parable by noting that the patch is from an unshrunk piece of cloth (it will shrink). The new patch (Jesus and the gospel) will destroy the old clothing (Judaism).
There has been much discussion about how to apply this truth. It seems to emphasize the need to be flexible in one’s faith. However, one must be careful as to the nature and extent of this flexibility. It is a condemnation of rabbinical Judaism’s literalistic interpretation of the Oral Tradition. God help us! Sometimes we are more committed to our traditions and legalisms than we are to God (cf. Isa 29:13). This parable is paralleled in Mar 2:19-20 and Mat 9:16-17.
Luk 5:37 “wineskins” This referred to goats being skinned in such a way as to allow the skins to be used as a container for liquids (i.e., water, Gen 21:15; milk, Jdg 4:19; and wine, Jos 9:4; Jos 9:13). These newly-tanned skins would have elastic qualities. When these skins became old, the fermentation process and expansion of the new wine would cause them to split. Judaism was unable to receive Jesus’ insights and corrections and, therefore, was about to be made null and void. The new covenant (cf. Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:22-38) has come in Jesus! Nothing can remain the same.
Luk 5:39 The fifth century A.D. Western family of manuscripts, D (Bezae), omits Luk 5:39 because
1. it is omitted by Mar 2:22 and Mat 9:17
2. it seems to give priority to the OT (cf. Metzger, A Textual Commentary, p. 139)
Where did Luke get the closing comment? It is not from Mark. It is not in Matthew, so possibly not in “Q” (Quell, saying of Jesus possibly written by Matthew). Luke apparently interviewed many people. It must be oral tradition.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
often. Greek. pukna. Occurs only here and in Act 24:26. 1Ti 5:23.
make prayers. Note this as distinguished from praying.
prayers = petitions, or supplications. Not used in the other Gospels. See App-134.
eat and drink. Like ordinary people, without making it a part of their religion.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
33.] On the difference in the persons who ask this question, see on Matt. and Mark.
.] See ch. Luk 11:1. These prayers must be understood in connexion with an ascetic form of life, not as only the usual prayers of devout men.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 5:33. ) Solemn supplications.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Luk 5:33-39
7. QUESTION ABOUT FASTING
Luk 5:33-39
33 And they said unto him,-Other records of this may be found in Mat 9:14-17 and Mar 2:18-22. This question as recorded in Matthew was asked by the disciples of John, while Mark records that both the disciples of John and those of the Pharisees asked it; Luke represents it as being proposed by the scribes and Pharisees. Some think that the scribes and Pharisees were responsible for John’s disciples joining them in asking the question. “The disciples of John fast often, and make supplications.” The original for “often” as used here and in Act 24:26 and 1Ti 5:23 means “close-packed” as a thicket, or the plumage of a bird. The language indicates what was their practice. The only fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great day of atonement. (Lev 16:29.) Other fasts were added after the destruction of the temple.
34, 35 And Jesus said unto them,-Jesus here makes his defense and answers the question which was asked; in his reply he presented three illustrations showing that it would be unbecoming for his disciples to fast at that time. The first illustration is taken from the familiar marriage ceremonies. He asked: “Can ye make the sons of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?” The friends of the bridegroom were called “sons of the bridechamber” because they had access to it during the bridal feast. (Jdg 14:10-11.)
But the days will come;-There was no occasion for his disciples to fast while he was with them to comfort them; but the time would come when he would leave them, then they would fast and mourn. The time would arrive when the circumstances would be changed and fasting would be in order then.
36 And he spake also a parable unto them:-The second illustration that Jesus uses in answering the question as to why his disciples did not fast is here given. It is drawn from the familiar practice of patching a garment; he points out what no one of his hearers would think of doing. Luke calls this “a parable,” and he gives a fuller account of it than either Matthew or Mark. The cloth used at that time was not “shrunk”; no one would think of taking a new piece of cloth which had not been shrunk and put it upon an old garment which had been shrunk. If such should be done, “the piece from the new will not agree with the old.” This thought is closely connected with the preceding thought, and is intended to enforce the same principle. If the disciples of Jesus had fasted, as did John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees, they would have done that which was unsuitable to the spirit of the new dispensation.
37-39 And no man putteth new wine into old-The third illustration that Jesus uses is taken from the use of handling wine. These illustrations were very appropriate since garments and wine were very prominent at feasts. A “wineskin” was prepared by taking the skin off an animal and by some process fix the skin so that it would hold a liquid and using the skin as a vessel. To put “new wine” into an old wineskin would cause it to burst and the wine would be lost and the skin would be of no value. Old wineskins had been stretched to their utmost capacity; if new wine, which ferments and expands, is put into the old wineskin, it would burst the skin, and all would be lost. Jesus reminds his hearers of this which they knew to be true. “New wine must be put into fresh wineskins” so that when the wine expands the wineskin can expand with it. This illustrates the same thought as the other two illustrations.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Chapter 29
The Old Is Better
The Lord Jesus had just saved an elect sinner by his almighty grace, an old publican named Levi (Matthew). Having experienced the saving goodness of Gods grace, having been forgiven of all sin, having seen the glory of God in the face of Christ, this sinner gladly forsook all and followed Christ.
Not only did he follow Christ, he wanted others to know him and follow him. He wanted other sinners to know the grace he now knew. He wanted other sin-sick souls to know the healing of the Masters hand. So he threw a lavish dinner party in honour of the Son of God. Hoards of people came: tax collectors; Romans; Jewish scribes; Pharisees; disciples of John the Baptist; the Lords own disciples; the Son of God himself; and numerous sinners.
When the scribes and Pharisees saw the Lord Jesus and his followers mingling with such riffraff, they raised their eyebrows and said, Why do you eat with publicans and sinners? The Master responded by saying, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Being totally ignorant of what he said, knowing that they were neither sick nor sinners (at least in their own opinion), they seem to have totally ignored the Saviours words. But observing that Johns disciples kept the same outward religious customs and ceremonies (saying public prayers, fastings, etc.) that they kept, and the Lords disciples did not, the scribes and Pharisees perceived an opportunity to create trouble. They thought they could divide Christs kingdom. They thought they could drive a wedge between John the Baptist and the Lamb of God, by pointing out these glaring differences.
Often Swayed
True believers are sometimes weak believers; and weak believers are often swayed and easily sidetracked, especially by the religious practices and customs of men. And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? (Luk 5:33) In Mat 9:14 the Holy Spirit shows us that Johns disciples were influenced strongly by these customs of the Pharisees.
Johns disciples, though true disciples, were greatly impressed by the Pharisees outward show of religion in public prayers, displays of fasting and the ostentatious washing of hands before eating. Christs sheep will not follow a stranger. Gods saints have an unction from the Holy One and cannot be deceived with regard to the gospel. But Gods saints in this world are only frail, fickle, sinful men and women of flesh and blood. Sometimes they fall under the influence of wicked men, thinking that they are doing good. Sometimes, by bad influence from people they think are sincere, they get sidetracked by meaningless issues.
That is exactly what happened here with Johns disciples. They got to listening to the Pharisees, with whom they had in common the practice of religious, ceremonial fasting. Ignoring the indescribably far greater issues of redemption, grace, and forgiveness, they joined the Pharisees (of all people!), carping and criticizing the Lord Jesus and his disciples because they did not join in public displays of fasting.
If you will look at Matthews account (Mat 9:14), you will see clearly that it was not just the Pharisees who raised this issue, but John the Baptists disciples with the Pharisees.
May God the Holy Spirit keep us from being moved away from the simplicity that is in Christ. We must not be side-tracked by the issues of carnal religion, from the gospel of Christ. If he can do so, Satan will use such things to divide the church of God (Eph 4:1-6).
Bride And Bridegroom
In Luk 5:34-35 our Saviour teaches us a glorious fact about our relationship with him and with one another. All true believers are the bride of Christ and he is our bridegroom.
And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
This gospel age, is the time of our marriage feast. It is a time for feasting at the banqueting table of grace, a time for celebration and joy, not a time for mourning and fasting.
Fasting in the Old Testament was a symbol of repentance and mourning. Certain fasts were prescribed under the law as times of personal and national public humiliation. But the Pharisees ignored the spiritual thing symbolized and capitalized on the outward ceremony. They not only insisted on keeping the fast days prescribed by the law, they added many, many more. In conjunction with their show of humility, these proud hypocrites added specified times of prayer, public shows of devotion, by which they could prove to the world around them and to one another how very holy and humble, devoted and diligent, good and godly they were! Our Lord and his disciples had nothing to do with such nonsense. Neither should we!
With regard to fasting, our Lords doctrine is clear. His presence and grace removes all need for sorrow and mourning (that which fasting symbolized) among his people. He said, When the Bridegroom is taken away, then the bride will be sorrowful and mourn. And there was a time of weeping for the bride, when the Lord of Glory was crucified and buried. But with the resurrection of our Lord, his exaltation and enthronement, and the out-pouring of the Spirit of grace upon us, we now rejoice with joy unmingled. The brides fasting days are over! Our sins are gone! Grace, righteousness and eternal life are ours! Christ, our faithful Saviour, our divine Bridegroom, is with us to provide for us, protect us and comfort us. Why should we fast? These things rejoice our hearts!
The Lord Jesus here identifies himself as our Bridegroom and all chosen, redeemed sinners as his bride (Eph 5:25-30). The Son of God espoused himself to us in eternity. He bought us and washed us in his own blood. We are wed to him by faith, wearing the wedding garments of his provision. We are his bride and he is our Husband.
What does that mean? We are the objects of his tender love. We are privileged to enjoy a mystical union with the Son of God. We are forever his. What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder! He hateth putting away! We shall forever participate in and possess all that is his (Rom 8:17). He who is the Bridegroom of our souls will one day present us before his Father and all the universe as his chaste virgin, spotless, holy, blameless!
No Mixing
In Luk 5:36-38 the Lord Jesus tells us that in spiritual matters we must never attempt to mix things that differ.
And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.
Our Saviour delivered this parable in response to the question raised by Johns disciples and the Pharisees about fasting. With the Pharisees, fasting had become a common, publicly advertised ceremony. It was an outward show of holiness, piety and devotion. Johns disciples seem to have placed great emphasis upon this religious custom as well. But our Lord always dealt with it as an insignificant thing and insisted that in fasting, in prayer and in giving (Mat 6:16-18), in fact in anything and everything, we must never make a show of religion!
It may have been proper, our Lord says to Johns disciples, for the friend of the bridegroom and his disciples to fast. But to require the bridegroom and his disciples to fast was as ludicrous as sewing a piece of new cloth in an old garment, or putting new wine into old bottles, or wineskins.
Actually the parables here given were simply proverbial sayings that may be applied to many things. Essentially, their meaning is simply this: never try to mix things that do not mix. Many great evils that have arisen in the church could have been avoided if the lesson of these parables had simply been heeded. And many of the evils exiting in the church today could be corrected if this lesson was followed.
In spiritual matters, we must never attempt to mix things that differ. Just as under the Mosaic law the mixture of linen and wool and the ploughing of an ox and an ass together were prohibited, so in this age, we cannot mix and must never try to mix, law and grace, flesh and spirit, Christ and the world, or carnal ordinances with spiritual worship.
The problem at Galatia was that the Judaisers tried to put the old wine of Mosaic laws and ceremonies into the new bottle of grace. They tried, like many today, to mix Judaism and Christianity. They tried to hold both to the law and the gospel. They wanted both Moses and Christ. They tried to mix physical circumcision with spiritual circumcision. Such a mixture can never take place. Either we are under the law, or we are free from the law. It cannot be both (Gal 5:1-4).
In the early church many tried to mix the philosophies and religious customs of a pagan world with the gospel of Christ, just as they do today. Nothing is new under the sun. In the earliest days, after the apostles, and even while the apostles were living, there were those who attempted to make the gospel palatable to the world by mixing the religious customs, traditions and opinions of paganism with the gospel of Christ. The result was disastrous then, and shall be now. In those days compromise paved the road to Romanism. Today, many are paving a road back to Romanism as fast as possible.
We must never try to mix flesh and spirit or works and grace in the worship and service of our God (Php 3:3). There is absolutely no place in the worship of God for crosses, pictures representing the Lord Jesus Christ, our God, images or pictures of angels, religious relics or symbols, law rule, sabbath keeping, ceremonialism, crossings, kneelings, or anything not prescribed by our Lord and practised by his disciples in the New Testament.
Many professing Christians today constantly attempt to stitch Christ and the world together. How many there are who seem determined to prove our Lord wrong, who try to serve both God and mammon. They wear the name of Christ in profession, but serve the world. They want to enjoy the new wine of Christ; but they want to drink it from the old bottle of the world. They will not utterly despise the new garment of discipleship, but they want it without cost or cross. They try to sew it to the old garment of pleasure, covetousness and love of the world. They will find one day soon that they have attempted what cannot be done.
We must not attempt to put new wine into old bottles. Law and grace, flesh and spirit, the world and Christ simply cannot be mixed. We must choose one and hate the other.
In Luk 5:39 our Lord shows us that in spiritual things the old is better, always better. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.
The gospel of Christ is often compared to wine in scripture. Wine is representative of the Saviours blood in the Lords Supper. The gospel is comparable to wine because of its sweetness, its reviving quality and its calming effect. If ever you taste the old wine of the gospel, the old wine of free grace, you will not want the new wine of this apostate age (Jer 6:16).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Why: Luk 18:12, Isa 58:3-6, Zec 7:6, Mat 9:14-17, Mar 2:18-22
and make: Luk 11:1, Luk 20:47, Pro 28:9, Isa 1:15, Mat 6:5, Mat 6:6, Mat 23:14, Mar 12:40, Act 9:11, Rom 10:2, Rom 10:3
but: Luk 7:34, Luk 7:35
Reciprocal: Luk 6:2 – Why
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3
John was dead and his disciples were fasting and mourning his absence. The disciples of Jesus still had him with them and hence had no occasion for mourning.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
WE should observe in these verses, that men may disagree on the lesser points of religion, while they agree on its weightier matters. We have this brought out in the alleged difference between the disciples of John the Baptist, and the disciples of Christ. The question was put to our Lord, “Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but thine eat and drink?”
We cannot suppose that there was any essential difference between the doctrines held by these two parties of disciples. The teaching of John the Baptist was doubtless clear and explicit upon all the main points necessary to salvation. The man who could say of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” was not likely to teach his followers anything contrary to the Gospel. His teaching of course lacked the fullness and perfection of his divine Master’s teaching, but it is absurd to suppose that it contradicted it. Nevertheless there were points of practice on which his disciples differed from those of Christ. Agreeing, as they doubtless did, about the necessity of repentance, and faith, and holiness, they disagreed about such matters as fasting, eating, drinking, and manner of public devotion. One in heart, and hope, and aim, as they were about the weightier matters of inward religion, they were not entirely of one mind about outward matters.
We must make up our minds to see differences of this kind among Christians so long as the world stands. We may regret them much, because of the handle they give to an ignorant and prejudiced world. But they will exist, and are one of the many evidences of our fallen condition. About church government, about the manner of conducting public worship, about fasts and feasts, and saint’s days, and ceremonials, Christians have never been entirely of one mind, even from the days of the apostles. On all these points the holiest and ablest servants of God have arrived at different conclusions. Argument, reasoning, persuasion, persecution, have all alike proved unable to produce unity.
Let us, however, bless God that there are many points on which all true servants of God are thoroughly agreed. About sin and salvation, about repentance, and faith, and holiness, there is a mighty unity among all believers, of every name, and nation, and people, and tongue. Let us make much of these points in our own personal religion. These, after all, are the principal things which we shall think of in the hour of death, and the day of judgment. On other matters we must agree to differ. It will signify little at the last day what we thought about fasting, and eating, and drinking, and ceremonies. Did we repent, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance? Did we behold the Lamb of God by faith, and receive Him as our Savior? All, of every church, who are found right on these points, will be saved. All, of every church, who are found wrong on these points, will be lost for evermore.
We should observe, secondly, in these verses, the name by which our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of Himself. Twice He calls Himself “the Bridegroom.”
The name “bridegroom,” like every name applied to our Lord in the Bible, is full of instruction. It is a name peculiarly comforting and encouraging to all true Christians. It teaches the deep and tender love with which Jesus regards all sinners of mankind, who believe in Him. Weak, and unworthy, and short-coming as they are in themselves, He feels towards them a tender affection, even as a husband does towards his wife.-It teaches the close and intimate union, which exists between Jesus and believers. It is something far nearer than the union of king and subject, master and servant, teacher and scholar, shepherd and sheep. It is the closest of all unions, the union of husband and wife,-the union of which it is written, “what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.”-Above all, the name teaches that entire participation of all that Jesus is and has, which is the privilege of every believer. Just as the husband gives to his wife his name, makes her partaker of his property, home, and dignity, and undertakes all her debts and liabilities, so does Christ deal with all true Christians. He takes on Himself all their sins. He declares that they are a part of Himself, and that he who hurts them hurts Him. He gives them, even in this world, such good things as pass man’s understanding. And He promises that in the next world they shall sit with Him on His throne, and go out from His presence no more.
If we know anything of true and saving religion, let us often rest our souls on this name and office of Christ. Let us remember daily, that the weakest of Christ’s people are cared for with a tender care that passeth knowledge, and that whosoever hurts them is hurting the apple of Christ’s eye. In this world we may be poor and contemptible, and laughed at because of our religion. But if we have faith, we are precious in the sight of Christ. The Bridegroom of our soul will one day plead our cause before the whole world.
We should observe, lastly, in these verses, how gently and tenderly Christ would have His people deal with young and inexperienced Christians. He teaches us this lesson by two parables, drawn from the affairs of daily life. He shows the folly of sewing “new cloth on an old garment,” or of putting “new wine into old bottles.” In like manner, He would have us know, there is a want of harmony between a new dispensation and an old one. It is vain to expect those who have been trained and taught under one system, to become immediately used to another system. On the contrary, they must be led on by degrees, and taught as they are able to bear.
The lesson is one which all true Christians would do well to lay to heart, and none perhaps so much as Christian ministers and Christian parents. Forgetfulness of it often does much harm to the cause of truth. The hard judgments and unreasonable expectations of old disciples have often driven back and discouraged young beginners in the school of Christ.
Let us settle it in our minds, that grace must have a beginning in every believer’s heart, and that we have no right to say a man has no grace, because it does not come to full ripeness at once. We do not expect a child to do the work of a full-grown man, though he may one day, if he lives long enough. We must not expect a learner of Christianity to show the faith, and love, and knowledge of an old soldier of the cross. He may become by and bye a mighty champion of the truth. But at first we must give him time. There is great need of wisdom in dealing with young people about religion, and, generally speaking, with all young disciples. Kindness, and patience, and gentleness, are of the first importance. We must not try to pour in the new wine too quickly, or it will run over. We must take them by the hand and lead them on gently. We must beware of frightening, or hurrying them, or pressing them on too fast. If they have only got hold of the main principles of the Gospel, let us not set them down as godless, because of a few lesser matters. We must bear with much weakness and infirmity, and not expect to find old heads on young shoulders, or ripe experience in those who are only babes. There was deep wisdom in Jacob’s saying, “If men should over-drive them one day, all the flock will die.” (Gen 33:13.)
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Notes-
v33.-[Thine eat and drink.] We must not suppose from this expression, that the disciples of our Lord were charged with neglecting to pray. A careless reader might fancy it was so. It is evident from the whole tone of our Lord’s answer, that this was not the charge brought against them. The real charge was, that our Lord’s disciples “did not fast.”
v34.-[Bridechamber…bridegroom.] There is a peculiar beauty in our Lord’s use of these figures about Himself and His people, when we remember that John the Baptist himself had used them when speaking of Him to his own disciples. (Joh 3:29.) If any of John’s disciples were among those who questioned Him on this question, His expression would doubtless remind them of their master’s teaching.
v35.-[Then shall they fast.] This expression has led many to suppose that from the time when our Lord Jesus Christ left the world, literal fasting from meats and drinks at certain seasons, was to be the duty of all Christians.
There seems no ground for this sweeping conclusion. That fasting and abstinence were occasionally practised by believers after our Lord’s ascension is clear and plain. That all who may find the practice useful and helpful to their souls at the present day are right in fasting, if they do it without ostentation, is also plain. But the utter absence of any direct injunction, or command to keep fasts in the Church of Christ, either in the Acts or Epistles, and specially in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, makes it clear that the matter is one which should be handled with caution, and on which every one must be “persuaded in his own mind.”
The words before us appear to have a deeper meaning than any mere abstinence from food. They seem to foretell that the period of time between our Lord’s first and second advent must be a time of mourning and humiliation to all true believers. They describe the state of mind in which all true Christians should live until their Lord returns. It is a time for daily and hourly self-denial, and mortification. The time of fulness and satisfaction cannot be until we see the Bridegroom amongst us again.
v36.-[He spake also a parable.] The parables of the new piece on the old garment, and the new wine into old bottles, are not without difficulty. It is curious to observe how variously they are interpreted and applied to the subject matter in dispute between our Lord and the Pharisees, by commentators on this passage.
It appears to me that, as in many of our Lord’s parables, so in the two before us, we must be careful not to press particular expressions too far, or to seek a spiritual meaning for each individual portion of the whole.
The general truth our Lord desires to enforce on His hearers is the acknowledged incongruity between things old and new, and the unreasonableness of expecting persons accustomed to one system immediately to adopt another as soon as it appears. If we insist on going beyond this point, and must assign a meaning to “the patch,” “the rent” and the like, I think we shall only darken counsel, and take nothing by our toil. At any rate all who have attempted it, appear to me to have failed.
v39.-[The old is better.] It seems very likely that in this concluding verse our Lord specially refers to the disciples of John the Baptist. They had drunk of the “old wine” of John’s teaching, and could hardly be expected to become straightway attached to the “new wine” of our Lord’s kingdom.
Wordsworth remarks, that the beginning of this sentence is a pure Iambic verse, and may perhaps be a poetical proverb adopted by our Lord, of which Luke here gives the Greek form. He reminds us that even when our Lord appeared to Saul, on the way to Damascus, He condescended to use a Gentile proverb. (Act 9:5.)
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Luk 5:33. And they Mid to him. This seems to refer to the Scribes and Pharisees (Luk 5:30). Matthew makes the disciples of John the questioners, and Mark joins both classes. Both were present; they were together in their practice (see on Mat 9:14), as probably in their objections.
The disciples John, etc. This is not in the form of a question.
And make prayers. Peculiar to Luke. It refers to stated prayers, like those of ascetics.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
An objection is here made against the disciples of our Saviour, that they did not fast so much and so often, as John Baptist’s disciples did. John’s disciples imitated their master, who was a man of an austere life; Christ’s disciples imitated him who was of a more free conversation.
Observe, therefore, our Saviour’s defense, which he makes for the not fasting of his disciples; he declares, that at present it was neither suitable nor tolerable; not suitable, in regard of Christ’s bodily presence with them, who being their bridegroom, and his disciples children of the bride-chamber, it was now a day of joy and rejoicing to them, and mourning and fasting would be very improper for them. But when the bridegroom shall be taken away, that is, Christ’s bodily presence removed, then there will be cause enough for the disciples to fast and mourn.
Learn hence, 1. That Jesus Christ is the bridegroom of his spouse the church.
2. That this bridegroom was to be taken away.
3. That because of the bridegroom’s removal, the church did, shall, and must fast: The days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away, then shall they fast.
Again our Saviour declares, that this discipline of fasting was not at present tolerable for his disciples, for they were at present but raw, green, and tender, unable to bear the severities and rigors of religion, any more than an old garment can be a piece of new cloth to be set into it, or any more than old bottles can bear new wine to be put into them. The sense of our Saviour’s words seems to be this, “My disciples at present are tender and weak, newly called and converted, they cannot therefore at present undergo the austerities of relgion, fastings, weepings, and watchfulness; but before long I shall leave them, and go to heaven, from whence I will send down my Holy Spirit upon them, which will enable them to all the duties that the gospel enjoins.”
The lesson of instruction which we may probably gather from hence, is this, that it is hurtful and dangerous for young converts, for weak Christians, to be put upon the severe exercises of religion, or to be urged to the performance of all such duties as are above their strength, but they ought to be treated with that tenderness which becomes the mild and gentle dispensation of the gospel.
Our Saviour, says one, does here commend prudence to his ministers, in treating their people according to their strength, and putting them upon duties according to their time and standing. We must consult what progress our people have made in Christianity, and manage accordingly.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Luk 5:33-39. The contents of these verses occur Mat 9:14-17, where they are explained at large. The disciples of John fast and make prayers Long and solemn prayers: but thine eat and drink Freely, though thou professest a high degree of righteousness. And he said, Can ye make, &c. That is, Is it proper to make men fast and mourn during a festival solemnity? My presence and converse render this a kind of festival to my disciples: for, as John taught his hearers but a little before his confinement, I am the bridegroom of my church; you cannot, therefore, in reason, expect I should command them to fast now, or that they should do it without such a command. But the days will come And that very soon; when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them And shall leave them exposed to much toil, hardship, and suffering; with their hearts full of sorrow, their hands full of work, and the world full of enmity and rage against them. Henry. Then shall they fast in those days They shall have great need, and even shall be compelled so to do. They shall both hunger and thirst, and even be destitute of clothing, 1Co 4:11. They shall also keep many religious fasts; shall serve the Lord with fastings, Act 13:2-3; for Providence shall call them to it. He spake also a parable unto them Taken from clothes and wine, therefore peculiarly proper at a feast. See on Mat 9:16-17. No man having drunk old wine As people, who have been accustomed to drink wine made mellow with age, do not willingly drink new wine, which for the most part is harsh and unpleasant; so my disciples, having been accustomed for some time to live without practising any of the severities for which Johns disciples and the Pharisees are remarkable, cannot relish that new way of life which they recommend. They are not yet so fully acquainted with and established in my doctrine as to submit cheerfully to any extraordinary hardships. To this purpose is Le Clercs interpretation of the verse; but Wolfius and others apply it to the Pharisees, who were much better pleased with the traditions of the elders than with the doctrines of Christ; because the latter prescribed duties more difficult and disagreeable to the corrupt natures of men than the former. Perhaps the general sense of the sentence may be, that men are not wont to be soon or easily freed from old prejudices. As if Christ had said, Judge how fit it is that I should not oblige my disciples to a new course of severities at once, but should rather gradually form their characters to what the duty of their future profession, and the usefulness of their lives, may require.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3 d. Luk 5:33-39. Instruction concerning Fasting.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Luk 5:33-39. The Question of Fasting (Mar 2:18-22*, Mat 9:14-17*).Lk.s interest in prayer is again (cf. Luk 5:16) seen in Luk 5:33, with which cf. Luk 11:1. The recasting of the saying about the patch (Luk 5:36) reflects a later age; Christianity was now a made-up garment, when Jesus spoke it was only in the piece.
Luk 5:39. Lk. only. If it was spoken on this occasion it means that Johns disciples may rightly continue their own practices. It was not unbelief that kept them from the new wine of the Gospel. They did not set the one against the other (good not better is the true reading); but in the revival and repentance due to Johns preaching they had found the old order good (as indeed it was), and they craved nothing more (Hort, Judaistic Christianity, 24). But perhaps it is simply put here by Lk. because it has to do with wine, just as Mar 9:49 f. collects sayings about salt.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
5:33 {6} And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise [the disciples] of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?
(6) Hypocrites and ignorant men make a point of making fasting and unimportant things a matter of holiness.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
4. Jesus’ attitude toward fasting 5:33-39 (cf. Matthew 9:14-17; Mark 2:18-22)
The setting of this controversy is the same as the previous one: Levi’s banquet.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The religious leaders (Luk 5:30; Mar 2:18) and John’s disciples (Mat 9:14; Mar 2:18) raised the question of fasting. They did so because it was another practice, besides eating with sinners, that marked Jesus and His disciples as unusual (cf. Luk 7:34). Since Jesus preached repentance (Luk 5:32), why did He not expect His followers to demonstrate the accepted signs that indicated it? These questioners made Jesus and His disciples appear to be out of step by contrasting their behavior with that of John the Baptist’s and the Pharisees’ disciples. All of those people appeared to be sympathetic to Jesus and righteous.
The Old Testament required only one day of fasting, namely, the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29), but over the years additional fasts had become traditional. Evidently John and his disciples fasted periodically. The Pharisees fasted every Monday and Thursday (cf. Luk 18:12) as well as on four other days in memory of Jerusalem’s destruction (Zec 7:3; Zec 7:5; Zec 8:19). [Note: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. "nestis," by J. Behm, 4:930.] Jesus did not oppose fasting, but He criticized its abuse (Luk 4:2; Luk 22:16; Luk 22:18; Mat 6:16-18).
Luke alone mentioned the reference of Jesus’ questioners to prayer. He probably did this to clarify the circumstances in which fasting happened for his readers. The questioners implied that Jesus’ disciples neglected prayer as well as fasting.