Jesus Is Questioned about Fasting^(A)

¹⁴ Then John’s disciples came to Jesus. They said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often but your disciples never do?”

¹⁵ Jesus replied, “Can wedding guests be sad while the groom is still with them? The time will come when the groom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast.

¹⁶ “No one patches an old coat with a new piece of cloth that will shrink. When the patch shrinks, it will rip away from the coat, and the tear will become worse. ¹⁷ Nor do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins burst, the wine runs out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, people pour new wine into fresh skins, and both are saved.”

Jesus Is Questioned about Fasting^(A)

³³ They said to him, “John’s disciples frequently fast and say prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. But your disciples eat and drink.”

³⁴ Jesus asked them, “Can you force wedding guests to fast while the groom is still with them? ³⁵ The time will come when the groom will be taken away from them. At that time they will fast.”

³⁶ He also used these illustrations: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new coat to patch an old coat. Otherwise, the new cloth will tear the old. Besides, the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ People don’t pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the new wine will make the skins burst. The wine will run out, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ Rather, new wine is to be poured into fresh skins.

³⁹ “No one who has been drinking old wine wants new wine. He says, ‘The old wine is better!’ ”