Matthew 9:14-17 English Standard Version

A Question About Fasting

¹⁴ Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast,^[often] but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶ No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. ¹⁷ Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

In this study let us look at the context of the question and all the answers Jesus gave, not just one. The initial question posed by the disciples of John indicate that their religious practices are following the examples of the leaders of the Jewish faith they were raised to respect.

These are the disciples of John who was the forerunner spirit to prepare the way of the Lord. John preachs repentance and announced that this Jesus is the Lamb of God, given to take away the sins of the world. His whole ministry was to pronounce the arrival of their Messiah.

Since the question surrounds religious practices between the established priesthood and those of the men following the Messiah, there is a distinct message here that separates the two practices. The answer to those differences is contained in all these passages and not in just the first comment given. All the examples apply to those distinctions.

His first answer is directed by His identity which is new to all those within hearing. This is the point where Jesus announces that He is the bridegroom for the first time. This refers to Psalm 19 in reference to the bridegroom and the words “The law of the Lord is perfect,^{[blameless]”}.” Read Psalm 19.

Colossians 3:2-4 English Standard Version

² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is your^[our] life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Our self or identity is hidden in Christ. Christ dwells in our heart by faith and we cannot be seen, attacked, damaged, destroyed, nor infected because our heart belongs to Jesus and Jesus protects His own. He is God and He is able to do all that.

Our minds are only one part of our eternal souls. That is why the mind needs to be retrained to align itself with our new identity which is in Christ. Paul’s expression of selflessness is poetic and noble but our minds have a difficult time in seeing that for ourselves because we are not Paul.

Galatians 2:20 English Standard Version (ESV) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The mind renewed is selfless and agrees with our new identity in Christ who abides in our hearts by faith. That renewed mind is allowed to obey by faith and yet, it is still flesh and subject to all the attacks that our new identities are protected in Christ. Our feelings and emotions and thoughts are not attached to our will which now abides in Christ.

This creates a conflict which might be best described as a war of the mind.