Mark 2:18-22

Controversy #3: Jesus’ disciples did not fast. 

Mark 2:18-22

Big Idea: Jesus came to usher in a New Covenant by His blood.

Interesting that John the Baptist’s disciples are included in these opening verses. Fasting had become a religious ritual, especially for the Pharisees. John also would have stressed the importance of fasting, especially given that he was the last of what we could maybe call an Old Testament prophet. Whatever the case, it seems that this happened on a day of fasting. We don’t know exactly if this happened immediately after Jesus is sharing a meal with Levi and his friends, or perhaps maybe the party is still happening. What seems clear though, is that while the Pharisees are presently fasting, Jesus and His disciples are not. 

Remember that the Pharisees had taken the Old Testament Law and added certain rituals to it. In the Old Testament, fasting was only a requirement for one occasion, the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16 & 23). In fact, even today on Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, Jewish people fast. But, the Pharisees had ADDED to this by requiring a fast to take place every week on Mondays and Thursdays. On TOP of that, when Jesus eventually teaches on fasting, He mentions that the Pharisees make a public display of their fasting. They walk around looking sad and gloomy, so that others will see the sacrifice they are making and be considered righteous. 

And the practice of fasting is just one of many of the Laws that the Pharisees had added to and therefore distorted. But here we go again! This Jesus character is just living in defiance of our religion! He’s claimed to be God, He’s eating with sinners, and now He’s disregarding the ritual of fasting. Tension.

In answering the question posed to Him, He uses 3 illustrations to paint the picture of what is taking place. All 3 carry a similar message, but each a bit unique as we’ll see.

Illustration #1 - No time for mourning! (19-20)

We have to take into account a parallel passage from the Gospel of Matthew. In his retelling of this story, he substitutes the word “mourn” in place of “fast.” He is associating the kind of fasting that the Pharisees are talking about with mourning. This makes a lot more sense given the illustration that Jesus uses. 

It also will prove helpful to understand that customary to that day, after the wedding there was a week-long marriage feast. Also, the word “bridegroom” has multiple meanings, but in our context Jesus is referring to the groom. The week-long party was cause for celebration! Why should they mourn?! 

We have family quite literally all over the world. Our girls have cousins in Kentucky, Virginia, Florida, and Lebanon. Recently, when we have the opportunity to visit family, our girls have become more emotional when the time is coming to an end. There will be tears the night before the departure, or sometimes even a couple of days before. The anticipation of having to leave their cousins, who they love spending time with, causes some really real tears of sorrow. And what we constantly tell them is that listen, you still have a full day of playing tomorrow! So let’s enjoy the time that we still have together!

“But,” Jesus says, “a day is coming. A day is coming when the bridegroom is taken away. Then, then it will be time to mourn.” Jesus is referring here to His arrest, and His crucifixion. So while Jesus is present, it’s a cause for celebration! But, He will be taken away very suddenly, and they will be left in despair, at least for a few days. But Jesus is speaking here of fasting. The next 2 illustrations open the conversation to a much broader change. He’s like, “I know you asked about fasting, but let me give you a hint as to what’s really coming.”

Illustration #2 - Don’t fix the old with the new! (21)

I didn’t know this, because I’m not a seamster, but repairing an old garment with an unshrunk piece of fabric was a huge no-no. Not only would the new cloth not match the old worn out cloth, but it would shrink when it was washed and would pull the garment and cause it to tear.

The legalistic Judaism of that time had gotten pretty bad. I encourage you to read Matthew chapter 23 to follow up after today. In that chapter, Jesus calls out the religious leaders for leading people astray, and gets very specific. Remember though, Jesus said it Himself, He didn’t come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. It’s important to make that distinction here. The Law was good and necessary. Paul even calls it “righteous and good.” But, the Jewish leaders had added so much to it that it became more about keeping the man-made customs than it did honoring the Lord in obedience. Jesus had arrived, and there was now a new way. The Old Covenant, the Old Agreement between God and man was to be replaced by the New Covenant between God and man, and that was marked by the blood of Jesus. We’ll talk more about that here shortly.

One commentator follows this up by saying that “the true gospel cannot be successfully attached to the tattered garment of superficial religion worn so proudly by the scribes and Pharisees.”

Jesus’ statements here are so much deeper than just the issue of fasting. He is telling the religious leaders that everything is changing. Their way of “doing” religion was over, and finality had come. 

Illustration #3 - New wine belongs in a new wineskin (22)

Reemphasizing the same point, Jesus uses a new word picture to try and solidify what He is saying. 

Typically in that time, “wineskins were made of goatskins with the rough part inside and new wine would ferment and crack the dried-up old skins.” Not only would the container crack and burst, but the new wine would be ruined as well. 

OLD VS. NEW

So what does this mean? What is the implication of what Jesus is saying? Let’s think first about those who held tightly to the Jewish religious system. “Here’s this man, bursting onto the scene, and He’s trying to say that everything we have been teaching, the religious Law that the Lord gave Moses on Mt. Sinai, that has become what every aspect of our lives revolves around, He’s telling us that He’s come with something that is going to replace it?!” I mean how hard would that have been to just let go of. It could very easily feel like their whole world would fall apart! And so we’ll see that they tighten their grip, instead of being open to it maybe being true. 

Let’s take a little journey through biblical history for a few minutes. There is no way we can get the true depth of the difference, but hopefully this will be helpful. Jesus has made it very clear that the Old and the New are NOT compatible. They can’t be combined, you can’t add one to the other. One has to be brought to completion so that the other can take effect. And we are speaking of the Old and New Covenant. The agreement between God and man.

There are 2 kinds of covenants. Unconditional, and conditional. 

The Abrahamic covenant was considered unconditional. You can find it in Genesis 12:1-3. This from a biblical commentator:

“When a covenant was dependent upon both parties keeping commitments, then both parties would pass between the pieces of animals. In Genesis 15, God alone moves between the halves of the animals. Abraham was in a deep sleep. God’s solitary action indicates that the covenant is principally His promise. He binds Himself to the covenant. Later, God gave Abraham the rite of circumcision as the specific sign of the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 17:9–14). All males in Abraham’s line were to be circumcised and thus carry with them a lifelong mark in their flesh that they were part of God’s physical blessing in the world. Any descendant of Abraham who refused circumcision was declaring himself to be outside of God’s covenant.” 

In that covenant, God promised land, offspring, protection, blessing, and redemption. He promised that it carried eternal implications. He reaffirmed that covenant with Isaac and Jacob. But this was NOT dependent on the actions of man.

Then, the Mosaic Covenant happens. And this is the one that the Jewish leaders would have held so tightly to. This covenant was conditional. Both sides had to hold up their end of the deal for it to stay in effect. For details and proof text, read Deuteronomy 28. But, the agreement goes as follows. God says, “If you obey the Law that I have given you, then you will be blessed. If you disobey the Law that I have given you, then you will be punished.” 

From then on, Israel lived on this roller coaster of obedience and blessing, down to disobedience and punishment. The blessing was really good, and the punishment was really bad. So fast forward to Jesus engaging the Pharisees in Mark 2. Jesus’ message was brand new to them. For over a thousand years, the Mosaic Covenant is what drove their religion. They knew  to receive God’s blessing, they HAD to remain obedient. So this is the Old Covenant. This is the agreement. And it was all based on the 613 commandments that they were trying to follow. This included the sacrificial system that was in place, requiring people to bring sacrifices to the priests of the temple throughout the year to atone for their sins.

APPLICATION

Then Jesus shows up. So what is this New Covenant that Jesus is bringing about?

Turn to Hebrews 8. Read Hebrews 8. Verse 12 is it. Listen to this again. “I will remember their sins no more.” How is this possible? Because of Jesus. In the upper room when Jesus is serving communion to His disciples, He says, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” 

Old = Laws written on tablets and papyrus, sacrificial system that provided temporary forgiveness, priests that had to serve as the intermediaries between God and man. 

New = The Law written on our hearts, sacrificial system no longer needed because Jesus provided the final sacrifice in which God could look at us and see Him and say, “I will remember their sins no more.” Jesus now seated at the right hand of God serving as our High Priest, interceding on our behalf. 

I mean come on. Aren’t you grateful that we live under the power and authority and agreement of the New Covenant? 

Titus 3:4-6 - “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior…”

You see now how the Old and the New cannot be compatible? You see now why the religious leaders may have been driven to anger because of the confusion, and defiance that Jesus appeared to present?! Tension building… 

Big Idea: Jesus came to usher in a New Covenant by His blood.

We don’t have to work to attain righteousness, but when we receive salvation, we are counted righteous because of the blood of Jesus.