Matthew 9:14-17

Jesus Has Come As The Bridegroom Bringing Something Totally New (9:14-17).

Having revealed Himself as the Great Physician, a further incident about fasting leads on to His revelation of Himself as the heavenly Bridegroom. John the Baptist had already given an indication of this when he spoke of himself as the ‘friend of the Bridegroom' (John 3:29). Now Jesus applies the thought of the Bridegroom to Himself, and gives an indication that He is already aware of the future that awaits Him. He will be ‘taken away'.

In the Old Testament it is God Who is the heavenly Bridegroom. In Isaiah we read, “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so will your God rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62:5, compare Jeremiah 2:2; Hosea 2:19). He longed for His people to become His bride and thus become faithful to their marriage covenant (compare Isaiah 50:1; Isaiah 54:6)

Analysis.

a Then come to him the disciples of John, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” (Matthew 9:14).

b And Jesus said to them, “Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Matthew 9:15).

b “And no man puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for then that which should fill it up takes from the garment, and a worse tear is made” (Matthew 9:16).

a “Neither do men put new wine into old wineskins, or else the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins perish. But they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved” (Matthew 9:17).

Note that in ‘a' the question is posed as to why Jesus' disciples do not fast, and in the parallel the answer is, ‘because they put new wine into fresh wineskins'. In ‘b' the presence of the Bridegroom will result in His being ‘taken away' and in the parallel the intermixture of an unshrunk patch on an old garment results in it being torn.