Mark 2:18-22

The Question of Fasting. Both the followers of John and the Pharisees agree in the practice of fasting to express repentance. Jesus called men into an experience of joy, surely the joy of forgiveness. By His presence and call He made men feel as if they were taking part in a bridal feast while they waited for the kingdom. They were keeping festival in anticipation of yet intenser joy. This new life could not consort with the old traditional forms of religion. This is the broad sense of the section. In many details it is difficult. The union of disciples of John and the Pharisees seems unnatural. Mark 2:20 is clearly a prediction of the Master's death. But it is only after the great confession (Mark 8:29) that Jesus begins to speak of His death even to His disciples. If genuine, the saying belongs to a later period. Some scholars treat Mark 2:20 as the evangelist's afterthought. In that case Mark 2:19 in its present form must be surrendered too, as it is bound up with Mark 2:20 (see Wellhausen). Possibly some simpler saying has been recast by Mk. That Mark 2:20 refers to the death of John the Baptist is improbable. His disciples did not begin to fast after his death. Fasting was part of his call to repentance. In Mark 2:21 and Mark 2:22 we have two brief parables drawn from home-life. The piece of undressed cloth tends to shrink, and if used to patch an old garment will make a fresh rent in it. Wineskins worn thin with use and time cannot resist the fermentation of new wine. They crack if men attempt to preserve new wine in them (cf. Joshua 9:13). These parables do not necessarily belong to the discussion that immediately precedes them. The protest against half-heartedness and false compromise might have been spoken on many occasions. They indicate the breach between the original Christian temper and Judaism in general. Mark 2:22 especially shows that the new religion must make new forms for itself. For Jesus-' use of illustrations in couples, cf. Oxford Studies in the Synoptic Problem, 195.