12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” 14 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. 16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Jesus states the obvious. Sick people need a doctor, not those who think they are healthy. The point of course - what do you need Jesus Christ for if you are not spiritually needy? Some may not recognize their spiritual need so Jesus can't forgive very much if that need isn’t confessed and recognized. All people are in need of redemptive grace. But only the "sinners" will hear and heed His call.
Jesus did not come to "affirm" people no matter what they may have been or become, but to redeem them, to bring them both forgiveness and transformation. The call to follow Jesus involves a whole changed life.
The account moves on to a question about fasting - "John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not" (v. 14). Jesus did not say you shouldn't fast, but declared it to be inappropriate for His disciples 'as long as the bridegroom is with them'. Later they would fast like others.
This type of question is often asked today: "Why don't you keep the regulations? Why don't you keep the rules? Why does your particular group feel it doesn't have to adhere to the same standards as everybody else?" In effect, what Jesus says is, "You've misunderstood entirely the nature of the occasion. You think it is a funeral, but it's not; it's a wedding. THE bridegroom is here. At a wedding nobody fasts. If the bridegroom is there, there will be festivity, rejoicing, laughter and gladness. There will come a day when the bridegroom will be gone, and then they will fast, but when the bridegroom is present there is feasting, not fasting."
Of course there was a predictive element in Jesus’ statement. He indicated there would come a day when He would leave these men, and then they would indeed fast and mourn. As these words apply to us, that day never comes. Yes, there are times of mourning in our lives, times of sorrow, but there is always Jesus Christ to step into the situation and turn it into a feast day.
There is another illustration regarding the growth for the Christian as well as a changed life for the lost. "When you have that kind of a relationship with me," Jesus says, "then it is no longer the time to try to patch up the old wineskins with the new." New wine cannot be put into old wineskins. They did not have bottles in those days but used sewed up animal skins. The old ones became brittle, inflexible, and burst easily. New wine is strong and is still fermenting, giving off gases. If you put new wine into old wineskins, soon it will burst the old skins, and everything will be lost.
Indeed the Gospel is bringing in new worship. All this time the Jews had worshipped in the temple with solemn, ceremonial, ritualistic services. A new relationship had come in which there was vitality and warmth of intimacy with the bridegroom Himself which only can be expressed in terms of joy, gladness, and celebration. It became no longer a temple before priests, but God dwelling within us. Our Lord is showing us here what happens when a people or an individual returns to a vital relationship with Christ.
In revival, Jesus does not just patch-up your old life. He makes all things new! Too often people experience a mere “patching-up” of the old life rather than a surrender to the new! They don’t want a complete change of clothes. They just want to wear their same old torn carnal garment instead of receiving a new spiritual garment from God. You may promise to do better and, as far as humanly possible, you might behave better, but God doesn’t grade on a curve! He demands total righteousness. His standard is perfection! (Matt. 5:48) and perfection is not humanly possible. The inability to attain God’s standard causes some to reject Christianity. They think it is futile. They don’t understand God’s grace. They may join the church, but there is little inner change.
Some of you may have come from horrible, sinful backgrounds and know more than others the joy of freedom from sin and the purity God grants you because of the cross. The invitation is open to come and follow Jesus. If you are lost, you need a heart change that only Jesus can give.
Application: If you are a believer, you need Him to keep working in you to make you more into His image. We should never just plateau. There is no joy in that. We find His grace and mercy, forgiveness and love each day. We find His rebuke, conviction, and desire to make us His holy bride. It isn’t just lost people who matter to God. It is all of us.
Prayer: Change me Lord, remake me Lord, conform me to the image of your Son
Change me Lord, remake me Lord, til Father, Spirit, Jesus, we are one.
