I was pleased to read that the European Union was introducing a ‘right to repair’ law. This is supposed to prevent manufacturers from making products that must be replaced when fairly minor parts fail. Great news for people like me who like to ‘make do and mend’! There are times, however, when even I have to admit that the time has come to throw something away and buy a replacement.

Jesus’ shocking message was that he had not come to patch up the religious system but to bring in something new. Just as you would not patch an old cloak with new, unshrunk, cloth, it won’t work to take a bit of Jesus’ teaching and add it on to the old religious way. The Pharisees taught their disciples to observe fasts prescribed in the Old Testament strictly (eg Leviticus 16:29–34). John’s disciples may have been doing likewise or perhaps they were fasting because he was in prison. Jesus makes a shocking claim that he is the ‘bridegroom’ (vs 19,20) – a new era has come (v 20).

New wine, which contains live yeast and is still fermenting, can be put in new wineskins which have some elasticity; try to put it in old skins and they will simply burst. The new life which Jesus brings demands radical change. 

‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice!’¹

The Canadian Broadcasting Company conducted a poll recently, asking the question, ‘What part does religion play in your life?’ If they had called me, I don’t know how I would have answered that question. Actually: ‘none’. I go to church, read my Bible and pray. But I don’t think of that as ‘religion’. What would you have answered?

It’s ironic that the Pharisees criticised Jesus’ disciples for not fasting, when Jesus himself had fasted for forty days before beginning his ministry. Actually, fasting does not feature highly in the Old Testament. The only required fast was on the Day of Atonement. When fasting is mentioned, it is often to denounce the hypocrisy with which it was carried out. There are examples of people fasting to add leverage to their prayers, thinking that God would be more likely to deliver them from trouble.² In contrast to this, Isaiah reinterprets ‘fasting’ as providing food, shelter and clothing to the needy.³ Over time, the practice became one of the hallmarks of the pious Jew. Think of the Pharisee who went up into the Temple to pray.⁴ In today’s secular culture, I don’t think anybody would be impressed with this display of religiosity. What does impress people is to see Christians who ‘loose the chains of injustice’ etc.⁵

This is not to say that there’s no place for fasting in the Christian life. Jesus takes it for granted here and in Matthew 6:16 and 17. What’s wrong on this occasion is that his critics have failed to see his ministry for what it is: a time of compassion, healing, forgiveness, release, freedom and joy. They are like the older brother out in the field, complaining about how hard he works, while his father is celebrating the return of his younger brother, who was lost and is found.⁶

How can you live with joy and sorrow at the same time? 

¹ Phil 4:4  ² Eg 1 Kings 21:27; Ps 35:13  ³ Isa 58, especially verses 6–9  ⁴ Luke 18:12  ⁵ Isa 58:6  ⁶ Luke 15:25–32