Matthew 9:14-17, Mark 2:18-22, Luke 5:33-39
The Parable
Matthew 9:14-17
“Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?’
“And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the friends of the bridegroom 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. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.’”
Lesson
The Pharisees fasted ritualistically, but it would not be so under Christ. The disciples had no reason to fast when He was here, for they were with Him. But now, the truth having been revealed, we are able to fast after the proper fashion; not after the old, ritualistic ways of the Pharisees, but in truth.
Christianity could not be fitted into the Old Testament law, it isn’t a patch on it. The Old Testament pointed to Christ, and now that Christ is here, the Old Testament has been fulfilled. We are now under the Law of Christ, and the tenets thereof.