The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to him and objected, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins." (Mk 2:18-22)
Every religion has pious practices. Jewish religion has prayer almsgiving and fasting as the main religious practices besides many others. Every Jew and every disciple of religious leaders continued this practice. ‘Fasting’ was one of the distinctive elements of the religious practices. Hence it was no doubt that it raised a problem in the mind of the people.
Jesus presented himself, not openly though, as the bridegroom. His presence in the world is the time of marriage. He has come into the world to marry the world. Marriage is not the time for ascetical practices. It is the time of celebration, rejoicing. And hence Jesus’ presence in the world suspended all the ascetical practice and particularly that of fasting.
Jesus has ushered in the new age. Old practices do not have significance anymore. If an effort was made to compromise the old and the new then result is ruin. Jesus arrival is like the new wine or like the new cloth. Old should not be mingled with the new.
