LVII.
MATTHEW'S FEAST. DISCOURSE ON FASTING.
(Capernaum.)
aMATT. IX. 10-17; bMARK
II. 15-22; cLUKE V. 29-39.
c29 And Levi [another
name for the apostle Matthew] made him a great feast in his house:
b15 And it came to pass, that he was sitting {aas
he sat} at meat in the {bhis} ahouse, cand
there was a great multitude of publicans [Matthew had invited his old
friends] and of others band abehold, many publicans
and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. bfor
there were many, cthat were sitting at meat with them. band
they followed him.
c30 And the Pharisees and their scribes {bthe scribes
of the Pharisees,} [that is, the scribes which were of their party
or sect] when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and publicans,
cmurmured against his disciples, saying, {athey said}
unto his disciples, cWhy do ye eat and drink with the publicans
and sinners? aWhy eateth your Teacher with the publicans and
sinners? bHow is it that he eateth and drinketh with
publicans and sinners? [From their standpoint, the question was natural
enough. No strict Jew could eat with a Gentile (Acts xi. 3; Gal. ii. 12),
and Matthew's guests were classed with the heathen.]
a12 But {b17 And} awhen he bJesus
heard it, he canswering said {bsaith} unto them,
They that are whole {cin health} have no need of a physician,
but they that are sick. a13
But go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice
[For an explanation of this passage, see page
212. To mercifully help sinners to repent was more precious to God
than sacrifice]: for c32
I am not come {aI came not} to call the righteous, but sinners.
cto repentance. [Being charged with recklessly consorting
[349] with sinners, it was necessary for Jesus
to vindicate himself, else his influence would be damaged; hence he presents
three arguments: 1. His office being analogous to that of a physician,
required him to visit the sin-sick. 2. God himself commended such an act
of mercy, and preferred it to sacrifice; 3. As he came to call sinners
to repentance, he must therefore go to the sinners. These arguments do
not justify us in keeping company with bad people for any other purpose
than to do them good--that is, as their soul's physician. When he used
the word "righteous," Jesus did not mean to admit that any were so righteous
as to need no Saviour; he merely quoted the Pharisees at the value which
they set upon themselves.] b18
And John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting: and they come {a14
Then come to him the disciples of John,}
c33 And they said {bsay} unto him, asaying,
cThe disciples of John fast often, and make supplications
[single penitential prayers with their fasting]; likewise also
the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink. [As
John the Baptist observed one almost continual fast, his diet being locusts
and wild honey, his disciples naturally had great respect for that rite,
and noted the lack of its observance by Jesus as an apparent defect in
his character. They were honest inquirers, and Jesus answered them respectfully
as such.] aWhy do we and the Pharisees
{bJohn's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees} afast
oft, but thy disciples fast not?
15 And Jesus said unto them, cCan ye make the sons of the bride-chamber
fast, {amourn}, as long as {cwhile} the bridegroom
is with them? bas long as they have with bridegroom with them,
the cannot fast. [The bridegroom's friends were called "sons of the
bride-chamber." They went with the bridegroom to the bride's house, and
escorted her to her new home. Arriving at the bridegroom's house, a feast
usually lasting seven days ensued (Matt. xxii. 4; Luke xiv. 8; John ii.
8, 9). Mourning and fasting would therefore ill befit such an occasion.]
c35 But the days will come; and when the bridegroom shall
[350] be taken from them, band
then will they fast in that day. {cthose days.} [Jesus here
foretells the removal of his visible presence from his disciples by his
ascension. His words predict but do not command a fast. He prescribed no
stated fasts, and the apostolic church kept none. History shows that prescribed
fasts become formal and tend to Phariseeism.]
36 And he spake also a parable unto them: No man rendeth a piece from a
new garment and putteth it upon an old garment, else he will rend the new,
and also the piece from the new will not agree with the old.
a16 And no man putteth {bseweth} a piece of undressed
cloth on {aupon} an old garment; for {belse} that
which should fill it up taketh from it, {afrom the garment,}
bthe new from the old, and a worse rent is made. [Jesus
justifies the conduct of his disciples by an appeal to the principles of
the new dispensation, by which they were governed. The disciples of John
looked upon Jesus as a reformer of Judaism, but he corrects their false
impressions. To tear the new dispensation to pieces to renovate or embellish
the old would be to injure the new and to destroy the old. By the process
of fulling or dressing, new cloth was cleansed and shrunk so as to become
more compact. The new cloth, therefore, had in it, so to speak, a life-element,
and in its movement while shrinking it would tear the weaker fiber of the
old cloth to which it was sewed, and thus enlarge the rent. The new dispensation
could have rites and forms of its own, but could not conform to the rites
of the Pharisees. If the conduct of his disciples had made a rent in the
rabbinical traditions with regard to fasting, Jesus could not so modify
the conduct of his disciples as to patch the rent without injuring the
moral sense of his disciples, and without making Phariseeism a more meaningless
hypocrisy than ever.]
22 And no man putteth {a17 Neither
do men put} new wine into old wine-skins: celse the the
new wine will burst the skins, aand the wine citself
will be {ais} spilled, band the wine perisheth, and
the skins: aburst, cand the skins will perish. abut
they put new wine {cnew [351] wine
must be put} binto fresh wine-skins. aand both are
preserved. [This parable is also an illustration of the principles
set forth above. Wine was then stored in casks of skin--usually hides of
goats. Wine-skins, newly made, were elastic, and would expand to accommodate
the fermentation of the new wine within. But the old wine-skins were stiff
and of little strength, and would burst if fermenting liquid were confined
within them.] c39 And no
man having drunk old wine desireth new; for he saith, The old is
good. [The thought here is that as wine should be put in skins suited
for it, and as, at an entertainment, the different kinds of wine should
be served in appropriate succession; so, fasting should be observed on
suitable occasions--not, for instance, at a wedding.]
[FFG 349-352]
