Jesus
Is Not an Additive, Mark 2:18-22
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and
said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your
disciples do not fast?”
19 And Jesus
said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom
is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot
fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will
be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 21 No
one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece
pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no
one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the
wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must
be put into new wineskins.”
(Synoptic references: Matthew 9:14-17, Luke 5:33-39).
We are stepping right back onto the dusty streets of
Capernaum.
Last week, we stood on the shores of Galilee along the
Via Maris Hiway. We watched Jesus walk up to a toll booth and look in
the eyes of a priest-turned-pirate named Levi. We heard Jesus say the two words
that change everything: "Follow Me." In a flash of amazing
grace, Levi left his old wooden desk to follow the old rugged cross.
But Levi didn't just follow Jesus, he was all in,
totally committed, and to let the whole world know, he threw a massive party.
He packed his house with his friends—tax collectors, outcasts, sinners, and
spiritual lepers. And right there, in the midst of them, was Jesus. Showing
them, the Great Physician doesn’t wait for folks to get well, He does house
calls. He loves you right where you are, but way too much to keep you that way.
Now, He’s about to show us, exactly what that means.
As the laughter from Levi’s feast spilled into the
street, the religious elite were on the outside looking in. They were clenching
their jaws, crossing their arms, tapping their feet, fuming. “Look, a
glutton and winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” Matt. 11:19.
That brings us directly to our text.
Mark 2:18
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and
said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your
disciples do not fast?”
The Fasting Façade
Notice the crazy escalation. It started with Pharisees
being angry because He ate with tax collectors and sinners.
Now, they criticize Him for eating, at all.
Some folks have a gift of encouragement. Others, well
they have a curse of criticism. So, let’s face it, some folks will never be
pleased no matter what you do. No matter how kind or how clear you share the
Love of Jesus, they will find fault, criticize and shame.
Jesus says it like this:
Matthew
11:18-19 For John came neither eating nor
drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of
Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her
children.”
The sad part is that John the Baptist’s disciples somehow
got caught up in this mess.
Sin is slippery and sneaky especially when you’re
emotionally triggered. At that time, John’s disciples were sad, probably
fasting and praying and mourning, because John was in prison.
So, it’d be easy for some scheming slithering pharisee
to say:
“Hey, sorry to hear John’s in prison. How’re you
feeling, brother? Must be tough. You’re probably doing a lot of praying and
fasting these days, huh? I know exactly how you feel—ahem—I myself fast
twice a week. I don’t know, maybe it’d help if you could talk to that new
Teacher in town, umm, what’s His name?”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah, that’s it. Jesus. I think John mentioned Him.
Yeah, I’m sure of it. I think they know each other. Oh wait, I know, they not
only know each other; they’re cousins. So, then, you’ve probably already talked
to Him. I’m sure He’s with all of you, fasting and praying too, right?”
“Well, umm—”
“Wait. No. I
just remembered. Oh boy, I hate to say it. You won’t believe it; I wouldn’t
believe it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. But last night, I saw Jesus eating
and drinking and laughing and partying with tax collectors and sinners. My oh
my, while His own cousin rots in prison. How rude. Somebody needs to confront Him.
I would but, He won’t listen us. But maybe, you can talk some sense into Him.
I’ll go with you...”
Now, we don’t know if that’s what happened, but we are
told, in Matthew 9:14 that it was John’s disciples who asked the question. So,
somehow John’s disciples and the Pharisees, got together regarding this
question about fasting.
John’s disciples may have legitimately wanted to know.
The Pharisees on the other hand were simply trying to
trap Jesus, and if they could use John’s disciples as useful idiots, all the
better.
Now, regarding the big whoop-de-doo they
were making about fasting.
Under the Old Testament Law, God only commanded one
mandatory fast a year—the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). That was it.
One day a year. Leviticus 16:29–31, 23:27. This year it was September 21, 2026.
However, this is oh so amazingly beautiful and telling
of the marvelous loving character of God the Father.
He commanded over twenty days of national feasting
every single year!
That reveals the heart of God and how He feels about fasting
versus feasting.
God structured the Hebrew calendar so that His people
spent much more time celebrating His goodness, eating awesome food, and
rejoicing together in community than they did in solemn self-denial.
The feasts are found in passages like Leviticus 23
and Deuteronomy 16:
Weekly Feasts:
Above and beyond the annual calendar, God also
commanded the weekly Sabbath (52 days a year). Isaiah 58:13
explicitly commands Israel to call the Sabbath a “delight.” In Jewish
theological tradition, fasting was strictly forbidden on the Sabbath
because it was meant to be a day of rest, physical restoration,
and excellent food. (So, that’s why folks like to go out to eat after
Church—it’s built into our Spiritual Biblical DNA 😊).
God Likes Holy Laughter More Than
Religious Misery: The ratio of commanded feasting to
commanded fasting in the Old Testament is at least 20 to 1. God never
intended for His people to live in a perpetual state of somber, exhausting
religious performance.
The Pharisees Flipped the Script:
The Pharisees invented 104 extra days of fasting every year. They took a
religious ecosystem that God designed to be overflowing with the joy of a
wedding and transformed it into the heavy, rigid, legalistic burden of a
funeral. (We know this mainly from the ancient Christian manual called the Didache;
also known as The
Teaching of the Twelve Apostles and also from the Mishnah;
the written compilation of Jewish oral traditions and Pharisaic laws).
Jesus Restored the Balance:
When Jesus defended His disciples for feasting at Levi's house, He wasn't
breaking God's law—He was restoring the original heart of the Father! He was
reminding the Pharisees that the Presence of God is meant to bring a banquet,
not a funeral.
Sadly, by the time Jesus stepped onto the scene, the
Pharisees had added their own rules about fasting, not once a year, but twice a
week—every Monday and Thursday because they were major market days, the perfect
stage to show off their legalistic, hypocritical, religious piety.
So, they approached Jesus with the trap basically
saying: Look, we are sacrificing. We are suffering for God. Why are You and
Your disciples eating, drinking and being merry? Where are Your religious
manners?
Look at how Jesus answers:
Mark 2:19-20
And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends
of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long
as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But
the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and
then they will fast in those days.
Brilliant answer. But
what’s a wedding got to do with it? It may seem totally irrelevant and random,
but it’s powerfully profound.
It’s disarming.
Nobody can argue against the fact that you feast not fast at a wedding.
It’s unapologetic. Follow
Jesus. Live above reproach, honoring God, and you won’t feel the need to
apologize when you’re criticized.
Their question about fasting wasn’t really a
question; it was an accusation (at least from the Pharisees). And it wasn’t about
fasting; it was just one more thing to criticize.
Ultimately, their issue, both John’s disciples and the
Pharisees, was about His identity. Who are You?
John’s disciples: John
told us You are the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. John was
a voice crying in the wilderness, confronting sinners, calling them to
repentance. But You... You are in the city with sinners, eating and drinking,
while our John, Your cousin, sits in prison. Why? This is hard to understand. You
don’t fit our mold for the Messiah. (It shouldn’t have been so hard;
they accepted John—and he ate bugs).
Even John the Baptist would send word from prison to ask, “Are You the One, or should we look for another?” Matthew 11:2-6, Luke 7:18-23.
The Pharisees: You
touched the unclean leper. You blaspheme by claiming to forgive sin; and by
calling Yourself, the Son of Man. You couldn’t possibly be the One since
You won’t conform to our rules for the Messiah.
Of course, Jesus saw through it all and answered the
real issue by completely flipping the conversation from a funeral to one
of His favorite topics: a wedding.
In Jewish culture, a wedding was the pinnacle of
social joy. The wedding feast didn't last for an hour or two; it lasted for seven
full days! It was a week of pure celebration, laughter, music, and an abundance
of food. During that week, Jewish law explicitly stated that the wedding
guests—the “sons of the bridechamber”—were completely exempt from all religious
fasting duties. It was considered a cultural crime to fast at a wedding. It
would insult the groom.
But the real profound power to this statement is that Jesus,
once again, drops a clue to the Pharisees of His Divinity. Notice how many
times He repeated “bridegroom.”
The Old Testament repeatedly referred to God as a Bridegroom, a Husband. (Ezekiel 16:8, Isaiah 54:5, Jeremiah 3:14, 31:32, Hosea 2:16, 19).
Jesus was on a mission to tell the world He was the
Messiah, that He was God in the flesh (John 1:14) and He said it repeatedly for
anyone who was listening.
Jesus healed the leper, and everybody knew, only God could
heal lepers.
Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic, and everybody
knows only God can forgive sins.
Jesus called Himself, “Son of Man” and
everybody knows, that refers to the Messiah.
Now, Jesus is saying, “I AM the Bridegroom.”
But, but, but, the Bridegroom, is God.
Exactly.
Jesus is smiling, telling them: “My wedding party cannot
fast, when I AM, in the room. I AM, the Bridegroom.”
Now, pass Me the bread, let’s slow down and chew for a
moment.
This is fast paced and packed, so we need to go slow, marinate
and savor, the meat of this moment. Otherwise, we might miss the powerful
prophetic shadow of the cross.
Look again at verse 20: “But the days will come
when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them...”
The Greek word for “taken away” is apairō.
It means to be violently torn away or snatched by force.
Right here, early in Jesus’ earthly ministry, He begins
preparing them for His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, basically
saying, “Listen, right now, in My Presence, is fullness of joy, not a time
for fasting. But a dark Friday is quickly coming, when I will be violently torn
away from You. Then, you will fast.”
Then, it seems, without even taking a breath, He dives
deeper, into the real matter at hand. He quickly, succinctly, gives two short
parables, back-to-back, that address the huge hurdle for the disciples, the
pharisees... and for us, today.
JESUS IS NOT AN ADDITIVE
Mark 2:21-22
No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece
pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no
one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the
wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must
be put into new wineskins.”
You don’t fast at a wedding.
You don’t put a new patch on an old garment.
You don’t put new wine in old wineskins.
You don’t pull on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into
the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger and you don’t mess
around with Him.
What are you talking about? What is Jesus trying to
say?
These succinct parables are powerfully profound in
their simplicity.
Everybody understood, if you sew a new patch on an old
garment, it might look fine for a minute but the moment it gets wet, goes
through some rain, or washing, the patch will shrink and the hole will be worse
than before.
They all knew you can’t store new unfermented wine in
old wineskins, the expansion due to fermentation will cause the old un-stretchable
leather to explode and ruin everything.
That’s simple enough, but what does it have to do with
them asking about fasting?
Okay, this is the powerfully profound part.
They weren’t asking about fasting they were asking
about why Jesus didn’t fit into their mold, their religious rules and
regulations, their idea of how a good little Messiah is supposed to behave.
They were trying to add Jesus.
Jesus is making it crystal clear: I AM, not an
additive.
A little crème in your coffee. A little
sugar on your cereal. A little Jesus on your
dashboard. A little Sunday morning Jesus in your schedule. A
little Jesus patch, on your garment. A little Jesus wine in your
wineskin.
Adding a little Jesus to your
life, does not work.
Handing someone a little Jesus, is cute.
But Jesus is neither little nor, cute.
Our
God is a consuming fire, and you cannot put a consuming fire
in a heart full of wood, hay and stubble, and tell Him to sit down, shut up and
be nice.
He won’t listen, He won’t stay there, He will consume
everything in the house and then start reaching out for the neighbors.
So, you have a choice. Let Him burn and purge and
cleanse everything within...
Or... you can choose to quench His Holy Fire.
He will let you.
But if you do, beware, He won’t just sit there, like a
nice little smoldering ember.
You cannot contain the Creator of the Universe.
He will do to you what He did to Adam and Eve in Eden and what He did to Sampson, what He did to King Saul, what He did to the temple in Jerusalem. He left them empty, vulnerable, naked. (Genesis 3:7, Judges 16:20, 1 Samuel 16:14, Ezekiel 10).
If you just try to add a little Jesus to your tradition, your religion, it won’t work. The Word of God won’t even work for you. You can quote with eloquence all the right Scripture, in the name of Jesus, and it won’t do you any good. In Mark 7:13 and Matthew 15:6, Jesus tells us that by your traditions, you make of none effect the Word of God.
If you try adding a little Jesus to your
lifestyle, it won’t work, it won’t help, it’ll make things worse, like the
patch and the wine. You’ll become a controlling, legalistic, judgmental,
pharisee, or a lawless leftwing lunatic thinking there is no hell, there is no
sin and God’s a puffy pink marshmallow filled with chocolate.
You’ll have a form of godliness but deny the Power
thereof (2 Timothy 3:1-5). You will be of those who say, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we
do all sorts of works in Your name...” And with a broken heart, He will say,
“Depart from me, I never knew you workers of iniquity. (Matthew 7:21-23).
All because you tried to add a little
Jesus to your life. Like you add a little salt and pepper to
season your meal, like you add a little insurance to your
car, your house, your life.
By adding a little Jesus to your life,
you’re inventing your own way to heaven. You’re doing whatever is
right in your own eyes, like the idolaters of old who the Lord
destroyed, for that very reason.
Adding a little Jesus to your life is
staying on the throne, refusing to let Jesus take the wheel, unwilling to lay
it all down, give it all up, to let Jesus be Lord and make you brand-new.
For this relationship to work, Jesus had to die, and
He did.
But you must die too.
He says you must be made new. Not patched up, not revised, not renovated. You must be born again, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and... the two word command He gave to Levi, applies to all: Follow Me. (John 3:16, Matthew 16:24, Mark 2:14).
Galatians 2:20 puts it like this: I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.
That’s the reason so many so-called Christians are
living lifestyles contrary to Christ, because they just tried to add
a little Jesus to their life.
It doesn’t work.
Who is Jesus to you? An additive, or are you all in?
Jesus did not leave heaven, take on flesh, die on a
cross, to just patch up a ragged rundown, never worked in the first place, religious
system. He did not come to earth to write a self-help manual for us to live our
best life now.
He came to show us how to die—so we could Truly Live.
He didn’t come to be added on to anything... He came
to replace. To make all things new.
That includes you.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, thank You for doing a house
call to our heart, right now. If there be any place where we’ve tried to add You,
but not let You, rule and reign, please convict us, make us sick to our soul,
until You we are purged and cleansed and You are seated completely as Lord on
the throne in every area of our life. So, that when we see You face to face, we,
and all those You’ve given us, will hear You say, well done, not, I never knew
You.
Thank You.
We love You, forever.
Amen.
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Mark 2:18-22
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Mark 2:18-22
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