Getting to Know Jesus #10

When Jesus came, those who thought they knew how to please God struggled to figure Him out. He chose disciples from a strange lot; He associated with people they detested; He did not do the things they required. 

33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

With their typical judgmental spirit, these religious leaders press Jesus about His lack of fasting. To try to make Him feel guilty, the even bring up John the Baptist, whose lead at first He was following.  Fasting was only required in the Old Testament on a limited number of cases for certain reasons; they had made it a favorite pastime to show their "spirituality". Jesus said: "Now is not the appropriate time." He also adds these little parables about change: Everyone loves their comfy jeans, but eventually you have to buy new ones. Putting new wine into old wineskins does not work; the chemistry going on inside makes them unable to handle it. But some people kept trying anyway. Why? The stuff always seemed better. Change is hard, but that's what repentance leads to, and repentance is what they were having a hard time doing. How about you?