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?” 19 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. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. 21 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. 22 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.”
Jesus’ disciples are questioned because John’s disciples fast, and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, so people expect Jesus’ disciples to do the same. In that setting, fasting often expressed repentance, grief, or longing for God to act.
Jesus answers by defining the moment. His presence with his disciples is like a wedding, and wedding guests do not fast while the bridegroom is with them. A new moment has arrived, and the right response is different because the situation is different. The point is not that fasting is worthless. The point is that fasting does not match what is happening when the bridegroom is present.
By using the bridegroom image for himself, Jesus speaks in Israel’s covenant language. The prophets described the Lord as a husband bound to his people in faithful love (Is. 54:5-6; Hos. 2:18-20; Is. 62:5). Mark’s point is that Jesus is not simply another teacher alongside John and the Pharisees. His presence signals that God’s promised saving work is arriving in the present. John’s Gospel uses the same bridegroom language when JBap identifies Jesus as the bridegroom (Jn. 3:29), and it frames Jesus’ first sign at Cana within a wedding setting (Jn. 2:1-12), which fits the same covenant theme.
Jesus then adds a line that looks ahead: “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day” (v. 20). Mark signals that the story will move toward loss and suffering, because Jesus says the bridegroom will be “taken away,” meaning a time will come when Jesus will no longer be with them. Mark gives no details here, but he is alerting the reader that the joy of Jesus’ presence will be followed by a real period of sorrow, and only later will the meaning of that sorrow become clear. Fasting will belong to that later time, when disciples live with longing and watchfulness. Luke records the same basic exchange and places it in the same context of debate over fasting (Lk. 5:33-39).
Jesus then gives two short pictures to show that his coming cannot be treated as a minor adjustment to familiar religious expectations. The objection assumes his disciples should fit the standard pattern: if other disciples fast, his should fast too. Jesus answers that the situation is different, and forcing his mission into an old pattern will only damage what people are trying to preserve. “No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak” (v. 21). The new cloth pulls away, and the tear gets worse. New wine poured into old wineskins will expand as it ferments, burst the skins, and ruin both. Jesus’ point is not that what came before was meaningless. His point is that what is arriving in him cannot be contained within old categories. If people try to force his mission into earlier patterns, the result will be damage rather than understanding.
So the question about fasting is really a question about recognition. The question assumes that Jesus, John, and the Pharisees are essentially comparable teachers with comparable disciples and comparable practices. Jesus rejects that assumption. If he is treated as one figure among others, his disciples will be measured by the usual expectations. If he is received as the one who brings God’s kingdom near, then that new reality requires a new way of living and responding. Fasting has its place, but it must be placed where it belongs: not as a denial of the bridegroom’s presence, and not as a substitute for recognizing what God is doing in him.
Mark tells us two truths – Jesus fulfills Israel’s hope in God’s saving action, and once the bridegroom is present, the traditional practices like fasting are not abolished, but they must change. After the bridegroom is taken away, fasting becomes appropriate again, not as a denial of joy, but as a truthful expression of longing for the bridegroom’s return.
Lord Jesus, help me to receive your presence with clear faith and to order my life according to what you reveal. Teach me to practice devotion with truth, not habit, and to desire your kingdom more than my own plans. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011).
- Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Gospel of Mark (Ignatius Press), 68, 70.
- Raymond E. Brown et al., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990), 602-603 (para. 17).
- Faculty of the University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible: St. Mark (Four Courts/Scepter), 170.
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (2018), 983.
- John J. Collins et al., eds., The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century, 3rd rev. ed. (2020), 1249.
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