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Mark 2:18
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16 And when the scribes1 and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”  
17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, a“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners,1 to repentance.”  

Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting

18 aThe 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 the1 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 ataken 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.”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

23 aNow it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began bto pluck the heads of grain.  
24 And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is anot lawful on the Sabbath?”  
Commentaries:
Forerunner Commentary
What is the Forerunner Commentary?
<< Mark 2:17   Mark 2:19 >>

What Does Mark 2:18 Mean?



Mark 2:18-20

The bridegroom's friends would not think of fasting while he was with them. For them, it was a time of festivity and rejoicing—mourning was not appropriate. When the bridegroom left them, their festivities would end, and the proper time for fasting and sorrow would begin.

While Christ, the Bridegroom, was with His disciples, it was a time for joy. Expressing grief by fasting would have been inappropriate at that time. In addition, since Jesus was with them, they had no need to draw closer to Him through fasting. After Christ died, the disciples fasted when appropriate.

Martin G. Collins
Parable of the Cloth and Wineskins



Mark 2:18-22

The new wine represents the inner aspects of a Christian life, and the new cloth pictures outward conduct and conversation. A person's behavior reflects his commitment, seen in the illustration of attaching new cloth to old clothing. The old clothing—our sinful, selfish life—cannot be mended but must be replaced. The new cloth is a righteous life. The Pharisees' ritual fasting was an old garment for which a new piece of cloth was useless.

It is untenable to attach Christ's doctrine to the old corrupt doctrines of this world's religions. The righteous system Christ came to establish cannot be forced into an old system. To attempt to force His teachings into the ways of Judaism, Protestantism, Catholicism, or any other of this world's religions causes confusion. Christ is warning against syncretism of beliefs; it simply does not work (Matthew 24:4-5, 24; Romans 6:5-6; 16:17-18; Galatians 1:6-10; Ephesians 4:14; 5:6-11; I Timothy 6:3-5; Hebrews 13:9).

Our Savior teaches that life cannot be a mixture of two opposite principles. We cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). We cannot trust in our own works for salvation in Christ, nor follow the world and God. His new way must completely replace our old worldly ways so that we walk in newness of life.

Martin G. Collins
Parable of the Cloth and Wineskins




Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Mark 2:18:

Luke 5:36-39


 
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