Discourse on fasting

St Mark Chapter II : Verses 18-22

John the Baptist addressing Pharisees. J-J Tissot.

[18] And the disciples of John and the Pharisees used to fast; and they come and say to him: Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast; but thy disciples do not fast? 

[19] And Jesus saith to them: Can the children of the marriage fast, as long as 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 shall be taken away from them; and then they shall fast in those days.

[21] No man seweth a piece of raw cloth to an old garment: otherwise the new piecing taketh away from the old, and there is made a greater rent. 

[22] And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: otherwise the wine will burst the bottles, and both the wine will be spilled, and the bottles will be lost. But new wine must be put into new bottles.

[18] Et erant discipuli Joannis et pharisæi jejunantes : et veniunt, et dicunt illi : Quare discipuli Joannis et pharisæorum jejunant, tui autem discipuli non jejunant? [19] Et ait illis Jesus : Numquid possunt filii nuptiarum, quamdiu sponsus cum illis est, jejunare? Quanto tempore habent secum sponsum, non possunt jejunare. [20] Venient autem dies cum auferetur ab eis sponsus : et tunc jejunabunt in illis diebus. [21] Nemo assumentum panni rudis assuit vestimento veteri : alioquin aufert supplementum novum a veteri, et major scissura fit. [22] Et nemo mittit vinum novum in utres veteres : alioquin dirumpet vinum utres, et vinum effundetur, et utres peribunt : sed vinum novum in utres novos mitti debet.

Notes

18. disciples of John. They were, like their master St John the Baptist, accustomed to fast frequently. The Pharisees fasted on the Mondays and Thursdays in memory of Moses ascent and descent of Mt. Sinai, as the Pharisee boasted, I fast twice in a week (St Luke xviii. 12). They also kept extra fasts, and very possibly the banquet at Levi’s house fell on one of their extra fast days. Certainly our Lord would not have broken a fast prescribed by the law of Moses. The Pharisees and disciples of John join together to blame our Lord’s action.

used to fast : literally, were fasting.

19. children of the marriage. The wedding guests who accompanied the bridegroom to the house of the bride and assisted at the marriage feast. They were obliged by their custom and their laws to rejoice during the whole week following the marriage.
Bridegroom. Jesus is the Bridegroom, and He here reminds St John’s disciples that their master had spoken of Him as such, and that St John was the friend who rejoiced : He that hath the bride , is the bridegroom : but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled (St John iii. 29).
As long as they, etc. Jesus was with His disciples, they were the sons or “ children of the marriage ,” hence they were bound to rejoice. It was not the time for the fasting of supererogation. Such conduct would be inconsistent.

20. The days will come. A reference to His Crucifixion. Our Lord often referred to His death (see St John ii. 19, iii. 14), and more frequently as the time drew nearer.
taken away : literally “ torn away with violence.” This is the first allusion to our Lord’s death in St Mark’s Gospel.
They shall fast in those days. Both when they mourned Christ’s death, and also after His ascension when the Bridegroom left them.

21 and 22. These verses give us two parables in which, under the figure of raw cloth and new wine, Jesus refers to His own teaching, while the old garment and old bottles refer to the Jewish rites and observances. The truth taught by these parables is, that the Jewish form of worship was to be superseded by Christian rites and ceremonies.
The Law being fulfilled was to give place to the Gospel.

21. raw cloth : cloth that had not been fulled[1] or shrunk, and which if applied to fulled cloth, would contract when moistened, and rend the garment.

22. old bottles. The wine bottles were made of sheep or goat skins. Naturally, when not in use they would dry up. If new or unfermented wine was poured in, these skins would crack when subjected to the pressure of the gases engendered by fermentation.

[1]  to full: transitive. To subject (cloth, esp. woollen cloth) to various mechanical processes in order to clean and thicken or felt it.
Originally carried out by treading or beating the wetted cloth, with the addition of a cleansing agent such as fuller's earth; mechanization of the process of physically manipulating the cloth spread to northern Europe in the medieval period. [OED]

Additional Notes

20. they shall fast in those days. Our Lord clearly teaches here the duty of fasting, and names the time : — “ when the bridegroom shall be taken away.” Elsewhere He gives the conditions of fasting : — cheerfully and without ostentation. “When you fast, be not sad” (St Math. vi. 16). “Appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father” (vi. 18), and “thy Father shall reward thee.” Hence the Church is justified in imposing days and seasons of fasting and penance; and as children of the Church we are bound to obey her laws faithfully, unless for some special reason we are dispensed from fasting.

21-22. The parables of the raw cloth and the old garment , and of the old bottles and the new wine, both teach the same lessons, viz., that the Gospel was to take the place of the Law. In the early Church some of the first difficulties which arose resulted from a misapprehension of this fact. The converted Jews clung to their old faith and traditions; they wished to graft Christianity on to them, and to retain the ancient ceremonial. Hence the dissension at the first council of the Church, as to whether the Gentile converts should be circumcised or not (Acts xv.). St Paul was constantly in conflict with these Judaising Christians.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.