Matthew 9:16

"Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast."

Key Reflection

In first-century Jewish culture, weddings were grand affairs that lasted several days, culminating in a feast when the bridegroom was officially brought into his new home. The friends of the bridegroom would be present throughout this time and thus would not mourn. Jesus used this cultural context to draw a parallel with himself as the bridegroom and his disciples as his friends. He indicates that while he is among them, they should not fast but celebrate; however, when he ascends to heaven, they will then have reason to observe fasting, much like those who would mourn the loss of a loved one.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Verse 16. No man putteth a piece of new cloth, etc. A second illustration was drawn from a well know fact, showing also that there was a propriety or fitness of things. None of you, says he, in mending an old garment, would take a piece of entire new cloth. There would be a waste in it. An old piece, or a piece like the garment, would be better. The word here treated new, in the original means rude, undressed, or not fulled or cleansed by the cloth-dresser. In this state, if applied to an old garment, and if wet, it would contract and draw off a part of the garment to which it was attached, and thus make the rent worse than it was.

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