New Fasting and New Wine

As Jesus feasts at Matthew’s house, the disciples of John and the Pharisees ask him why His disciples don’t fast. Jesus responds by pointing out how absurd it would be for groomsmen to fast during a wedding or betrothal feast, as though it was a time for mourning rather than celebration. He goes even further to begin to illustrate the nature of the New Covenant for them by teaching them that you can’t merely put a patch of the new on the old without tearing it worse, nor can the old structures contain the substance of the new wine without bursting.