Title: Why Do Not Your Disciples Fast?
Contents
Sunday day sermon
Text: Matthew 9:14-17
Title: Why Do Not Your Disciples Fast?
The law, which God gave through Moses, was a great blessing to the people of Israel who were living under the law at that time, but also a great burden on the other hand. What is a blessing under the law? Those who realized the goodness of God through the law and struggled to live according to God’s will were blessed because they were saved by God’s grace. For those who did not like to live by the law, the law felt a great burden. because it was lost. So, the law acts as a blessing for those who want to keep it, but for those who keep trying to avoid it, the law acts as a snare for them.
To people living in this reality, a person named Jesus appeared out of nowhere in the countryside of Nazareth, calling himself the Messiah, and forcing them to believe his words. Or, there were many people who hesitated whether to let his words go. In the meantime, even the disciples of John the Baptist, who was in charge of guiding the way of Jesus at that time, were skeptical of Jesus by saying, “We and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” You can see that it is impossible to understand the deep will of God not only then but also now, except as a son who came from God's bosom.
Jesus gives an answer to John's disciples when they ask such a question, and you can see that the answer is also not easy to understand from the point of view of humans. As the text says, “Can the wedding guests mourn while the bridegroom is with them? But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.” If you just listen to this word casually and think from a purely human point of view, you might say, ‘No! Who is the groom and who are the guests?’ The question arises. But Jesus compared himself to be the bridegroom and his disciples to guests, but the listener may not think so. From a human point of view, Jesus is clearly a human being. That is why humans only see his appearance and think of him as a human being just like himself. Then, from the moment of thinking that way, humans fall into uncontrollable chaos. 'no! why are you Are you not fasting twice a week as the law points out?’
But what we need to know is that, as slaves, they forget their identity that they are in a position to obey the law in order to live, and since the master is the enforcer of the law and the one who came to fulfill the law, the servants are so fast This means that even the owner does not fast at the same time. On the contrary, if the owner fasts, only the appearance becomes more ridiculous. So, Jesus told the story of a piece of raw cloth to explain this in more detail. “No one puts a piece of raw linen on an old garment, for a stretch pulls on it and adds to the fraying!” It is explained that when a piece of raw fabric is pasted on old clothes, the piece of raw fabric pulls on the old clothes, so only the clothes are worn out, and eventually they are all thrown away. Therefore, the old must be preserved as the old, and the new must be preserved in order to preserve both.
Because the Master is the Master of everything, he is never taught or instructed by anyone. But slaves must live according to the instructions of their master. If the master has instructed him to obey a certain law, the servants must live by that law. If he says he cannot live by that law, he will be breaking the promise he made with his master, so he should be punished according to the promise he made in the covenant. Therefore, when God enters into a relationship with man, he must make a covenant, that is, a promise. That is why God first made a covenant with Abraham and the Israelites were born under him. As we know, we have clearly seen through the Bible that all those who break the promise are subjected to cruel punishment.
Now, the covenant relationship continues even with the Gentiles who have become spiritual Israel. Even the present Gentiles who have become spiritual Israelites are people who made a covenant with God through the blood of Jesus. Until the coming of the spiritual Son, God commanded the Gentiles through His servants to live according to the commandments He had given them. Gentiles also received instructions from their servants and those who worked hard to keep the law, when the master comes, will be guided by the master and set out on the road to 'righteousness'. Not only will it not be possible, but on the contrary, only the sins that have been hidden will be revealed more.
But even servants, those who have tried to live by keeping the commandments will be guided by the Master, and when the Master comes He will make them whole. Until now, they fasted to keep the law and lived according to the law, but now the Master will come and make all things perfect, and they will finally enjoy complete freedom. This is what it means to be perfected by the Spirit of the Son of God.
Jesus also said, “New wine must be put into new wineskins so that both can be preserved.” He compared the life of faith under the law to old wineskins. He is speaking by analogy with the new wine to be contained. This also applies to present-day Gentiles. The Gentiles have been living under the Holy Spirit and waiting eagerly for the coming of the Lord. To say that the Gentiles lived under the Holy Spirit means that the Gentiles are still living under sin, just as when the Israelites lived under the law.
Just as those who lived under the law could only be perfected when Jesus came as the fulfillment of the law, so the Gentiles who lived under the Holy Spirit, like a spiritual people, can only be made perfect when the spiritual Son of God comes. Applying the words of Jesus, “New wine must be put into new wineskins so that both can be preserved,” we can compare the time when we lived under the Holy Spirit to old wineskins, and now Jesus through His servant The new coming can be expressed with new wine and new wineskins. Now, Gentiles, no matter who they are, must believe in the spiritual Son of God who comes from among the Gentiles. If he does not believe, he is breaking the covenant he made with the blood of the Lord, and in the end he will face a cruel punishment.