CHAPTER 14: JESUS EXPLAINS HIS ATTITUDE ON FASTING (PART 2)
THE DISCIPLES of John the Baptist and of the Pharisees came to Jesus, troubled in their
hearts, asking:
“Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?”
“Jesus replied:
“Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
“No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles [skins]; else the new wine will burst the bottles [skins], and be spilled, and the bottles [skins] shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles [skins]; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new; for he saith, ‘The old is better’.”
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Why Jesus did what he did; Learned? How? – not taught of man; Understanding? How?
- Spoke not as the Scribes; AUTHORITY! Jesus exuded the idea of authority (humble, meek – lived as an example of what I want for you); How? b/c “My doctrine is not mine…; doctrine of God who sent me; anyone who does HIS WILL shall know; we preach what is in our lives; Spirit teaches what we need to know; Religion & Education will not get our Character Upgraded; seeking God’s glory – great!; seeking personal glory – problem! unrighteousness;
- Moses? none of you keep the law; traditions/idioms stop the ears of the people;
- can’t be Messiah b/c… “we expected something else”