“A New Question and a New Way”

(Matthew 9:14-17)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

April 28, 2019

The Passage

Matthew 9:14-17

14 Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”

15 Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests be sad while the groom is with them? The time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one patches an old garment with unshrunk cloth, because the patch pulls away from the garment and makes the tear worse. 17 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Introductory Comments:

Illustration: There are a lot of really important questions that we ask in our lives. Where will I go to college? What are we eating for lunch? Where is the bathroom? Do you take this woman to be your lawful wife? How does the jury find the defendant? Have you seen the car keys? Who is supposed to pick up the kids? What day is Mother’s Day? 

There are an infinite amount of important questions that we must deal with.

Jesus also got a lot of questions thrown His way during His ministry. In today’s passage, He is asked an important question concerning the way He and His disciples followed and worshipped God. 

We’re continuing our series through the Gospel of Matthew and today we’re looking at a short passage that points us once again to who Jesus is and what He came to do. 

We’re going to see in this passage that Jesus was asked an important question and He gave an important answer. 

Let’s go to God in prayer and ask Him to speak to us. 

(prayer)

We’ve been out of Matthew for a couple of weeks, so remember that Jesus has done great things and His fame is growing tremendously. He’s healing, He’s teaching with authority, He’s forgiving sins, and He’s raising a few questions from others. 

Oftentimes, Jesus is getting questions from Pharisees and religious teachers. Oftentimes, those questions are aimed at trapping Jesus or making Him look foolish.

However, this time the question that is posed to Jesus comes from the disciples of John. 

This is not just any old “John.” This is John the Baptizer, who is a big fan of Jesus. He is the one who proclaimed the coming of Jesus. 

He’s a good guy. 

However, his disciples do have . . .

I. A new question for Jesus (14) [on screen]

This is a question that Jesus has not had to deal with yet.  

From all that we can tell, this question is not necessarily meant to make Jesus look sinful or silly. It may just be a legitimate question. 

Look at verse 14. 

14 Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”

Both the Pharisees and the disciples of John were committed to the instructions and laws of God, revealed to them through the teachings of the Old Testament. 

In the Old Testament way of things, fasting typically took place during a time of mourning or repentance. Fasting would take place because the person or people who were fasting wanted to feel close to God, they needed His presence, they needed to experience Him. 

There’s also this idea that fasting is a sign of holiness. Indeed, fasting is a spiritual discipline, one which Jesus spoke about in His sermon on the mountainside. 

So, the Pharisees were just previously questioning why Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, something a holy person wouldn’t do; and now others presume that He isn’t fasting, something a holy person would do. 

It would have been appropriate for John and his disciples to fast as they were repenting before God and waiting for Him to show Himself. They were waiting for God to work, they were waiting for Messiah to come and do His wo