Jesus' teaching is new teaching
14 Then the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus. They said to him, ‘We often decide to fast for a time. The disciples of the Pharisees also do that. Why do your disciples never do that?’
9:14People might fast (stop eating for some time) to show that they needed God to help them.
15 Jesus answered them: ‘When a man marries, his friends cannot be sad. They cannot refuse to eat food while he is with them. But there will be a time when people will take the man away from his friends. At that time his friends will choose to fast.’
9:15While Jesus was with his disciples, they would be happy, so they would not fast. But soon his enemies would take him away. Then his disciples would be sad.
16 Then Jesus said, ‘Nobody uses a piece of new cloth to mend an old coat. If he does, the new cloth will cause the old cloth to tear again. It will make a bigger hole than before.
17 Nobody pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does that, the new wine will tear the old wineskins. He will lose the wine and the wineskins will be useless. Instead, you must put new wine into new wineskins. Then there will be nothing to spoil the wine or the wineskins.’
9:17The old wineskins were like the old Jewish rules. The new wine was like the things that Jesus was now teaching. Jesus' teaching needed a new way of thinking.
