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Matthew 9:16-17 meaning
The parallel accounts of Matthew 9:16-17 are found in Mark 2:21-22 and Luke 5:36-39.
Jesus continues His response to John's disciples' question, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" (Matthew 9:14).
He does so with a trio of parables. The first parable was “The Parable of the Bridegroom’s Attendants” (Matthew 9:15). It directly answered their question.
This parable made clear that the reason Jesus’s disciples do not fast is because it would be inappropriate for them to fast in the presence of God, the Messiah. Jesus (the Bridegroom) is the Messiah and God. The attendants of the Bridegroom are His disciples. Fasting is done to draw our focus to God, but it is unnecessary when we are in His presence—like His disciples were when Jesus was with them in body and spirit.
There is a time and place for the exercise of spiritual disciplines, but they are not an end unto themselves. Furthermore, the Pharisees had changed fasting from being an exercise appropriate to focus attention on God and instead made it a show before men with the purpose of elevating themselves in the sight of men. Since these parables make the point that different actions have a time and place that make them appropriate, we could also extend the application to say that it is never appropriate to take the things of God and make them things to be seen before men.
But this is precisely what the Pharisees were doing with their religious rules about fasting and pretty much everything else. Their hearts had turned away from God and toward legalism.
Legalism is the elevation of religious rules to a level of ultimate importance. Adherence to these rules is prioritized over an authentic relationship with God. Legalism exalts oneself for keeping the rules and scorns those who do not. A legalistic heart fosters an attitude of judgmentalism towards others instead of mercy and love.
The Parable of the Bridegroom’s Attendants answered John’s disciples’ question about why Jesus’s disciples celebrated while they fasted. This was the first parable.
But now Jesus elaborates upon this point with a second and third parable. Both further distinguish the nature of His teachings from the nature of all others.
The second parable in response to John’s disciples’ question is a metaphor about garments. The third parable uses the metaphor of wineskins. Both parables have similar points and indirectly respond to their question. We will see how both parables are an indirect answer to the John’s disciples’ question after both the second and third parables have been explained.
The Parable of the Unshrunk Cloth
Jesus's second parable reads: But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results (v 16).
Cloth was an expensive commodity in the ancient world. Clothing and garments were labor intensive and time-consuming to make. It was a more efficient use of time and resources to repair an old garment that had a tear than it was to buy or make a new one. But in the process of patching tears in an old garment, one had to make sure they were using the proper patch of material. Because cloth shrinks over time, especially after washings, the garment-mender needed to use a patch of cloth that had already been shrunk to patch up a tear. If the garment-mender uses a new patch of cloth that was unshrunk, then the patch would shrink and pull away from the seams of the garment, making a worse tear (v 16).
This parable is often interpreted in terms of Jesus, His teachings, and His kingdom representing the new patch of unshrunk cloth and the Pharisees with their man-made religious regulations representing the old worn-out garment. Sometimes this interpretation understands this parable in terms of the Old and the New Covenants, representing the old garment and the new patch of cloth.
According to this interpretation, Jesus is not interested in patching up this old system of righteousness, which is regarded as flawed and marked by external rule-following and hypocrisy. Instead, He came to offer a new way that provides both inner and outer harmony between God and humanity.
But this interpretation, while pointing to Biblical principles, seems to overlook the fact that within the confines of this parable, it is the old piece of cloth that is needed rather than a new one.
Moreover, this interpretation appears to overlook several other aspects of the parable:
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”
(Matthew 5:17)
Therefore, perhaps a better interpretation understands the old garment as the Law of Moses, the new piece of unshrunk cloth as the teachings of the Pharisees, and the old piece of cloth as Jesus and His teachings.
Jesus did not come to make new rules. He came to fulfill the old and perfect ones—the Law. His teachings were summed up by loving God and loving others (Matthew 5:7, 5:9, 5:44, 6:14-15, 7:1, 7:12, 18:22, 18:35, 22:37-40, John 15:12-17).
It was the Pharisees, not Jesus, who were the ones who were endlessly minting new religious regulations. And the Pharisees were making these new rules in an unnecessary attempt to “patch up” God’s perfect Law. The result was not a better garment. Their patches were tearing the garment of God’s Law apart.
They were more interested in keeping their traditions, even when it meant violating God’s original Law (Matthew 15:3).
One example of this was how the Pharisees justified breaking one of the Ten Commandments—“Honor your father and mother” (Exodus 20:12) in order to keep their new rules.
“For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’…but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),’ you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down.”
(Mark 7:10-13a—See also Matthew 15:4-6)
Jesus added: “and you do many things such as that” (Mark 7:13b). And Jesus also told the Pharisees: “You are experts at setting aside the [old] commandments of God in order to keep your [new] tradition” (Mark 7:9). The Pharisees were experts at breaking God’s law and justifying themselves according to their own rules. The legal patches of the Pharisees functionally “invalidated the word of God for the sake of [their] tradition” (Matthew 15:6).
Their new rules neglected the old and eternal values of God (Matthew 23:23). And their religious rules were shutting off God’s kingdom from the people (Matthew 23:13). Their new rules essentially provided a justification for them to neglect caring for their parents, thereby breaking the covenant with God.
The Pharisees’ new laws were making a mockery of God’s original Law. Or, in terms of the parable, their new, unshrunk patches were tearing the fabric of God’s old and good Law apart. The solution was not more new laws from the Pharisees which result in a worse tear. Rather, the solution is to find a piece of old or original cloth to mend the tears.
Jesus and His teachings were not new. They fulfilled the old Law of God (Luke 24:44). Jesus, as the divine author of the Law (John 1:17), came to mend the tears made by men. Jesus is eternal. He is both old and new. And in this parable Jesus represents an old patch of the original cloth that will mend the old and torn garment of God’s Law so that it will be like new.
The Parable of the New Wine and Wineskins
In the third parable, Jesus reiterates the same point as the previous parable. Just as the old garment was the true Law and the new patch of unshrunk cloth was legalism, in this parable the old wine is the true Law and the new wine is the corrupting, no-good religious regulations of the Pharisees.
Jesus’s third parable responding to the Pharisees and John’s disciples is:
“Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved” (v 17).
Just as no one would sew a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, neither should new wine be placed into old wineskins. Just as a new, unshrunk patch would ruin an old garment, so new wine will ruin an old wineskin.
This parable, as recorded by Matthew, has two symbols—new wine and wineskins (old vs. fresh).
New wine represents new teaching. Wineskins represent human beings—or the human heart.
(Luke’s Gospel adds a third element—“old wine” (Luke 5:39). This will be explained further below.)
Wineskins were leather pouches that contained and stored wine. Fresh wineskins were flexible and had a degree of elasticity to them that allowed them to stretch and expand. Old wineskins lost this elasticity and were hardened and stiff. Old wineskins could be used to store water but not wine.
This parable is often interpreted in terms of Jesus, His teachings, and His kingdom representing the new wine and the Pharisees with their man-made religious regulations representing the old wine and wineskins. Sometimes the elements of this parable are incorrectly understood to represent the Gospel (new wine) and the Law (old wine).
According to this interpretation, the power of Jesus’s grace is so potent that the Pharisees’ teachings on the law cannot contain it. Grace bursts it wide open, just as new wine does to old wineskins. Their old wineskins may be able to hold old wine, but they cannot hold the new wine of Jesus and His Gospel. Therefore, what is needed is for our hearts to be made new and become like fresh wineskins, which are flexible and not rigid (like old wineskins)—so that we can receive Jesus and His teachings.
There are some interesting connections to other scriptures with this interpretation, such as:
(Psalm 51:10, Ezekiel 36:26, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:9-10)
(John 2:1-10)
But this interpretation of Jesus representing the new wine in this parable seems to overlook that the Law and the Gospel are the same old, satisfying, and good wine, and that what the Pharisees were offering was the new wine of legalism which destroys human hearts.
Similar to how no one puts a new unshrunk patch of cloth on the old garment, nor do people put new wine into old wineskins because new, unfermented wine expands as it ferments, and the old wineskins, which have already lost their elasticity, cannot accommodate this expansion.
As a result, the old wineskins burst by the expanding wine and the new wine spills and is wasted, while the old wineskin is ruined. To preserve both the new wine and the old wineskin, new wine must be put into fresh, flexible wineskins.
Jesus came to fulfill the old and perfect Law (Matthew 5:17). The new wine of the Pharisees’ unending religious innovations and rules are not compatible with the old wineskins of the human heart. Sooner or later, religious legalism will eventually burst human lives.
The Old and New Wine (Luke 5:38-39)
Luke’s gospel records another two verses to this parable which support the interpretation that Jesus is explaining how He came to fulfill the Law of God, not to abolish it (Matthew 5:17).
The first verse (Luke 5:38) is an observation:
“But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.”
(Luke 5:38)
Jesus is still addressing the question why His disciples do not fast. The primary point of all three parables appears to be that there is a time and place for everything. This is a Biblical principle particularly highlighted in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.
Given the additional context of the Pharisee’s approach toward fasting as a means to bring human affirmation to themselves rather than to serve God, this could also be viewed as Jesus saying that the new wine of legalism should have no place in the hearts of His followers. The Pharisees’ new wine of legalism is contrary to the intent of God’s perfect Law, which is love and mercy.
Love and mercy are others-focused. The Pharisees were self-focused. This is why they fasted in such a manner as to be seen as pious by others (Matthew 6:16). The two greatest commandments that sum up God’s entire law (Matthew 22:40) are to love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5) and to love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18b).
Jesus’s observation that new wine belongs in new wineskins is His way of saying—within the terms of the parable—that the Pharisees’ new wine of legalism does not belong in old wineskins of love for God and neighbors. God desires His people to love and serve Him and others rather than religious regulations. In other words: “Leave legalism for the legalists.”
The old wineskins who love God and believe Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets drink the better wine—the old wine—and are satisfied.
Luke records Jesus’s conclusion of this parable as a declaration asserting the superiority of God’s perfect law (the old wine) over the new wine of legalism,
“And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’”
(Luke 5:39)
As with the previous parable of the old garment, the old ways are good ways. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The old covenant God gave to Israel was good; Jesus came to fulfill that covenant (Matthew 5:17). Now there is a new covenant in Jesus’s blood (Luke 22:20). But the new covenant is really the perfect fulfillment of the old. All are fulfillments of God’s ways for Israel and the rest of humanity.
As a part of this new covenant, God has written His law on the hearts of all who believe through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 31:31, Ezekiel 36:26, Ephesians 3:16). But both are part of the old wine, a fulfillment of God’s promises. That is why when people drink of the old wine, they do not ask for new wine (Luke 5:39). Rather, they are satisfied.
“O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"
(Psalm 34:8)
The way we can drink the old and satisfying wine is to believe in Jesus and follow His example. He obeyed God’s commands to boldly love others through humble acts of service and gracious acts of mercy (Micah 6:8, John 15:12).
These Parables as Indirect Answers to John’s Disciples’ Question
The original question Jesus was asked was why His disciples did not regularly practice fasting (Matthew 9:14).
Jesus, as the fulfillment of the Law and prophets, represents all that is good. He is sufficient. All things are summed up in Christ. Therefore, to fast while Christ is present among them is like adding something new that spoils what is already sufficient:
The Pharisees had added religious regulations, like fasting, which only served to spoil what ought to be the true focus of worship—God. The focus of the Pharisees was the approval of men. They fasted in order to be seen and admired by men (Matthew 6:16).
The Law and prophets point to Jesus (Luke 24:44). When Jesus is not physically present, we might be well served to fast in order to remember and focus on Jesus. But when He is present, there is no need.
Apart from Christ, we can accomplish nothing (John 15:5b). The attempt to replicate Jesus’s teachings and righteousness in our own strength, or according to our man-made religious regulations, will spoil what is good. Reliance on our own efforts is like spoiling the feast, the garment, or the old wineskins.
To follow Jesus, we must become humble and have faith. We must focus on Jesus, the fulfiller of God’s perfect Law, rather than upon following more and more new religious rules.
In order to be placed into what is good, we need new hearts. Our new hearts allow us to focus on Christ rather than on religious observances, like fasting. Fasting can be useful to focus our hearts on Christ. But fasting is not an end unto itself.
Summary
The common takeaway from all three of these parables is that Jesus and His teachings are incompatible with the teachings and practices of the Pharisees.
Each parable makes the same point: human attempts to add something new to what God has declared complete only spoils what is already sufficient. Christ is sufficient. Our focus should be on Him. Any attempt to add only takes away our focus and spoils what is good.
Jesus’s teaching cannot be combined with the rigid religious practices imposed by the Pharisees. Just as a person cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24), the new wine of religious practice cannot be poured into the old wineskins which contain the good, old wine of God’s fulfilled promises. A new patch of legalism will ruin the old garment that represents God’s perfect covenant. The new teachings of the Pharisees make a mockery of God’s Law.
Instead of mending the tear, their new patches and rules only make the tear worse. Only Jesus and His teachings, which are a fulfillment of the Old Law, can mend things. The Pharisees’ religious rules ruin the pleasure and happiness available through the joy of dwelling in the presence of the Bridegroom, who is Christ.
We must choose. Either we embrace the man-made rules that will make things worse or follow God’s original commands by following Christ. If our focus is on Christ, we gain fulfillment. If the focus is on the religious practices of men, then we spoil what is right and good.