The sermon continues an exposition of Matthew, arriving at Matthew 9:14-17, where the disciples of John the Baptist confront Jesus with a pointed question: why do John's disciples and the Pharisees fast, but Jesus's disciples do not? The preacher situates this exchange within a rising tide of hostility between Jesus and the Jewish religious establishment. Earlier in the chapter, the scribes bristled at Jesus forgiving the paralytic's sins, since only God can forgive sin; the Pharisees, meanwhile, could not stomach Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners, an intimacy in Jewish culture reserved for those one loves and approves of. The Pharisees had expected that when the Messiah came, they, as the most law-observant Jews, would form his inner circle. Instead, Jesus drew near to the righteous and the despised alike, insisting both needed the mercy of God.

The confrontation with John's disciples is more surprising, given how close Jesus and John's ministries were. The sermon explains why John's own ministry had provoked less controversy: it was largely confined to the wilderness, away from the towns where scribes and Pharisees operated, and John never claimed to be the Messiah himself. He identified only as the forerunner, declaring, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). John's disciples, however, did not share their teacher's freedom from jealousy; when they saw Jesus's ministry eclipsing John's, they felt slighted, as if baptism, their trademark practice, had been taken from them.

The sermon then unpacks Jesus's answer to their question about fasting. Jesus responds with a wedding analogy: "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast" (Matthew 9:15). This is not merely illustrative language; in the Old Testament the wedding image regularly describes the covenant relationship between God and his people, as in Isaiah 62:5 -- "as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." By calling himself the bridegroom, Jesus declares that the long-promised reunion between God and his estranged, sin-separated people has arrived, and that he himself is the one who accomplishes it. The sermon traces this back to John's own testimony in John 3:28-30, where John tells his disciples that he is merely "the friend of the bridegroom," rejoicing to hear the bridegroom's voice. John's disciples, the sermon argues, should have understood this already, since their own teacher had told them.

The preacher probes why John's disciples were fasting at all: most likely because they did not yet recognize that the Messianic age had dawned. Even John himself, later imprisoned, sent messengers to ask Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" (Matthew 11:3). Jesus's reply -- pointing to the blind seeing, the lame walking, and the poor receiving good news -- offers evidence that his kingdom has come not through political triumph over Rome but through humble, suffering service, in fulfillment of Isaiah's suffering servant.

The sermon then turns to Jesus's two further illustrations, the unshrunk patch on an old garment and new wine in old wineskins (Matthew 9:16-17), arguing that these do not abolish fasting altogether -- Jesus assumes his disciples will fast once he is taken away, and elsewhere instructs them how to fast rightly -- but rather signal that the old mode of fasting, rooted in mournful waiting for a Messiah not yet come, cannot simply be attached to or contained within the new reality Jesus brings. The new wine of Christ's presence requires new wineskins. Old, sorrow-driven fasting and the joy of the bridegroom's presence cannot coexist; a new, transformed practice of fasting is needed instead.

The sermon closes with two applications for believers. First, it asks whether hearers still live as people without sure hope, slaving after commandments out of fear rather than living from the liberty and dignity that come from having already tasted Christ's full self-gift. Second, it asks whether believers fast joyfully, not mourning as those who await the Messiah's first coming like unbelieving Israel, but eagerly, gladly abstaining from lesser goods in anticipation of Christ's second coming, when the wedding feast begun at his first advent reaches its fullness in the new heavens and new earth.

Bible Verses Used

• Matthew 9:14-17: The sermon's central text -- John's disciples question why Jesus's disciples do not fast, and Jesus answers with the bridegroom, patched-garment, and wineskin illustrations.

• Matthew 9:1-3: Cited to show the scribes' hostility toward Jesus for forgiving the paralytic's sins, establishing the pattern of rising conflict with religious leaders.

• Isaiah 62:5: Used to show that the bridegroom-bride imagery Jesus invokes is rooted in Old Testament language for God's covenant joy over his people.

• John 3:28-30: Cited as John the Baptist's own testimony identifying himself as "the friend of the bridegroom" and Jesus as the bridegroom, explaining why John's disciples should not have been jealous.

• Matthew 11:2-6: Referenced to show John's own moment of doubt in prison and Jesus's answer pointing to healings and good news for the poor as evidence of the Messiah's arrival.

• Matthew 4:4: Alluded to (man does not live by bread alone) to frame the sermon's closing exhortation on the purpose of joyful, hope-filled fasting.