LUKE 5:33–39, THE QUESTION ABOUT FASTING AND THE NEWNESS OF THE KINGDOM
THE JOYFUL PRESENCE OF CHRIST REQUIRES RENEWED HEARTS
Introduction
After the call of Levi and the surprising banquet with tax collectors and sinners, the attention of the religious observers shifts from “Who does Jesus welcome?” to “How does Jesus practice religion?” The disciples of John and the Pharisees are known for visible discipline—fasting and prayers offered in fixed patterns. Jesus’ disciples appear to be living differently: they eat, they drink, they rejoice. The tension is not simply about food; it is about whether Jesus is continuing the familiar ways or inaugurating something new. Jesus answers by revealing that his presence changes the meaning of time itself: when the Bridegroom is here, the proper response is joy; when he is taken away, fasting becomes longing, repentance, and hope. Then he teaches that the Kingdom is not a patch on old habits but a new life that needs a new heart.
Bible Passage (Luke 5:33–39)
They said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
Background
Fasting was a respected and common expression of repentance and devotion in Judaism. The Law required fasting on the Day of Atonement, and many added further fasts, especially in times of need and national sorrow. Pharisees often fasted regularly as a sign of zeal. John’s disciples fasted as a sign of preparation: the Messiah is near, so hearts must be purified. Jesus does not reject fasting; he restores it to its true purpose. But he insists that religious practices must match the reality of salvation history: now that the Messiah is present, the disciples live in the joy of fulfilled promise. Yet Jesus also foretells his passion—when the Bridegroom is taken away—so fasting will return with deeper meaning.
Opening Life Connection
Many faithful people are sincere but tired. They keep practices, say prayers, attend services, and still feel empty. Others cling to “how it has always been done,” not because it is holy, but because it feels safe. Jesus speaks to both groups. He shows that spiritual practices are not meant to prove we are better than others, but to open our hearts to God’s presence. When Christ is truly welcomed, faith becomes joy. When he feels absent, faith becomes longing. In both seasons, the heart must remain flexible, humble, and new.
Verse-by-Verse / Phrase-by-Phrase Reflection (maximum details)
They begin by saying “The disciples of John fast often”. This is not a random comparison. John’s disciples represent serious people who want to be ready for God. Their fasting is like a cry: “Lord, come quickly.” It is the spirituality of expectation. Many Christians live like this too—always waiting for change, always pleading for deliverance, always hoping for a breakthrough. Jesus respects this desire, but he will show them that the awaited One is already standing before them.
They add that John’s disciples also “offer prayers”. In their minds, fasting and prayer belong together, as if true holiness must look visibly strict. They assume that spiritual life should always feel like self-denial. This is a common temptation: we think God is pleased only when we suffer, only when we look serious, only when our religion feels heavy. Jesus will correct this misunderstanding with the image of a wedding.
They continue: “the disciples of the Pharisees do the same”. Here Luke exposes the deeper pressure: the Pharisees are the public standard of religious respectability. Their practices are measurable. People can see their discipline. So the question is also a social accusation: “Your disciples don’t look religious enough.” Even today, people can confuse holiness with appearances—how strict someone seems, how much they criticize others, how rigidly they speak. But Jesus reveals a holiness that begins in the heart.
Then comes the complaint: “but yours eat and drink”. Notice the tone: it is not neutral. It is scandalized. Eating and drinking are ordinary human actions, but here they are treated like a spiritual problem. Jesus’ disciples are living like people who have found something to celebrate. And that is exactly what bothers the critics: joy looks suspicious to those who measure holiness by austerity. Yet the Gospel teaches that true joy is a sign of God’s nearness, not a betrayal of devotion.
Jesus answers with a question: “Can you make the wedding guests fast”. Jesus does not attack fasting. He reframes time. He asks them to imagine what would be appropriate at a wedding. A wedding is not the time to perform mourning practices. A wedding is a time for rejoicing, because love has arrived, union has begun, a new family is being formed. Jesus is gently saying: “You are treating my presence as if it were still a time of waiting and absence. But the Kingdom is here.”
He continues: “while the bridegroom is with them?” This is a quiet revelation of identity. Jesus is not only a teacher with disciples. He presents himself as the Bridegroom. In the Scriptures, the Bridegroom is not merely a human figure; it is an image used for God’s covenant love—God seeking his people, God uniting himself to them, God restoring what was broken. When Jesus calls himself Bridegroom, he is saying: “God’s covenant visitation is happening now.” The heart of Christian life is not rules first, but relationship first.
Then Jesus gives a sober prophecy: “But the days will come”. Joy does not erase the cross. Jesus knows celebration will not be the whole story. Christian joy is not naïve. It does not deny suffering. Jesus looks ahead to the Passion. He prepares his disciples for the time when faith will feel like loss.
He says “when the bridegroom is taken away from them”. The words are painful. Taken away suggests violence, separation, a rupture not chosen by the disciples. Jesus is foretelling his death. He is also teaching that the Church will live in seasons: seasons of felt presence and seasons of apparent absence. In the apparent absence, the heart learns deeper love, deeper longing, deeper trust.
Then he says “then they will fast in those days”. Fasting returns, but now its meaning is purified. It is no longer a performance to impress others. It becomes a language of love: “Lord, I hunger for you.” It becomes a language of repentance: “Lord, remove what blocks me from you.” It becomes a language of hope: “Lord, I wait for your return.” Christian fasting is not self-punishment; it is a spiritual re-ordering of desire.
Next Luke says “And he also told them a parable”. Jesus now moves from the timing of fasting to the deeper issue: their hearts are trying to fit his new life into old categories.
He begins: “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one”. A cloak is what covers a person. Spiritually, it can represent a way of life, a pattern, an identity. Jesus is saying: if you treat the Gospel as just a patch—something to repair your old habits without changing your life—you will ruin both. You will tear the new cloak, and the old cloak will still remain worn. Many people try to do this: add a little prayer to a life that refuses forgiveness, add a little charity to a life that refuses humility, add Sunday Mass to a life that refuses conversion. Jesus says: the Gospel is not a patch. It is a new garment.
He warns: “Otherwise, he will tear the new”. The tragedy is that people can damage the Gospel itself in their lives by misusing it. When we use faith only to justify ourselves, to win arguments, to look superior, we “tear the new.” We make the gift of Christ look ugly and unappealing. The Gospel remains true, but our misuse of it wounds our witness.
He adds: “and the piece from it will not match the old cloak”. Even if we try to attach Jesus to an unchanged life, it will not fit. The Gospel does not “match” pride, gossip, impurity, hatred, or injustice. There will always be tension. And that tension is not meant to be silenced by compromise but healed by conversion.
Then Jesus deepens the image: “Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins”. Wine is living, expanding; it ferments. New wine represents the new life of the Spirit—grace, joy, mercy, holiness, mission. Wineskins represent the inner capacity of a person: the heart, the mind, the habits, the attitudes. If the inner life is rigid—old skin, hardened by pride or fear—the new wine cannot expand within it.
He warns: “the new wine will burst the skins”. This is what happens when God’s grace meets a stubborn heart: instead of growth, there is resistance, anger, resentment, and sometimes even hostility. People can react to God’s call with bitterness because they refuse to change. Grace is not weak; it is powerful. But the heart must yield.
He continues: “and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined”. Two losses occur: the wine is wasted, and the container is destroyed. Spiritually, this is sobering. A person can miss grace because they refuse renewal. And they can also become more hardened in the refusal. This is why Jesus insists on humility: humility is the fresh wineskin.
Then comes the remedy: “Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins”. Fresh wineskins are not perfect people. They are flexible people. They are teachable people. They are repentant people. They are people who can say, “Lord, change me.” The Church herself must always be a “fresh wineskin” in her members—not changing truth, but allowing hearts to be continually renewed by the Spirit.
Finally Jesus adds a realistic line: “no one who has been drinking old wine desires new”. Jesus understands human psychology. People grow accustomed to what they know. Even if it is limiting, even if it is joyless, it feels familiar. So people resist change not because the new is bad, but because the old is comfortable.
He explains: “for he says, ‘The old is good’”. This is the voice of attachment. It can be attachment to sin, to pride, to rigid religious habits, to control, to reputation, even to comfort. Jesus is not insulting tradition here; he is exposing the heart’s tendency to settle for what is familiar rather than what is saving. The Gospel invites us to trust that God’s “new” is not a threat but a gift.
Jewish Historical and Religious Context
Fasting was common, but weddings were treated as days of joy when fasting was normally suspended. Jesus uses a familiar Jewish instinct—wedding joy—to teach the deeper truth: the Messiah’s presence changes what is appropriate. His parables about cloth and wineskins speak to an agrarian culture where everyone understood fabric repair and fermentation. He is saying: the Kingdom is not a reform of old religious life; it is God’s decisive visitation bringing covenant fulfillment.
Catholic Tradition and Teaching
The Church practices fasting especially in Lent and on other penitential days, but always in relationship to Christ’s Paschal Mystery. Fasting without love becomes empty ritual; fasting with Christ becomes purification of desire. The Catechism teaches that interior conversion and penitential practices belong together, and that repentance must be expressed in concrete acts. The “new wine” is the life of grace, poured into us through Baptism, nourished by the Eucharist, healed by Reconciliation, strengthened by Confirmation.
Historical or Saintly Illustration
Saint Francis of Assisi began with a restless heart that could not be contained by “old wineskins” of vanity and ambition. When he surrendered, grace expanded within him, and his life became new wine for the Church—joyful, poor, free, and missionary.
Application to Christian Life Today
We must examine whether our religious practices lead us to joy, mercy, humility, and mission—or whether they have become a way to judge others. Jesus invites us to become fresh wineskins: forgiving quickly, praying sincerely, fasting with love, serving the poor generously, and remaining open to the Spirit’s renewal. When God calls us to deeper conversion, we should not defend our “old wine” out of comfort. We should ask for a renewed heart.
Eucharistic Connection
The Bridegroom remains truly present in the Eucharist. Every Mass is a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb. We rejoice because he is with us. Yet we also fast in longing for the day when we will see him face to face. The Eucharist makes our hearts new, so that the new wine of grace can expand in us and overflow into charity.
Messages / Call to Conversion
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Receive Christ’s presence as the source of true joy and renewal.
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Repent of rigid or showy religion that lacks mercy and conversion.
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Practice fasting and prayer as expressions of love, longing, and hope.
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Allow the Holy Spirit to make your heart a fresh wineskin.
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Choose one concrete change this week that makes your discipleship more flexible, humble, and joyful.
Outline for Preachers
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Background: question after Levi’s call and banquet; growing scrutiny
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Life connection: joyless religion, attachment to familiar patterns
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Key phrases: “wedding guests”, “bridegroom”, “taken away”, “new wine”, “fresh wineskins”
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Jewish context: fasting customs and wedding joy
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Catholic teaching: fasting, interior conversion, sacramental life
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Saintly illustration: Francis’ renewed heart
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Application: renewal without compromise of truth; mercy over judgment
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Eucharistic connection: Bridegroom present; foretaste of the feast
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Key messages and call to conversion
