John's disciples came to Jesus and said, «How is it that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not your disciples?». Jesus answered them, «How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? Time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast. No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for the patch will shrink and tear an even bigger hole in the coat. Besides you don't put new wine in old wineskins. If you do, the wineskins will burst and the wine be spilt. No, you put new wine in fresh skins; then both are preserved».
Source: http://evangeli.net/gospel/
Analysis
Today's passage tells us of two seemingly unrelated messages, however I believe and am certain that the connection will be brought to light. John the Baptist's disciples came to Jesus and asked why Jesus and His disciples did not fast. Jesus then explained with a parable of the bridegroom and his friends. Then Jesus continued by describing a metaphor about sewing unshrunken cloth into old coats, or pouring new wine in old wineskins. That is the entire passage, and while the parables seems very random, trust me, it is not random at all, and it is perfectly applicable with the modern day, I shall explain.
The parable of the bridegroom is Jesus' way of saying that it is nonsensical for His disciples to fast. After all, the disciples of Jesus has been blessed with the Son of God Himself, which bears the truth for all mankind. They should be happy and hopeful that they will be able to see the truth for themselves. There will be a time though, where the truth will fade as well from the Church, and then people should start mourning for the death of the Church, which is happening in the modern day. What of the parable of wineskins and coats then?
You see, the new patches and new wine represent the truth, or in contextually it is the teachings of Christ. What He is saying is that not all people can accept the truth, sometimes the truth will only cause more damage and actually have the truth be lost and the people hearing it simply be broken even more. In this context, the old coats and wineskins are John's disciples, Jesus views them to be unready for the truth and unfit, being attached to old tradition and not seeking the truth for themselves. Of course, the old coats and wineskins now refer to most of the world, which blindly accepts whatever is being told to them, and a sickening atmosphere of truth pluralism can be felt. And it seems Jesus didn't really foresaw this, and thus that is how the world is now. I believe that is all I have to say for now, have a nice day and see you tomorrow.
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