Jesus taught certain lessons multiple times. When the Gospel writers record the lesson multiple times it must be important for us to know and apply. Here is Matthew’s account.

Read Matthew 9:14-17 slowly and prayerfully.

14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? ”
15 And Jesus said to them, “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.
16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.
17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” (ESV)


1. What was the question John the Baptist’s disciples asked Jesus (verse 14)?

2. Who is Jesus referring to as the bridegroom (verse 15)?

3. What is the time to fast and not fast (verse 15)?

4. What is Jesus referring to as old garments or old wineskins (verses 16-17)?

5. What one phrase from this passage will you think about throughout today?