Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting^(A)

^18 (B)The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹² I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’

Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting^(A)

¹⁴ Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, ^(B)“Why do we and the Pharisees fast ^[a]often, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “Can ^(C)the ^[b]friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and ^(D)then they will fast. ¹⁶ No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for ^[c]the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. ¹⁷ Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins ^[d]break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

¹⁸ so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you ^[a]openly.

Fasting to Be Seen Only by God

¹⁶ “Moreover, ^(A)when you fast, do not be like the ^[a]hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting^(A)

³³ Then they said to Him, ^(B)“Why^[a] do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”

³⁴ And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the ^(C)bridegroom is with them? ³⁵ But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.”

^36 (D)Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one ^[b]puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into new wineskins, ^[c]and both are preserved. ³⁹ And no one, having drunk old wine, ^[d]immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is ^[e]better.’ ”

³ For they being ignorant of ^(A)God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own ^(B)righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

⁵ But all their works they do to ^(A)be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.