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?”

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.’ ”

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?”

¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, “Can the ^[a]friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the days will come when the bridegroom will be ^(C)taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. ²¹ No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

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.

¹⁸ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ ¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a ^[a]winebibber, ^(A)a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ ^(B)But wisdom is justified by her ^[b]children.”

²⁵ Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification.

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ Also He spoke this parable to some ^(A)who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee ^(B)stood and prayed thus with himself, ^(C)‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’

A Samaritan Woman Meets Her Messiah

4 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and ^(A)baptized more disciples than John

^2 (A)And when John had heard ^(B)in prison about the works of Christ, he ^[a]sent two of his disciples