The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 127

pl'("BPnre nt fcnstin!!s on,l mNry-moking-s, hie drawn from Hoa. it. 19, 20, e.nd perhaps e.lso r011eor!ing- with publicl\ns, bis clioire of one from t.he more mystical Scripture, Ps. xiv. of tl1Pm I\> his ,lisriplc nnd friend, no doubt and the Song of Son!('s. Jesus here olonrly ~ur11rise,l and disturbed not a few of the re~ards himself e.s the Christ, as identical fnll0..-era 01· John; hence such a qu0stion as with the long looked-for Divine Deliverer; the oue we a.re now considering, e.nd such e. hut A.t this compamtively early ate.go of his qn<'nilons con,ploinin,; I\S we hear of in tbo public ce.reer he was fully conscious that J, .. ur\'11 Gospol (ii i. 25. 2G). The pre.ctioo of in his Person, with the triumphant woulil fasti11g among the Jews we.s as follows: In be joined the suffering Messiah. The word the Law of !\loses only one appointed fast in ron,lcred "shall be taken away from (them)," the year was cnjoined-tlmt on the solemn &,rap8ij, only occurs hero iu the New Testa- Dny of Ato,·ement (Lev. xvi. 29; Numb. ment; it points evidently to a death of xxix. 7). A ftcr tho Exile the one fe.st was violence. While the intimation given to i:icr0oscd to fo1tr. Bnt thl' prophets 1;9,ve Nicodemus (John iii. 14) was the first no sanction to this added ritual (see Zech. primte, so this seems to he.ve been the first vii. 1-12; .-iii. 19). In the time of our public announccmeut of the last soene of the Lord, rig-id Jews med to fe.st tw;ce a week earth-life_ (eh. i:xiii. 12)-on Mo11cle.y and FriJoy Ver. 36.-A.nd he spake also a parable (the day on which, aocordiug to tradition, unto them; No man putteth a piece of a Moses went up Mount ~iuai). It is evident new garment upon an old ; if otherwise, that our Lord hi m,elf never ohser\'ed or then both the new maketh e. rent, and the ernn approve,! of the.-;e fe.sts of the Phe.risre pieoe that was ta.ken out of the new agreeth eect. In the well-known e.nd often-q uotcd not with the old. Oriental teaching he.s passages, Matt. xvii. 21; Mark ix. 29; ever delighted in using these vivid and pio- Arts x. 30; 1 Cc~- vii. 5-in me.ny of the tnresque metaphors e.nd parables taken from older authorities, the trord "fa~ting" does not the everyday life of the people ; here the occur at all. In the Revie~d Version in each reference is, of course, to the question put of these instances "fasting" does not appear by the Pharisees e.nd John's disciples re- in the new text. While, then, we must un- specting fosting. This and the following hesitatingly conclnde that fasting is no rite little parable, and the curious simile which commanded by the Blessed One, still the he added directly after, is pa.rt of the Lord's Church he.s practised it with signal advan- answer to hie questioners. They che.rged tage and profit on certain soleDlll occa.,nons ; him in their query with throwing (by the but it must ever proceed from the impulse neglect of fasting) a slur on the time- of the sorrow-stricken heart, it mnst be no honoured practices and observances of the penance or duty imposed by authority, most reli11;ious men of Israel. His reply least of all .nll&t it be regarded as plewring e.cknow ledged that, e.s fe.r e.s he was con- in the eye of the Almighty, or in e.ny sense cerned, they were right. He hod quietly put e. substitute for the practice of the higher aside the rigidly appointed fasts e.nd other virtues really loved of God-justice, mercy, ceremonial rites by means of which the and truth. great Jewish teachers-to nse their own Vere. 34, 35.-A.nd he mid 'llll.to them, expression-had put a hedge about the Le.w. Can ye mak:e the children of the bricie- They were right., too, in the conolusion they oha.mber fast, while the bridegroom ia with had come to, implied but not expressed, in them t lint the days will come, when the their evidently hostile questioning. His bridegroom l1&ll be ta.ken away from them, wa11 a totally new form of the old Hebrew ud then Eha.Il they fast in those days. On religion-new altogether in the grandeur ot this reply of the Lord Jesus Gvdet very its conception e.nd in the brendth of its beautifully writes, •• In the midat of this influence. His was a totally new garment feast of publicans, the heart of Jesus is that be was about to otfor to the people: overflowing "'i th joy; it is one nf tile hours now to patch np the beautiful new work when hiB earthly life seems to his feeling with the old one would be surely to m~r like a marriage-day. Dut suddenly his both. In the older authorities the text is countenance becomt-s overcast: the shadow slightly longer and more vivid than the text of a p11inful visiou pa.sees a.cross his brow : from which our own more corrupt Authorized 'Tile days will come,' . . . said Le, in a Version we.s translated. It would run thus: soJ.,mn t.oue. At the close of this nuptie.l "No oue rending a patch from a new gar- Wt<;li:, the Bridegroom himself will be sud- ment putteth it upon an old garment." d"u ly smitten and cut off; then will come Ver•. 37, 38.-And no maa putteth new tlu, lime of fasting for those who to-day are wine into ol i bottles ; elBe the new wine rejoicing ; there will be no necessity to will bnrst the bottles, and be 1pilled, and enjoin it. In Ibis striking and poetic the bottlea ahe.11 perish. But new wine aIJhwer Je8ns evidently e.nnnunces his violent mut be put into new bottles; and both are death." The imngc:,ry of the bridegroom is preaernd. In these two versca the Greek CB, V, 1-39.] TllE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE, 119