The ministry of John the Baptist was to introduce people to Christ so that Christ might become their Redeemer, life, and all. However, some of John’s disciples drifted away from his goal, Christ, to certain of John’s practices and turned those practices into a new religion that frustrated people from enjoying Christ. Because these disciples of John practiced fasting, they were troubled by the feasting of Christ and His disciples and condemned them for not fasting: “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but Your disciples do not fast?” (Matt. 9:14). The Lord answered, “Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” (v. 15). Here the Lord reveals Himself as the Bridegroom, the most pleasant person, with the sons of the bridechamber.
The phrase “sons of the bridechamber” refers to the disciples of the Lord. In the transitory period of the Lord’s ministry on earth His disciples were sons of the bridechamber, those who were with the Bridegroom in His chamber, gazing on Him and enjoying His presence. Later they would become the bride (John 3:29; Rev. 19:7). The Bridegroom was taken away from the sons of the bridechamber when the Lord Jesus was taken up from the disciples into heaven (Acts 1:11). After that, they fasted (Acts 13:2-3; 14:23).
In dealing with the self-righteous Pharisees of the old religion the Lord indicated that He is the Physician to heal the sick. In dealing with the fasting disciples of John, who had formed a new religion, He revealed Himself as the Bridegroom coming for the bride. John the Baptist had told his disciples that Christ was the Bridegroom (John 3:25-29). Now Christ reminded them of this. The Lord first healed His followers, then made them sons of the bridechamber. Eventually He would make them His bride. They should appropriate Him not only as their Physician for the recovery of life but also as their Bridegroom for a living of enjoyment in His presence. They were at a joyful wedding with Him, not at a sorrowful funeral without Him. How then could they fast and not feast before Him? The question raised by John’s disciples seems to be one of doctrine. However, the Lord did not answer with a doctrine but with the revelation of Himself as the Bridegroom with the sons of the bridechamber.
In Matthew 9:16 the Lord Jesus says, “No one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for that which fills it up pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.” The Greek word translated “unshrunk” is agnaphos, formed with a, which means not, and gnapto, which means to card or comb wool; hence, to dress or full the cloth. Thus, the word means uncarded, unfulled, unfinished, unshrunk, untreated. This unshrunk cloth signifies Christ from His incarnation to His crucifixion as a piece of new cloth, untreated, unfinished, whereas the new garment in Luke 5:36 signifies Christ, after being “treated” in His crucifixion, as a new robe. Christ was first the unshrunk cloth for making a new garment, and then through His death and resurrection He was made a new garment to cover us as our righteousness before God that we might be justified by God and acceptable to Him (Luke 15:22; Gal. 3:27; 1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9). As unshrunk cloth Christ was indeed wonderful but not adequate to cover us. Such cloth was new but not in a suitable condition for us to wear. It required some work to be done on it, a work that was accomplished when Christ was on the cross. On the cross the Lord Jesus was treated; He was dealt with by man and even more by God. Then in resurrection He became a new garment. Before His crucifixion He was unshrunk cloth, but after His resurrection He is the new garment for us to put on.
The “old garment” in Matthew 9:16 signifies man’s good behavior, good deeds, and religious practices by his old natural life. A patch of unshrunk cloth put on an old garment pulls away from the garment by its shrinking strength, thus making the tear worse. Putting a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment signifies trying to imitate what Christ did in His human life on earth. Today some only imitate Jesus’ human deeds to improve their behavior without believing in the crucified Jesus as their Redeemer and the resurrected Christ as their new garment to cover them as their righteousness before God. The Lord’s word in Matthew 9:16 indicates that we should never try to cut a piece of His unshrunk cloth and use it to mend the “holes” in our garments, for His cloth is full of shrinking power, and when applied to old garments will simply cause the holes in them to become larger.