After the fourth case concerning the following of Christ in Matthew, there is what is called the Sermon on the Mount, which covers chapters five, six, and seven. Then in chapter eight the Lord Jesus came down from the mountain, and there were more who followed Him. It is in chapter nine that Matthew the publican, who is also called Levi, was called to follow the Lord.
After being called, Matthew prepared a great feast and invited the Lord along with many publicans and sinners. However, Matthew himself did not say that it was a great feast. Luke is the one who recorded these words. Matthew said simply that the Lord Jesus sat at meat with the publicans and sinners. This principle is right. We should not say too much concerning what we do ourselves. Luke, however, may have thought Matthew was a little too humble; he called it a great feast.
It was at this feast that the religious ones were offended again. “And it came to pass as He was reclining at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and reclined at the table together with Jesus and His disciples....Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but Your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. Now 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. Neither do they put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are destroyed; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved” (Matt. 9:10, 14-17).
Not only the Pharisees became religious, but even the disciples of the forerunner of the New Testament service also became religious. John the Baptist was not an Old Testament person. He was the pioneer of the New Testament ministry; yet his disciples soon became religious. The Lord Jesus offended not only the Pharisees, but also the disciples of John.
The disciples of John even took the lead to speak to the Lord and say, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but Your disciples do not fast?” Mark says, “The disciples of John and the Pharisees were fasting” (Mark 2:18). It was their habit to fast; therefore they said, in effect, “Your disciples are really poor. We fast, but they eat. We pray, but they drink. We believe God is for fasting and prayers, but we are certain He would not care for what Your disciples are doing.”
We may all think that fasting and prayers are wonderful and spiritual. To eat and drink with publicans and sinners, however, is something that might be called a “new line.” Yet all of us need to take this new line. This is something new that we all need to take. I can assure you that the Lord is going to do something new. If we simply maintain what we are doing now for a long period of time, we will become the disciples of John, not the followers of Jesus. The followers of Jesus have something new. For this reason, others may sometimes consider them “troublemakers.”
If we take the way of John’s disciples, the way of fasting and prayers, there is no new garment and no new wine, and there is no enjoyment of the Bridegroom’s presence. Praise the Lord, we have the Bridegroom! He is not a fasting one, but a feasting one. He is feasting with us, and we are feasting with Him. To be qualified to feast with Him, we need the new garment to cover us. We need the new garment without, and we need the new wine within.
Although some may fast and pray much, they nevertheless may not have the Bridegroom, and they may not have the feast with the new wine or the new garment. What they have may be something old: an old wineskin with old wine and an old garment. If they do not have the Bridegroom, they do not have the feast, and they need to fast. When we have the Bridegroom feasting with us, and we are covered with the new garment and filled with the new wine, how could we fast? We are feasting.
If we are filled with Christ, how can we keep ourselves silent in the meetings? When we are filled with Christ, spontaneously we shout “Hallelujah!” Everything is new! There is a new garment, new wine, and a new wineskin.