John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins."
Fasting— not eating food for a day or more— was common in Jewish society to indicate that one was mourning a great loss, such as a loved one (e.g. I Samuel 31:11-13). It is done when someone has sinned against the Lord and they want to be saved from judgement (I Samuel 7:3-6; Jonah 3:5-9). And Israel fasts when they ask God for a restoration of their political and moral independence (Nehemiah 1:3-4;Daniel 9:1-3). Fundamentally, one fasts when he or she wants deliverance or salvation from God. For this reason, the ancient Baptists and Pharisees were fasting to see God’s deliverance come upon God’s people. Since Jesus was proclaiming this deliverance, it was a surprise to them that Jesus’ disciples did not fast.
Jesus’ reply is that God’s deliverance was already here, in the person of Jesus. So why should the disciples fast and beg for what is already here? But later, when Jesus is not on earth, then it would be appropriate to fast. Even so, Jesus said, at the time of his ministry it was not appropriate to fast, but now—with Jesus being gone—it is appropriate to fast.
The next metaphor is talking about having new customs for a new situation. Just as fasting isn’t appropriate when God’s deliverance has arrived, even so, there are customs that must be changed because of the new kingdom of God that is arriving.
Religious tradition is only appropriate in certain contexts. We can renew a certain custom and make it seem "meaningful", but unless we truly understand our contemporary context and culture and what that tradition will mean to them, we should not just apply the old customs. Every generation should have new traditions to express the old truths. Even these new traditions should be analyzed to see if they really represent truth, but we "old timers" cannot stop a new custom simply because it is unfamiliar to us, or because it means something different to the culture we came from.
Truth has an outward look that is completely different to every generation. But the truth can be the same.
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