“THEN came to Him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but Thy disciples fast not?” The Lord gives two reasons why He could not submit to the demands of the Pharisees. Fasting was a mark of sorrow and humiliation whereas the Lord was Himself the source of His disciples joy and gladness. To fast while He was among them would not be in keeping with His presence.
Secondly, His mission was to bring in that which would be far better than all the ritual of the Pharisees! Furthermore there could be no mixing of the two. There could be no putting the principles of the law together with the gospel of His grace. “No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment; for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.” Christianity is an entirely new thing and cannot be added to the old system of law-keeping as a sort of improvement on it. To attempt to do so will only make the old worse, and yet this is what many are doing today.
“Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish.” The old bottles had been stretched by what had been put into them before. If new wine were put io them they would be unable to stretch any more; so they would burst and all would be lost. The power of the coming kingdom would be lost if the attempt was made to make it conform to the old order of things. “But they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.” The Lord has brought in the new wine of grace and He must have new bottles.
After this we read that a ruler comes to Him doing Him homage, sang, “My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay Thine hand upon her, and she shall live.” The Lord Jesus followed him with His disciples. On the way a poor woman with an incurable disease came behind Him and touched the hem of His garment, “For she said within herself, If I may but touch His garment, I shall be made whole.” The Lord felt that touch of faith and knowing what had been done, He would not allow her to go away with just that. He desires that she might have the assurance of His Word that she was healed. How many, like this woman, depend on their feelings as to their standings before God, whereas we can only have real peace as to our faith by resting simply on His Word.
When Jesus reached the ruler’s home, He found a crowd of mourners there, some of them flute-players and all apparently making a considerable noise. The Lord commands them to withdraw, saying, “The maid is not dead, but sleepeth,” for that is what death is in His presence. They laughed Him to scorn, but when they had been put out, He went in. He took the maid by the hand, and she arose. “And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.”
The ruler’s daughter, raised from the dead, is a picture of Israel whom the Lord will raise as from the dead in a coming day. In the meantime, while He is on the way, whoever comes now and touches Him in faith, gets the blessing.
Memory Verse: “BLESSED ARE ALL THEY THAT PUT THEIR TRUST IN HIM.” Ps. 2:12.
ML-05/13/1962