Lk 5:33-39
33[The scribes and Pharisees] said to [Jesus], “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” 34Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” 36And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
37Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. 38Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. 39[And] no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ ”
Bridegroom: The Bible abounds in images of marriage, and although pictures of weddings are relatively sparse, the wedding has become a metaphor for the relationship between God and his people Israel. God is pictured as a husband, and the salvation he brings to Israel is portrayed like a wedding. Isaiah foresees the restoration of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile in terms of a wedding: “For the Lord delights in you, and makes your land his spouse. As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you. And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so shall your God rejoice in you” (Is 62:5).
Jesus is repeatedly called a bridegroom. John the Baptist, the “witness” of Jesus, calls himself the friend of the groom (Jn 3:22-30). In the Gospel reading, Jesus explains his disciples’ lack of fasting because he likens his earthly ministry to a wedding feast. And he compares his disciples to celebrating wedding guests. To fast at a wedding is a supreme insult to the principals and their families. The disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees do not celebrate because they do not recognize the bridegroom. But those who acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah see his presence in terms of a messianic banquet.