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19. Children of the bridechamber. A contemporary Jewish idiom for wedding guests. The comparison Jesus used here has its roots in OT prophecy, where Jehovah’s relation to His people is depicted as that of the bridegroom to the bride (Isa. 62:5; cf. Hosea 1:2). John had already used the same figure to explain His relationship to the Messiah (ch. 3:25-30), upon the former occasion when the Jewish leaders had sought to drive a wedge of rivalry between John and Jesus, probably a year or so prior to this occasion. It seems significant, therefore, that Jesus used this brief figure in the presence of the disciples of John the Baptist.

In no particular did Jesus deviate from the religious requirements He Himself had enjoined on Israel through Moses. Contention between Himself and the Pharisees centered in the traditions of the elders, the “heavy burdens” that were “grievous to be borne” (Matt. 23:4). These traditional requirements had been elevated to a position of such honor and importance that at times they were allowed even to counteract the true spirit of the law of Moses (ch. 15:3-6; cf. DA 395). Thus the form of religion that the scribes and Pharisees sought to impose upon the people rendered their worship of God “vain” and meaningless (Mark 7:7). See on Matt. 23:2, 3.

What Jesus now set forth, in three brief figures, was the incompatibility of His teachings with those of the scribes. John’s disciples, although presumably accepting Christ as the Messiah (see John 1:35-37), nevertheless adhered at least to some of the ritual regulations imposed by the scribes and Pharisees (Mark 2:18). In the parable of the wedding guests, “the children of the bridechamber,” Christ defended His own disciples against the charge that they did not conform likewise to tradition. He implied that ritual practices were to be subordinated to concerns of higher importance. Then by the examples of the new wine (v. 22) and the new cloth (v. 21), Jesus developed still further the fundamental principle involved—the irreconcilable difference between the new teachings and the old. Here He explained why He considered rabbinical ritual observances as of no value. Taken together, these three parables were designed to make clear to the disciples of John the Baptist that if they truly believed the teachings of their master, they would accept His also.

They cannot fast. It would be considered an insult to the bride and groom should the wedding guests be mournful and gloomy and refuse to partake of the wedding feast.