‘And he spoke also a parable to them, “No man tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not agree with the old.”
Jesus is here declaring that He has brought something new which must not be spoiled by mingling it with the old. He is bringing the new clothing of the Kingly Rule of God.
In context the application of it is against fasting. It is saying that we should not take old ideas, (in context the ideas about fasting), and apply them to a new situation, or try to fit the new into the old. That would be like cutting a piece from a new garment so as to mend the old. That would be ridiculous. Both garments would be spoiled. To put together the ideas of the old ways and the new would be incompatible. They do not match. With Jesus everything has begun anew.
This suggests that He saw fasting as being mainly for the old dispensation, but not for the new. The old world fasted because they waited in penitence for God to act. But now God was acting and fasting was a thing of the past. Now was the time for rejoicing.
However, the words also contain within them the general idea that what Jesus Himself has come to bring is new. ‘The Kingly Rule of God has drawn near'. So now is to be a time of rejoicing and everything must be looked at in its light. The old had past, and the new has come (compare 2 Corinthians 5:17). Two examples of this appear in the Old Testament. The first is in Ezekiel 16 where Israel, having been splendidly clothed by God is defiled because of her idolatrous practises. But God promises hat in the end He will put all right. The second is in Zechariah 4:3-5 where Joshua the High Priest, the representative of Israel, is clothed in new clothing as an illustration of acceptance by God. From these we may gather that Jesus has come to reclothe His people with pure clothing (compare Matthew 22:11-12; Revelation 19:8).
The extraordinary significance of this statement must not be overlooked. Jesus had clearly declared that in His coming as the Bridegroom a whole new way of thinking and living had been introduced. He was the introducer of a new age. It was the acceptable year of the Lord. Repentance and forgiveness in the new age into which they were now entering would lead to lives of joy with first the earthly and then the heavenly (risen) Bridegroom. Thus fasting will be unnecessary except in exceptional circumstances, in the brief period before final victory. Everything is different and old ways must be forgotten.
And this is because Jesus is introducing new clothing. This gains new meaning in the light of Jesus' idea elsewhere, which He Himself may have had in mind, for the man who seeks to enter the heavenly wedding without having a proper wedding garment on will be cast out (Matthew 22:11-12 compare Revelation 19:8; Revelation 3:5; Revelation 3:18). Those who would enter His presence must be clothed in His righteousness alone. There must be no partially patched up dress for them.
It will be noted that the illustration here is different from that in Mark. Jesus probably used the same illustration a number of times, varying it slightly when He wanted to make a different point. Mark has clearly used one example, and Luke another. The one Luke has chosen has the advantage to him that, secondarily to its main meaning, it brings out that there is no point in trying to turn Gentiles into Jews.