And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
Ver. 15. And Jesus said unto them] He makes apology for his accused disciples; so doth he still at the right hand of his heavenly Father, nonsuiting all accusations brought against us, as our advocate, a 1 John 2:1, appearing for us as the lawyer doth for his client, Hebrews 9:24, opening his case and pleading his cause. He helpeth us also to make apology for ourselves to God, 2 Corinthians 7:11, and expecteth that, as occasion requires, we should make apology one for another, when maligned and misreported by the world.
Can the children of the bridechamber, &c.] Our Saviour seeing them to sin by infirmity, and by the instigation of the Pharisees, who with their leaven had somewhat soured and seduced them in their master's absence, deals gently with them; to teach us what to do in like case. A Venician glass must be otherwise handled than an earthen pitcher or goblet: some must be rebuked sharply, severely, cuttingly, b Titus 1:13; but of others we must have compassion, making a difference, Judges 1:22 .
Mourn as long as the bridegroom, &c.] Mourn as at funerals (so the word signifieth). This were incongruous, unseasonable, and unseemly at a feast. It was a peevishness in Samson's wife that she wept at the wedding; since that is the day of the rejoicing of a man's heart, as Solomon hath it,Song of Solomon 3:11. Now Christ is the Church's spouse. He hath the bride, and is the bridegroom, as their master the Baptist had taught them, John 3:29, and rejoiceth over every good soul, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, Isaiah 62:5. Should not the saints therefore reciprocate?
But the days will come] Our Saviour suffered much, even many a little death, all his life long; and yet, till his passion, he accounts himself to be, as it were, in the bride chamber. Then it was especially that he alone trod the winepress, and was roasted alive in the fire of his Father's wrath, &c.
When the bridegroom shall be taken from them] As now your master the Baptist is from you; a just argument and occasion of your grief and fasting, if possibly you may beg him of God out of the hands of Herod. When the Duke of Bourbon's captains had shut up Pope Clement VIII in the castle St Angelo, Cardinal Wolsey being shortly after sent ambassador beyond seas to make means for his release; as he came through Canterbury toward Dover, he commanded the monks and the choir to sing the litany after this sort, Sancta Maria, ora pro papa nostro Clemente. Himself also, being present, was seen to weep tenderly for the pope's calamity. Shall superstition do that which religion cannot bring us to? Shall we not turn again unto the Lord with fasting, weeping, and mourning, if for nothing else, yet that our poor brethren may find compassion? which is Hezekiah's motive to the people, 2 Chronicles 30:9 .
And then shall they fast] Note here, 1. That fasting is not abolished with the ceremonial law, but still to be used as a duty of the gospel. 2. That times of heaviness are times of humiliation. 3. That our halcyons here are but as marriage feasts, for continuance; they last not long; never look for it.
a παρακλητον, in full opposition to κατηγορος, the accuser of the brethren, Revelation 12:10 .
b αποτομως. Tremel., dure. Beza, praecise, rigide. Erasm, severe, et ad vivum, πενθειν .