Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 9:14

"Then come to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?" — Matthew 9:14 (ASV)

The disciples of John — This passage is interesting because it shows two things:

1. That the followers of the Baptist continued to form a separate group during our Lord’s ministry (Matthew 14:12).
2. That they obeyed rules he had given them, which were more or less patterned after those of the Pharisees. They had their own days of fasting (the context makes it probable that the feast in Matthew’s house was held on one of them) and their own forms of prayer (Luke 11:1).

It seems that John’s disciples, acting with the Pharisees and perhaps influenced by them, were perplexed by conduct so unlike that of the master they revered, and therefore came with their question. However, they were at least not hypocrites, and so they are answered without the sternness that had marked the reply to their companions.