Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 9:15

"And Jesus said unto them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast." — Matthew 9:15 (ASV)

Can the children of the bridechamber mourn? The words were full of meaning in themselves, but they only gain their full significance when we connect them with the teaching of the Baptist recorded in John 3:29. He had pointed to Jesus as “the Bridegroom.” He had taught them that the coming of that Bridegroom was the fulfillment of his joy. Would he have withdrawn from the outward expression of that joy?

The children of the bridechamber—that is, the guests invited to the wedding. The words implied, startling as that thought would be to them, that the feast in Matthew’s house was, in fact, a wedding feast. His disciples were individually the guests of that feast. Collectively, they were the new Israel, the new congregation or Ecclesia. This Ecclesia was the bride whom He had come to make His own, to cleanse, and to purify, as our Lord taught in a parable (Matthew 22:2), St. Paul taught directly (Ephesians 5:25–27), and St. John saw in apocalyptic vision (Revelation 19:7; Revelation 21:2).

The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them. This is noteworthy as the first recorded intimation of His coming death in our Lord’s public teaching. The statement in John 3:14 was less clear until interpreted by the event, and it was addressed to Nicodemus—perhaps to him only, or at most, to St. John. The joy of the wedding feast would cease, and then would come the long night of expectation, until once again there would be the cry, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh” (Matthew 25:6).

Then shall they fast. These words can hardly be seen as a command imposing fasting as a formal obligation, but they undoubtedly sanction the principle on which fasting rests. The time following the Bridegroom's departure would be one of sorrow, conflict, and discipline. In such a time, the self-conquest implied in abstinence was the natural and true expression of the feelings that belonged to it. The Christian Church has always felt this to be so, as the New Testament records in the lives of at least two great apostles, St. Peter (Acts 10:10) and St. Paul (2 Corinthians 11:27). As far as it goes, however, the principle asserted here favors fasts at special seasons of sorrow rather than frequent and fixed fasts as a discipline or meritorious act. In establishing its days of fasting, the Church of England, guided partly by earlier usage, has connected them with the seasons and days that call for special meditation on the sterner, sadder side of truth.