Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 9:16

"And no man putteth a piece of undressed cloth upon an old garment; for that which should fill it up taketh from the garment, and a worse rent is made." — Matthew 9:16 (ASV)

No one puts a piece of new cloth — There is a closer connection between the three parables than appears at first sight. The wedding feast suggested the idea of the wedding garment and the wine that belonged to its joy. We can even go a step further and believe that the very clothing of those who ate at Matthew’s house—coming as they did from the lower and more poorly dressed classes—made the illustration all the more clear and vivid. How could those worn garments be made suitable for wedding guests? Would it be enough to sew a patch of new cloth where the old was wearing into holes? He answers that this is not the way, both here and again when He implicitly makes the king who gives the feast also the giver of the garment (Matthew 22:2).

New cloth — That is, cloth that has not been processed by the fuller—new and unshrunk, in its freshest and strongest state. Such a patch sewn onto a weak part of the old cloak would, on the first strain, tear the cloth near it.

The tear is made worse — A better translation is, a worse tear results. St. Luke adds another reason: the piece put in agrees not with the old.

The direct application of the parable is quite clear. The "garment" is what is outward: a person's life and conduct, which reveal their character. The old garment is the ordinary life of sinful people, like Matthew and his guests. The new garment is the life of holiness—the religious life in its completeness. Fasting, as one element of that life, is the patch of new cloth that does not match the old, and it leads to a greater evil: a "worse tear" in the person's life than before.

No one would treat a literal garment this way. Yet this was what the Pharisees and the disciples of John wanted to do with the partially converted tax collectors. This, we might add, is what the Church of Christ has too often done in her work of converting the nations. Sacramental ordinances, monastic vows, Puritan formulas, or Quaker conventionalities have been grafted onto lives that were fundamentally pagan or worldly. The contrast has been glaring, and the "tear" made worse.

The more excellent way, which our Lord followed and which we would be wise to follow, is to take the old garment and transform it by a renewing power from within, thread by thread, until old things are passed away, and all things are become new.