Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Luke 5:36

"And he spake also a parable unto them: No man rendeth a piece from a new garment and putteth it upon an old garment; else he will rend the new, and also the piece from the new will not agree with the old." — Luke 5:36 (ASV)

The context provides opportunity for Jesus to state a basic principle in a series of parabolic figures. His mission involves a radical break with common religious practices. He teaches that he has not come merely to add devotional routines to those already practiced, for what he brings is not a patch but a whole new garment. Merely to “patch things up”—i.e., to have a dinner celebration in place of fasting—would fail for two reasons. (1) It would ruin the rest of the new garment from which it is taken. (2) Just one new patch will not help preserve the old garment but will in fact be conspicuously incongruous.