Matthew 9:14-17

The fast-question (Mark 2:18-22; Luke 5:33-39). Τότε. Our evangelist makes a temporal connection out of what in Mark is merely topical, another of the group of incidents showing Jesus in conflict with current opinion and practice. Where it happened cannot be determined, but it is brought in appositely after the feast of the publicans, serving with it to illustrate the free unconventional life of the Jesus-circle. προσέρχονται … οἱ μαθ. Ιωάννου. The interrogants here are John's disciples; in Mark, unknown persons about John's disciples with the Pharisees; in Luke, who treats this incident as a continuation of the last, the fault-finders are the same as before (οἱ δὲ). Mark probably gives the true state of the case. Some persons unknown, at some time or other, when other religious people were fasting, and the Jesus-circle were observed not to be fasting, came and remarked on the dissidence. διατί : the interrogants wanted to know the reason. But the important thing for us is the fact, that Jesus and His disciples did not conform to the common custom of religious people, including the disciples of the Baptist. It is the first instance of an extensive breach with existing religious usage. οὐ νηστεύουσι : the broad patent fact; if they did any fasting it was not apparent.