Mark 2:18–22 (NKJV): 18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
Traditions are good, but some complicate our faith and accomplish nothing but distract us from true worship. If we remember that at the well in Samaria, Jesus told the woman that those who worship God must do so in truth and spirit (John 4:23). If the traditions become simple rote exercises that take up time, they are useless. In the case of Jesus’ disciples, fasting would have taken away from the precious time they had to spend with Him (the bride must be with the bride groom). Yes, Jesus told them to fast and pray if they would cast out demons (Mark 9:39), but when He was with them interacting and teaching, it would have been anti productive to their training to have them follow some ritual of fasting. There would be plenty of time for that later (not the ritual but meaningful fasting). Such is always the problem with rituals and the Jews had many. I also believe much of the discipleship of the Scribes and Pharisees centered around this. Jesus on the other hand was introducing a new form of discipleship - mimicking God! Yet, as we see even still today, there are many that do not understand. They have their traditions, there rituals, and unless everyone is doing it their way, they oppose them. But why would people not see that Jesus’ way was better? The answer lies in the last sentence of Luke’s corresponding passage that the other synoptic writers leave out. “And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ” How masterfully Jesus hits the proverbial nail on the head. We don’t immediately desire that which is new, which is why some of us never shed the old ritualistic traditions.