Read Luke 5:27-39

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What We Learn About the Pharisees by Their Questions

First of all, the Pharisees didn't ask questions because they honestly wanted an answer. They used their questions as a way of criticizing Jesus.

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Verse 30—a paraphrase of their question could go something like this:

'Why do you "hang around" with sinners?'

What do we learn about the Pharisees from this question?

1. ​They did not recognize themselves as sinners.

2. They saw themselves as better than other people (haughty)—they wouldn't stoop so low as to socialize with those outside of their group.

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Verse 33—a paraphrase of their question could go something like this:

'Why do your disciples not fast and pray?'

What do we learn about the Pharisees from this question?

1. We know from other scriptures that the Pharisees would fast and pray in ways that would be seen by the public. Read Matthew 6:5-6, 16-18

2. The Pharisees had an outward appearance of being righteous, but Jesus recognized the condition of their "inner man." Read Matthew 23:27-28

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What We Learn from Jesus' Answers to the Pharisees' Questions

Verse 32—"I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

Salvation is available to all people—not just to the "well behaved."

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Verse 34—"And Jesus said to them, 'You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?'"

While Jesus was with the disciples, there were things of more immediate importance for them to do. Jesus was their teacher and the disciples needed to be interacting with Him personally, hands on, so to speak. It was not for them to "go through the motions" that the Pharisees were expecting. The idea of fasting and praying is to get closer to God—in these days, while Jesus walked the earth, His disciples were living and learning directly from God in the flesh!

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The Parable—verses 36-39

What provoked Jesus to tell this parable? The Pharisees were basically asking Jesus "Why aren't you and your disciples doing things our way?"

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What is the meaning of the parable? You cannot mix the Old Covenant with the New. To the Pharisees, as verse 39 points out, "The old is good enough." But it's not. The New Covenant ushered in by Jesus Christ is better and it has made the Old Covenant obsolete. (See Hebrews chapter 8.)