I am using St. John’s Luke Lent Reading Plan for these devotions.
Luke 5:33-39
And the Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
I visited Diane one weekend when we were in college. She went to Valparaiso University. I went to SEMO University. These were two remarkably different schools. The biggest difference I noticed is that the students at Valpo actually studied. SEMO was more of a party school. Studying was relegated to the must-do cramming before finals, if then even. But it was different at Valpo. Those students were serious. I had to learn a whole new way of school when I went to Concordia Theological Seminary. Those students also actually studied. We had lots to learn, and we really wanted to learn it all.
This encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees isn’t so much about studying as it is about context and appropriate decorum. The Pharisees were quite serious about their religion. They wore long prayer shawls with fringes to denote their strong commitment to religious practice. They observed strict Sabbath laws as well as other uber-religious practices.
When they saw Jesus’ disciples feasting (with sinners and tax collectors no less), they were offended. They thought that was totally improper behavior. It was just not right for them to behave that way.
Jesus tells them that this behavior was totally proper. Afterall the bridegroom was with them. He had come to take his bride. These were festive times. Celebrate! There would come a time when Jesus would be taken from them. They would have occasion to grieve, fast, and mourn. But that time was not yet.
The Preacher says, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). This season of Lent is a more somber time. It’s a time to reflect on our Lord’s life, suffering, and death. There will come a more joyful time. The Day of Resurrection, Easter Sunday, will see our mourning turn to resplendent joy.
But even that does not compare with the Wedding Feast in the life of the world to come. That will be something truly joyful.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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