And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but you eat and drink?
All Commentaries on Luke 5:33 Go To Luke 5
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Or, That fast is not given up whereby the flesh is mortified, and the desires of the body chastened. (For this fast commends us to God.)But we cannot fast who have Christ, and banquet on the flesh and blood of Christ.
But when are those days, in which Christ shall be taken away from us, since He has said, I will be with you always, even to the end of the world? But no one can take Christ away from you, unless you take yourself away from Him.
Lastly, it is spoken of the fast of the soul, as the context shows , for it follows, But be said, No man puts a piece of a new garment upon an old. He calls fasting an old garment, which the Apostle thought should be taken off, saying, Put off the old man with his deeds. In the same manner we have a series of precepts not to mix up the actions of the old and new man.
The weakness of man's condition is exposed when our bodies are compared to the skins of dead animals.
