Luke 5:35

Luke 5:35, in plain English

Then Jesus added a sobering note: 'The time will come when the groom is taken away. Then they'll fast.' He was hinting at His own death.

Why it's here

In the middle of explaining joy, Jesus quietly pointed to the cross. Even in celebration, He knew what was coming.

Who's speaking

Jesus speaks prophetically about a future time of loss and grief.

Where it sits in the story

Jesus didn't hide from the hard truth. Even while defending joy, He acknowledged that suffering was ahead. But the beauty is that the story doesn't end with fasting — the bridegroom returns.

The scholarly reading

The phrase aparthē ap' autōn ho nymphios ("when the bridegroom is taken from them") foreshadows Jesus' death. The passive voice (aparthē) suggests violent removal, and 'then they will fast' acknowledges a future season of mourning.

Language and setting

This is one of Jesus' earliest veiled predictions of His passion. The language of the bridegroom being 'taken away' carries overtones of Isaiah 53's suffering servant.

Voice

Jesus continues His bridegroom analogy with a prophetic note about the future.

Significance

Joy will not last unbroken — Jesus hints at the cross. The current celebration will give way to mourning, and fasting will become appropriate when the bridegroom is violently removed.

33Then they said to Him, “John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees frequently fast and pray, but Yours keep on eating and drinking.”

34Jesus replied, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them?

35But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”

36He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will tear the new garment as well, and the patch from the new will not match the old.

37And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined.

Read all of Luke 5 — Peter hauls in a miraculous catch, a leper is cleansed, and a paralyzed man is lowered through a roof. Jesus is rewriting the rules of who belongs.