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MARK 2:21 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Mark 2:20Mark 2:22
“No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.”
No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse — the parable of the cloth patch is the first of the two new-wine parables, and both make the same point about incompatibility between the old and the new. Unshrunk cloth sewn onto a pre-washed (and therefore pre-shrunk) garment will shrink when washed, tearing the garment worse than the original hole. You cannot repair the old with the new because the new and the old have different properties. The parable is not about whether the old or the new is better but about their fundamental incompatibility when forced together.

Church Fathers on Mark 2:21

For the disciples of John being in an imperfect state, continued in Jewish customs.

Theophylact · 11th century

But it may be thought that He added Pharisees, because they joined with the disciples of John in saying this to the Lord, whilst Matthew relates that the disciples of John alone said it: but the words which follow father shew that those who said it spoke not of themselves, but of others.

Augustine · 4th century · de Con. Evan., ii, 27

But John did not drink wine and strong drink, because he who has no power by nature, obtains more merit by abstinence. But why should the Lord, to whom it naturally belonged to forgive sins, shun those whom he could make more pure, than those who fast? But Christ also fasted, lest He should break the precept, 'He ate with sinners,' that thou mightest see His grace, and acknowledge His power.

Bede · 8th century
Read all 10 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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Mark 2:21 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy