Learning DAILY

 

Matthew 9:16-17, “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.  Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But they put new wine in new wineskins, and both are preserved.”         Jesus

 

This parable of patches on garments and wine in wineskins is also found in Mark 2:18-23 and Luke 5:33-39.  I have not fully understood what Jesus was saying and why He spoke it when asked about fasting until I did some research.  Let me share what I found.

 

The unshrunk clothe represents the promised kingdom and the old garment represents Judaism as practiced by the religious leaders.  “Although many of Jesus’ critics of that day were open to adding some of the teachings to their observance of the law, He knew that to marry grace to the law would be like sewing patches from new, unshrunk cloth onto an old garment.” (David Jeremiah)  The old garment refers to the traditions of the Pharisees and religious leaders; it refers to the moral and legal righteousness they followed.  Specifically, Jesus was talking about their traditions of eating, drinking, and fasting.  He was saying that sewing His teaching of the kingdom of God on the old Jewish teaching would not work because when washed the patches would shrink, begin to rip away, and ruin the garment.  In other words, man’s obedience to their traditions would not work with what God demanded to be righteous; God’s righteousness will not be compromised.   To try to compromise only ruins the entire garment.

 

The “new wine” was fresh unfermented grape juice; it represents the saving message of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit as shown at Pentecost.  Jesus wanted to be sure that His message of His gospel (the new wine) was preserved from all change and corruption.  He did not want it to be altered by any teaching of the Pharisees and Judaism. 

 

This concern came from the process of preserving the grape juice.  To preserve it, the people would boil the juice, put it in wineskins and place it in a cool area.  New wineskins were required because they were free from any leftover fermenting agents such as yeast cells.  If the new wine was placed in old wineskins, later fermentation would then cause the new wine to go bad.  The fermentation occurs, gasses are formed and the old wineskins eventually burst.

 

In Jesus’ teaching the wine is the Holy Spirit and the wineskin is Believers.  The salvation that Jesus brings is a new nature – it is not an improvement of the old nature.  He came to bring a new way to live life based on His work on the cross and by placing our faith in Him.  To follow Him as He demands requires a complete break with the old way of life.  Too often Believers try to walk right on the line between the old and the new, one foot in each.  Any attempt to live this way is going to fail, often bringing in a worse situation than what existed before.

 

Luke 5:39 states, “And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires the new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’”  Jesus’ comment concerns the Pharisees and people today who reject the “new wine” and believe that the “old wine” is better.  “Better” here means suitable or good enough.  Jesus is saying that the Pharisees and their followers do not recognize the benefits of the new; they believe the old is good enough.  I do not want any of us to believe the old life was good enough.

 

Becoming new creatures in Christ means we have new hearts, new spirits, and new meaning to life, love, and faith.  The old ways of life we have known do not fit into what the Kingdom of God expects and demands.  Some changes occur very quickly and others take place over a period of time.  Allow the Holy Spirit to move in you to create a desire to change from your old ways and live the life He desires from you.   May you see that the “new wine” is so much more preferable than the old life left behind!

 

 I am praying for each of us to have a greater “hunger and thirst for righteousness” each day. 

 

 

 

 

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