Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
They said to him, “john’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”
He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of the new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise that will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking the old wine wants the new, for they say, the old is better.” Luke 5:29-39
Hello parable of the wineskins! What are you and what do you mean? Have you ever skimmed over parable upon parable without really thinking about their context? I have, many times! Still this blog is all about searching out God’s mysteries and finding those nuggets of truth in scripture and the mysteries He’s whispering to you in every day life. I’ve been thinking about this parable for about a week, mulling over it and the meaning I’m seeing in it based on what was happening in the passage, and I have a few thoughts I want to share with you. So before I get anymore long winded lets get into it!
Ok so what is happening in this passage? Jesus is at dinner, eating with a variety of people that shocks the religious elite of the day, and basically refusing to meet their standards of conduct. Jesus is a “teacher” a “rabbi” and as such, according to their ideas, should conform to a certain standard, and they are flummoxed as to why He does not.
Alright then, first question, “What is the basis for the standard of conduct the Pharisees want?”
Second question, “What is the basis for the standard of conduct that Jesus is employing?”
Third question, “Why can’t the two standards mix?” (hence not patching an old cloth with a new patch, not placing new wine in old wineskins)
If you couldn’t tell this post is probably going to get a little technical, but I hope you stick with me to the end, because there is some very needed truth here.
The Standard of Conduct of the Pharisees stems from the OLD COVENANT.
The Old Covenant is what we call the covenant God made with Israel in the Old Testament, and it does need some explanation. Many people don’t really have a full understanding of the Old Covenant, it’s purpose, and its content. I’ll try to keep it as simple as possible.
When God chose Israel to be His people He set down a system of government and law for them as well as a religious system. in fact the two were very much tied together as God meant for He Himself to be King and Ruler over them. Later of course they chose to have a human king like the lands around them. The laws are complex and many, ranging from dietary and sanitary laws, (very necessary in a time where people didn’t always bother to cook their food, or leave their excrement somewhere isolated, or even bother to wash after touching something dead) to laws detailing how to conduct every day government and matters of justice. Then, of course, you also had religious laws, laws that called His people to be Holy, set apart. Laws that defined right and wrong, (ten commandments anyone?) and above all else called His people to only worship Him.
It’s a pretty heavy dose honestly. But lets boil it down to a sentence.
The Old Covenant Called You to be Holy In Word and Deed.
Alright then, now we understand where the Pharisees are coming from, these are the experts in the Law. You aren’t supposed to associate with sinners, after all, their conduct could rub off on you. Fasting is encouraged, spiritual self discipline is incredibly necessary when one is trying to be holy.
But Christ is already operating out of something completely new. So new it would blow their minds. So new that, when it comes down to it, most of them reject it.
Christ is operating out of the NEW COVENANT. (didn’t see that one coming did ya!)
Ok so hopefully you know a little bit of what the new covenant is all about, but lets surmise.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. John 3:16-21
So now, we are saved by Christ! Yay! Now, what has happened to the Old Covenant?
The Old Covenant, as a whole, was useful in that it pointed out one thing.
Man is fallen.
It’s a pretty basic principle. I mean the very first and most important command in the whole lot, to worship only God and make no idols, is probably the one that Israel broke the most. If we are really truly honest with ourselves we break it every single day as we go after our own desires and “gods” instead of His.
At this point though, it’s easy to get something very very mixed up. We start feeling that even though we are sinners, because God sent Jesus to die for us, we are therefore excused from trying to be holy.
I mean, thats the point right? The Pharisees were trying to be holy, but we aren’t.
But that, my dear readers, is not what Christ says at all.
“Do not think that i have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
“you have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:17-22,27-28,43-45a,48
Wow! You a little intimidated? I’m a little intimidated! And that isn’t even the whole chapter!
So then, in reality, in the new covenant Christ calls us to even MORE holiness then the old covenant did. Where the old judged your actions, your word and deed, the new judges your heart and mind.
We like to think our hearts are basically good, but we fool ourselves. Every moment of anger is as good as murder, ever white lie as rotten as the worst of them, every moment of lust as condemnable as the rest. Christ doesn’t ask us to reach the perfection of the Pharisees but to surpass it, to be perfect, as the Father is perfect. When we hold ourselves up to that mirror we fall so short we can’t even begin to fathom it.
So, if both covenants call for our holiness, and if the new one calls for a holiness that is even more totally impossible then the first, then what is the point? And how are they different?
The source of that holiness.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according the the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4
Out of our own selves we can never by holy, that is why Christ came. But out of Him and His Spirit the rules are entirely different!
And this brings us to the final question, why can’t the two mix? Lets think about it.
The old judged your word and deed.
The new judges your heart and mind.
In one holiness stems from ritual and conduct and self.
In the other holiness stems from God’s Spirit He places in you Himself as a gift.
In one we strive to be holy so we can come near to God.
In the other we strive to be holy because we are thankful that He came near to us.
The Old Covenant is the old wine, it is kept in a skin of ritual and man made attempts to be righteous. It is every “religious” attempt we are ever lured into to rely on ourselves for our own holiness.
And what is the new wine?
in the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Luke 22:20
The New Covenant is the new wine, and the new wine is Christ.
He doesn’t fit in a skin of ritual, he isn’t about “religious” attempts to be holy. He IS holy. You try to cram Him into your attempts of holy conduct, and He ruptures them. You try to patch up your soiled old clothes yourself with a patch of Him, and He pulls away. He is the New Covenant, written in His blood. And it can never mix with the old.
But many drink the old wine, they like it, they think its good. They don’t know what they are missing.
Don’t reject the new wine! Don’t be like the Pharisees and try to write your own holiness! You can’t put Christ in your box, you can’t limit His calling to holiness, and you can’t limit Him.
But He can transform you.
And that, is my take on the parable of the wineskins.
~Joy Aletheia Stevens
Photo Credit: by Roberto Verzo (CC BY 2.0)
Photo Credit: by Ryk Neethling (CC BY 2.0)
Photo Credit: by Jesus Solana (CC BY 2.0)
Photo Credit: by Diganta Talukdar (CC BY 2.0)
Photo Credit: by Olga Lednichenko (CC BY 2.0)
Photo Credit: by Waiting For The Word (Artist: Harry Anderson) (CC BY 2.0)
YES!! He is the new wineskin, if you will. We are only able to walk toward holiness by putting Him on the throne of our lives, coming into agreement with Jesus, and living His purpose, presence, and holiness through Him. Our own efforts fail miserably. That is where we fall short. But seeking Him first in everything gives us opportunity to live in full agreement with Him.
Great insights, once again, my Aletheia