The New Wine

After this he went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up, left everything, and followed him.

Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax-collectors and others sitting at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?’ Jesus answered, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.’

Then they said to him, ‘John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.’ Jesus said to them, ‘You cannot make wedding-guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.’ He also told them a parable: ‘No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, “The old is good.” ’

- Luke 5:27-39

Jesus goes forward with his ministry, gathering new followers. Among them is Levi, the tax collector, who is also known as Matthew. I read in a bible commentary that Levi may have been a disciple of John the Baptist, and so his preparation for following Jesus may have something to do with his discipleship. This banquet that he is throwing is a celebration of great fortune, his finding of his discipleship and the ministry of Jesus.

Once more, Jesus is surrounded by outsiders. The tax collector was indeed a disliked representative of oppressive outsiders, the Roman rulers. The Pharisees and scribes complain and question Jesus, "Why do you sit with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answers, as always, with his own wit and his own logic: he is here not for those who are well, but for those who are sick. He has come to call sinners to repentance. As is consistent with the previous readings and healings so far in Luke's gospel, Jesus equates all his work with healing, whether it be the forgiveness of sins or the physical cure of ill health. He likens himself to a physician; he is here to address ailments that plague mankind.

Jesus is further questioned: "John's disciples fast and pray, while yours eat and drink with you." Again, Jesus responds with his own logic and understanding, and his own wit: his disciples will fast in the future, but those at the wedding do not fast when they are with the bridegroom. Jesus' church is not only a place for healing of all ailments, it is the bride and he is the bridegroom. To further the analogy of the wedding feast, at this feast at Matthew's home for Jesus, Jesus continues with the notion of wine, an important element of celebration. "You cannot put new wine into old wineskins." He continues to speak to the Pharisees and scribes in terms of his mission: he is here to bring something new into the world. There is a different order of things being taught here, being brought here through his teaching. Elements of Jesus' ministry will be strange to those who are used to the old wine. But his spirit and his teaching will go to those who know they have need of it: his apostles and disciples are the cast out, the outsiders, and they will be those healed of sickness and disease of all kind, spiritual or otherwise. His kingdom does not look like that which is expected. If you're used to the old wine, the new does not seem so appealing.

The logic of Jesus' ministry comes from a source "outside the box," to use a current popular expression. New wineskins, new practice, new disciples, things not seen before, a man who speaks with authority yet hasn't the authority others are used to seeing. A new time is being introduced. But one theme here is certain: before we can be healed we must understand that we have ailments, and that we need the physician.