No one puts new wine into old wineskins

After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.

Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?" And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days." Then He spoke a parable to them: "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

- Luke 5:27-39

Yesterday, we read of Jesus healing a leper, and then a paralytic. In the first case, He instructed the healed man to go to the priest as was required by Mosaic law, but to tell no one of the healing besides. In the second, Jesus was in a very public place, with people from everywhere in Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem -- including Pharisees and scribes. He told the paralytic that his sins were healed, to the objections of the religious experts. They said, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Jesus replied, "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?" We read, And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"

After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he left all, rose up, and followed Him. At first thought upon reading this passage, one may think it's a rather sudden transition! But then again, one must reflect on the position of tax collectors in this society. Like the leper (in yesterday's reading), they are looked down upon and left out. My study bible says, "Levi (Matthew) answers Christ's call, follow me, and leaves his occupation to become a disciple. From the beginning of His ministry Christ has been a friend of tax collectors and sinners, which is one of the Pharisees' complaints against Him. Levi may also have been one of those tax collectors prepared for Christ by John the Baptist (3:12)."

Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." In yesterday's reading, we heard the people say, "We have seen strange [paradoxical] things today!" Here is another strange thing, another paradox. Levi, or Matthew - who will, of course, go on to author his own Gospel - throws a banquet of celebration. My study bible says, "This feast expresses Matthew's joy and gratitude. The guest register is a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness." The experts in law and religion don't expect this: what are the Teacher and His disciples doing sitting at table with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus uses the occasion to introduce His teaching: "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." There is the deeper sense that this ministry is about "turning back" -- turning back the world to God, by bringing God's love to the world. It is a metaphor, in microcosm, for the whole of the sacramental reality He brings, and also for our own participation and responsibility in meeting Him, and "turning back." My study bible has an interesting take on it: "Christ has come to call only those who know they need Him. Sinners know it, but the scribes and Pharisees do not." Repentance, as we have said before, means literally "change of mind" -- and the "change of mind" is also necessary to embrace what is paradoxical and strange to us, to open up our understanding of revelation.

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?" And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days." They ask a reasonable question: why the contradiction? But Jesus' reply is powerful -- their Teacher, the bridegroom, is with them. Not only is Matthew's banquet a kind of wedding banquet for those who have found the bridegroom, but again we have a symbol of the whole of Jesus' church and ministry: He is the bridegroom. It is a powerful symbol in Jewish spiritual history, and an allusion to His identity as Christ, or Emmanuel ("God with us"). My study bible says, "Jesus' earthly life is a time of joyous blessings. But there will come a time when His followers will practice fasting." There is also the clear allusion here to the fact that He will leave this world as incarnate Christ.

Then He spoke a parable to them: "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'" And again we have the implication of paradox, the strange things that Jesus brings into their midst. They cannot be contained in the old wineskins -- the new things He brings simply do not fit into the old perspective. Of verse 39 (the final verse of today's reading), my study bible says, "This is a difficult verse, appearing only in Luke. Either it means that Jewish traditionalists are not ready to receive the new wine of Jesus' teaching, or this is a warning not to reject the Jewish heritage altogether." But I think Jesus' statement is a clear comment on the difficulty of change -- not its impossibility. We want what we know and are used to. Repentance or change of mind is an effort that we must be prepared to make.

Today we ponder again the "strange," paradoxical, new things Jesus brings into the world. His is a ministry to the sick, the sinners - to call all to repentance, or "change of mind." He is not here for those who believe they are perfect; rather He introduces something new, a new dynamic. He brings in the outsiders. You cannot pour the new wine in old wineskins because they will burst: just as did the nets of the fishermen when they put them into the waters as He instructed them to, and came up with such an abundance of fish. This new ministry cannot be contained in the old. And those who are used to the old will have to make an effort to receive the new, because human nature wants what it is used to -- and there is a great clue there to ourselves. We may be stuck, while God calls us forward into the new and paradoxical, as revelation will work to bring to us the holy. To what are you called today? Do you need to "change your mind" and repent about something you are stuck in? What is the uncontainable that must burst through the old wineskin, for which you may need to take on something new so that it fits into your life, your mind, your perspective? The key to the "uncontainable" is in the joy of the bridegroom and His friends, the love He expresses.