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

 In yesterday's reading, Jesus first healed a leper.  The man had come to Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  He told the man to say nothing but to go to the priest for the lawful certificate to rejoin the synagogue and the community.  But word spread anyway, despite Jesus' words.  Many came to Him to heal them after that.  So Jesus withdrew often to the wilderness and prayed.  Another day there were Pharisees and teachers of the law from everywhere in Israel:  from all over Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem.  So full was the house with people that a paralytic was hoisted down through the roof by his friends.  Jesus saw their faith and said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  The scribes and Pharisees reasoned, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus received their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  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.  Levi is also Matthew, who will become an Evangelist.  My study bible points out that he leaves his occupation to become a disciple.  It notes, "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."  This begins to open up a new kind of phase in the telling of Jesus' ministry, an extension of what we understand as "healing."

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."  Levi celebrates, appropriate to the good news he's found, the Bridegroom who is with him.  My study bible says, "The guest register is a stirring demonstration of Jesus' love and forgiveness."  But this is something new and startling:  the Teacher is eating with tax collectors and sinners.  It should be noted here that one presumes these are people, like Matthew (Levi) who are on a new road in their lives.  Jesus teaches appropriately:  Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  My study bible says:  "Christ has come to call only those who know they need Him.  Sinners know it, but the scribes and Pharisees do not."  To be called to repentance, to "change of mind" here in Jesus' words, is to be saved, to be healed.

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."   The central saving figure in this Gospel is clear:  it is Christ.  He is the Bridegroom.  The One around whom all else celebrate.  He's the Good come into their midst, and more importantly for today's reading, He is the Healer who can heal what ails them.  Later, fasting will of course become part of the Church and its practices of remembrance.  For now, for this moment in the setting of the Gospel, Christ is with them, in person, sitting at table -- a time for joy and celebration.  My study bible puts it, "Jesus' earthly life is a time of joyous blessings."

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."  This saying seems to indicate that Jesus' "new" ministry among those who need His healing is an avoidance of a greater disruption.  He's not preaching to those who don't feel they need Him, and don't want to listen, but goes where He's needed, wanted, desired -- among those who respond to His saving and healing call.

 "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."  Continuing the metaphor to His ministry, Jesus isn't going immediately to Jerusalem and the centers of religious authority with His preaching, but in the places where the new wine can begin to ferment and develop.  In this parable, it's as if He's developing a theme of parallel ministries:  the new and the old.  In this way, both can be preserved; these are the words of a Peacemaker, one who has come to heal and to save, not to condemn.

"And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"  My study bible notes that this is a difficult verse, appearing only in Luke.  It says, "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."  It seems to imply both.  That there are those not ready to receive His teachings, who will automatically desire the old; this is human nature.  But there are those who have been left out of the banquet; they are those who drink the new with Him.

Jesus' ministry enters into themes of healing, saving, opening up for the "new" vintage that will be its fruit.  What does it mean to save?  To heal?  Let us think of Christ as the ultimate Good.  Working through the salvation history of the Old Testament Scripture, Christ's presence tells us about His work in the various "types" of the Old Testament works of God.  As Son of Man, He is here to inaugurate a "new" phase, one in which His direct saving and healing action involves all those called to repentance and to relationship.  He's healed many in His ministry already, but here a new note of healing is involved.  It's bringing those left out in the "old wine" or the mold of the "old wineskins" or "old garment" so that they, too, are included.  Being touched by Him has its saving and healing effect, an encounter with grace, in which we are invited in to say "yes" to this banquet, to turn around and be healed, to change our minds.  Healing and mercy are intertwined, and so, the old and the new live side by side, each bringing in those who would be His in the grand, overarching scheme of salvation history.  He begins His work among the "new" who may accept.  "Mercy" in the Greek is eleos, a word that sounds alike to "olive oil" -- the base for every healing balm in the ancient world.  To be anointed with this oil is to be touched with grace, healed.  But we must also turn around, and accept, on our part.  Christ is continually making new wine, and discarding none of the old.  We can all come to the table.  We can all say, "Yes"  to His invitation.