No one, having drunk old wine immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better'

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, we read that when He was in a certain city, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."  However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Then behold, men brought on  bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived 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 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.  My study bible tells us:  "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 [in following verses of today's reading].  Levi may also have been one of those tax collectors prepared for Christ by John the Baptist [see earlier reading here]."  Luke's Gospel gives us commands of Jesus, followed by those who will be His disciples.  In Thursday's reading, Jesus' command to Peter to "launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch" becomes a command that leads to a radical change of life.  As John Zebedee, one of the fishermen with Peter who left all to follow Christ, would give us several books of Scripture, including the Gospel of John, so Levi (Matthew) will also go on to give us his Gospel.

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."  My study bible points out that Matthew's (Levi's) feast expresses his joy and gratitude.  It notes that "the guest register is a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness."  This is yet another example, coming one after another in Luke's Gospel, of the tremendous reach of Christ's ministry, in so many ways.  Healing is another way of looking at spiritual transformation.  A note adds that "Christ has come to call only those who know they need Him.  Sinners know it, but the scribes and Pharisees do not." 

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."   My study bible explains that "Jesus' earthly life is a time of joyous blessings.  But there will come a time when His followers will practice fasting."  The image of the Bridegroom is essential to our understanding of Christ, His mission, and where we are as we await the wedding feast to come at His return.

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.'"  My study bible tells us of this last line, "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." 

In yesterday's reading, when Jesus both healed and forgave sins at the same time, we read the exclamations of the people, in the presence of the religious leadership:  "We have seen strange things today!"  In that reading, we noted that the word "paradox" is rooted in the Greek here that is translated as "strange."  (The Greek word used is paradoxos.)  Here today, we have another paradox.  As my study bible pointed out, this saying, the last line in today's reading that no one, having drunk old wine immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better' is a kind of a paradox, something we have to puzzle out, to think about.  And, as the note indicates, scholars still today may disagree about and puzzle over its meaning.  This is paradox, an invitation to think about God's ways which are not our ways.  Jesus' life and His revelation in His ministry and mission continually ask us such questions to ponder about.  What does He mean when He says this?  What did He mean when He did this?  What does His ministry and mission imply in this angle or action or expectation?  So we are invited into His ministry and mission through mystery, a very important and essential aspect of our faith.  We don't know everything there is to know yet about God, and thus our road to faith is a mystical one, one that involves our own growth and transformation.  In the life of the Church or the Body of Christ, certainly this plays out through the centuries as we await Reconciliation in a cosmic sense, in His return, hinted at in the language of the Bridegroom.  In a personal sense, we have to think about what it means to be used to the old wine, although a new vintage is being introduced.  The old is not bad, but the new is also bringing us something new, and we must also be able realize that a new "taste" is being brought to our palate.  So we can think of Christ's new wine; it may need some aging, we might not be used to it yet, and yet it is the taste of something new  -- a sense in which we must be able to accommodate this year's harvest, a new blessing, the new wine of the wedding to come.  So let us think of our heritage, and also the new things Christ brings us today.  In John's Gospel, Jesus told us, as He said to His disciples, "I am the vine, you are the branches."  Given in His farewell discourse to the disciples, what He was teaching them was the importance of spiritual fruits, the continually pouring forth of new fruitfulness.  They were also to abide in Him, as the branch abides in the vine.  So let us think of vintages, of fruitfulness, and the new wine we may need to get used to.  How do you expand what you already know?  How does God lead us into mysteries through paradox?  Christ is continually revealing the new, and yet does not reject the old.  But fulfilling His truth will take a lot of expansion on our parts, as His ministry will expand and grow beyond our limitations of understanding.  Can we grow, as new wineskins, as we await the return of the Bridegroom?  With the "new wine" we are continually invited to "taste and see."