New wine must be put into new 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 that it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, 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 a 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 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, also known as Matthew, follows Christ's call to "Follow Me."  He leaves his occupation as tax collector to become a disciple of Christ.  My study bible notes that 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 the tax collectors prepared for Christ by John the Baptist (see this reading).

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."  Matthew (Levi) gives a feast to express His joy and gratitude.  Let us note that he has, like Peter and James and John in Thursday's reading, left all and followed Christ.  My study bible says that the guest register at this feast is a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness.

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."  My study bible says that Jesus' earthly life is a time of joyous blessings.  But there will come a time when His followers will practice the fast.  For now, the Bridegroom is with them, and His disciples know it.  It is a time of a wedding feast, the day of the Messiah.  Jesus speaks of the new covenant He brings as new wine, symbolic of covenant at a wedding.  His disciples, vessels for this new wine, look different from the old, and they will grow and expand with His Church.

"And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"  This particular saying is found only in Luke's report of the event.  It illustrates the difficulty with which these men as representatives of the leadership of the Jews would accept the new covenant.  But it also expresses the inner resistance a person faces in turning from a sinful way of life in repentance and "change of mind" (as the Greek word for repentance literally means).  It also gives us insight about the general stubbornness of the human heart.  Some ancient texts read, "The old is good," further illustrating this insight into human behavior.

How does Jesus' entry into one's life call for change?  Clearly these tax collectors and sinners are repentant; they now seek to follow Christ.  It isn't as though He condones bad behavior.  But what He offers is friendship, a way forward, a way of change.  And it seems to be that this is the crux of today's reading.  What does change bring?  What does it mean?  How do people respond to it?  The repentance of these tax collectors and sinners is cause for rejoicing.  It also means reconciliation, union.  Both are symbolized by the wedding of the Bridegroom  (the Messiah) and His people.  And this wedding feast has to be clearly seen in the context of the healings that Jesus has done.  In yesterday's reading, He healed a leper by touch, something also not condoned by the Law.  But the author of the Law Himself is present, the One who heals all things. Also in yesterday's reading, Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic (implying a connection, often seen as allegory by tradition, between sin and paralysis).  This caused the scribes and the Pharisees to think Him blasphemous, but the dramatic healing of the paralytic was so stunning it simply produced both amazement and fear.  In any case, the new covenant which Jesus brings as Bridegroom to His people is one that resets everything.  It is He who produces salvation, brings us back to the union with God that we human beings lost in the earliest paradise, Eden.  In this way, we understand our Bridegroom to be our Physician on every level:  physical, mental, spiritual.  As we pledge to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength (Luke 10:27), so our God also is our Bridegroom in each level of that love that we open to Him, and this is the great message here.   This is the new wine being made, and it needs new wineskins.  Sometimes drastic changes will be called for, and we -- as His followers -- will be called upon to turn away from everything we know in order to become truly healed.  Can we expand to accept it within ourselves, and the changes it will bring to us?