New wine must be put into new wineskins

 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and he taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting.  Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."

- Mark 2:13-22

Yesterday we read that again Jesus entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and he taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  Levi is also called Matthew, and the Gospel written by him bears this name.  Jewish tax collectors were assigned by Roman overlords to collect taxes from specific areas.  Using the backup of the state military power, they were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  My study bible says that their collaboration with the occupying Romans, coupled with fraud and corruption, meant that they were despised by fellow Jews, and considered to be unclean (Matthew 11:19).  That Jesus dines with them and accepts a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me") is offensive to the Pharisees.  But Christ's calling is for redemption and salvation, which means essentially healing -- and the method and medicine is repentance.    As physician He must go where the need is, as all things are reconciled in Him, including those shunned from community, like the tax collectors, who are considered to have strayed from covenant with God.

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting.  Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days."   In Jewish practice, fasting was typically done twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  Additionally, there were public fasts which were regularly observed or proclaimed on occasion (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15).  This was especially important on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5, 8:19).  However, the day of the Messiah was meant to be nothing of the sort; it was rather a wedding feast.  That is, a time of joy and gladness.  Jesus is proclaiming that this day is here, and declaring effectively that He is the Bridegroom/Messiah.  My study bible tells us that for Christians, the practice of fasting is not a gloomy one, but rather a kind of "bright sadness."  By fasting we learn self-control and prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast. 

"No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."   The old garment and old wineskins, according to my study bible, stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, which are viewed as imperfect and temporary in the light of Christ.  The new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  The new wine is the Holy Spirit, which dwells within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.

Here again is the concept of repentance.  Jesus began His ministry with a proclamation, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel."  The time of the Covenant and the Law is fulfilled.  The kingdom of God is at hand in the person of Jesus Christ, Incarnate Son, and His ministry has begun as the time is fulfilled after John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets and considered "Forerunner" to Christ, is put in prison.  Jesus' command is to "Repent, and believe in the Gospel."  What is this repentance?  Why is it necessary?  What does it do?  Christ calls the tax collectors back from outside of community; they are considered to be unclean due to the work they do, and they are despised by common Jews both for their corruption and their work for the Romans.  But repentance means "change of mind."  He calls Levi the tax collector to "Follow Him."  This does not simply mean that Levi will continue with his present work -- and in particular to outrage and defraud his fellow Jews.  But it does mean that Levi needs a physician, the Physician, as Christ refers to Himself.  He needs medicine that will draw him back, into this place of the Kingdom that lives where Christ is.  The Law is not the final arbiter of the matter; it is the person of Christ who reconciles all things within Himself.  The call of covenant is broadened and expanded in Christ.  God's mercy was always understood as steadfast by the Jews, but it is a mercy found in covenant and embraced in covenant; it is not separable from justice.  But in the person of Christ, God's mercy is all about where we are and how we come to meet Him.  We can turn back, we can repent, we can change -- and in this we may return to the Kingdom, to the communion with Christ.  Christ calls to the soul to live within the Kingdom, to participate within this living realm that asks for our hearts and minds, and calls us to the place in which we need to be.  We get there not simply through outward acts, but through the inward pull of recognizing who we are, where we belong, and to whom we belong.  We are called to choose whom we serve (Luke 16:13).   The New Covenant in Christ reaches deep down into who we are, our very place of being.  It asks us for a participation and a dedication that will always require us to be disciples, and for a continual kind of repentance that grows within this living place of the Kingdom, in which "we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).  Like the Prodigal Son, Christ calls us to come to ourselves and remember where our place is and to whom we belong.  The medicine is simply this; and it is repentance.  Why is that so hard for us to remember sometimes?   Do we abuse His love by our failure to consider this call?