But 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 Jess 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 Jess 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 the son of Alphaeus is also known to us as Matthew.  It is his name which borne on the Gospel that is placed first in the New Testament.  My study Bible explains that Roman overlords would assign specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  In their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption, they were despised by fellow Jews, and considered to be unclean (see Matthew 11:19).  That Jesus would dine with tax collectors, and accept one of their number as a disciple is offensive to the Pharisees.  But Christ's defense is straightforward.  For Him, it matters where the need of the physician is greatest.  He heals by calling 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."  Fasting for the Jews typically took place twice a week (Leviticus 18:12), on Mondays and Thursdays.  Additionally there were public fasts which were regularly observed or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15).  Especially of importance was the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5; 8:19).  But in the sight of the Jews, my study Bible explains, the day of the Messiah was a wedding feast -- a time of joy and gladness.  So here, Jesus is proclaiming that day to be present -- declaring Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom.  My study Bible comments that, for Christians, fasting is not gloomy but rather a desirable, calling it a "bright sadness."  For by fasting, it notes, we gain 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."   Jesus uses the terms old garment and old wineskins to represent the Old Covenant and the Law.  In this sense, they are viewed as imperfect and temporary.  The new wineskins then are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  The new wine, my Bible explains, then is seen as the Holy Spirit, dwelling within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.  

In what way does the term "new wineskin" appeal to you, or apply to you in your life?  This quality of newness is not simply something that was newly on offer 2,000 years ago when Christ engaged in this confrontation with the Pharisees.  For we understand that all of the ways that Christ described Himself, and the action of the Kingdom, were all about "making new" in some sense.  After all, what does a Physician do but heal, and what is healing but "making new"?  For that matter, to forgive sins is to let them go, to release people from their bondage to the sin, to "make new" in this freedom, in redemption.  When we practice repentance, literally "change of mind" in the Greek, we are becoming new people; our spirits change, our souls change, our perspective and outlook changes.  Jesus placed great emphasis on the ways in which we perceived life, the lens through which we looked -- our perspective.  He said that He came that we may have life, and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches, "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"  Clearly, if our "eye" (our mind) can be made good, full of light, then we are renewed people, taken out of the great darkness of spiritual blindness and ignorance.  By cleansing the eye through repentance, and through the illumination of Christ, our outlook is renewed and thus our life.  In the Revelation 21:5, we read, "Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And He said to me, 'Write, for these words are true and faithful.'"   These words are true and faithful in the of always being so, eternally, at every moment.  And in the literal sense of the Greek verbs, the words of the One who sat on the throne are better translated, "I am always making all things new."  For this is, after all, the truth of Resurrection, the power of Christ which is always present, always true, always faithful.  With the Cross comes Resurrection, and therefore the action of new wine which needs new wineskins.  We are those new wineskins, as Christ teaches us that we are always seeming to be works in progress, on our way somewhere, changing our view, ultimately pliable enough to move toward the fullness of the image in which we have been created, the image that Christ has for us.  For even fasting practices are meant to prepare us for the choices of such a journey, fasting from what's not really good, what doesn't feed that true image and integrity, helping us with the discipline to see new things around the corner, new ways through which to view and to approach life, new ways of thinking and being.  Matthew the tax collector sheds the old life of collecting taxes for the empire, and instead becomes one who serves the kingdom of God.  For we are stones, not existing to stand still but to be shaped into something beautiful.  "Living stones," as St. Peter tells us, "being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (see 1 Peter 2:4-6).   Therefore the life in Christ is to be a new wineskin filled with new wine that expands who we think we are, offering us a fullness we don't yet know.  Let us be grateful for this life in abundance.