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 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 

 

And again He 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 those 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."   Let us take note here that as first priority, this passage begins with Jesus once again teaching, and this time to all the multitude, by the sea.  Levi the son of Alphaeus is also known to us as St. Matthew.   According to my study Bible, he's the only one of the Twelve who has a powerful position in society, as he is assigned by a Roman overlord to collect taxes from fellow Jews in a specific area.  These men, backed by the Roman state, were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  My study Bible says that their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption caused other Jews to hate them and to consider them unclean.  For Jesus to dine with tax collectors, and to accept one as a disciple ("Follow Me") is offensive to the Pharisees, even scandalous.  But Christ's defense gives us the orientation of His ministry:  "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick."

 

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."   My study Bible explains that in Jewish practice, it was typical to fast twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  Moreover there were regularly observed and also occasionally proclaimed public fasts (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15), particularly on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5; 8:19).  By contrast, however, the day of the Messiah was seen as a wedding feast, a time of great joy and gladness.  Here, Jesus is proclaiming that day, my study Bible says, and He declares Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom.  For Christians, it adds, fasting (such as in traditional Lenten practice) is not gloomy but rather desirable, a "bright sadness."  By fasting, we gain self-control and prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast.  My study Bible also explains that the old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, which are viewed as imperfect and temporary.  The new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ. The new wine, it says, is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law. 

I was recently listening to a podcast (see here) in which it was explained that we can read the Bible, and the various time periods given in the Old and New Testaments, as times of preparation.  In this light, the New Covenant given by Christ isn't a simply replacement of the Old Covenant, but rather it is viewed as a renewal of the Covenant between God and God's people.  Indeed, this perspective makes sense in light of the concept that Christ initiated a new time (referred to in its entirety as "end times" while we await His return), and that this new time began at Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Indeed, there was also an Old Testament Pentecost, associated with the giving of the Law through Moses.  This was called the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot.  As St. Paul explains, in this perspective the time of the Law given through Moses is "renewed" in Christ by the coming of the Holy Spirit; as such this renewed time means that instead of the Law written on tablets, this new time is one of the Law written on the heart.  See Hebrews 8:7-13, in which St. Paul refers to the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34) as being fulfilled at this time.  In this perspective stated by St. Paul, then, Jesus speaks of the new wine as that new thing which needs room in order to grow and to expand, the powerful force of transformation at work likened to something akin to the enzymatic action of fermentation.  Hence, new wineskins are necessary.  Jesus' metaphor of new wine teaches us about a new vintage which cannot be placed in the old container which held the old wine, for something new and dynamic is happening.  Jesus the Physician has come to heal, and that means calling not the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.  Something new and tremendous is happening, and something transformational and powerful, that works like the enzymes of the yeasts at work in wine, in a way that is hidden and unseen to us, but nevertheless producing dynamic results we can see in the necessary expansion of the new wineskins.   So often we forget that our New Covenant is one meant to bring about transformational effects in us.  These are the effects of the laws the Lord has put in our minds and written on our hearts so that we turn and are healed (Isaiah 6:10; Matthew 13:15).  If we think of the New Covenant as not one that is simply "new" but is in effect renewed, then it seems that we come closer to understanding the power of our faith and its working in Christ and through the Holy Spirit.  For this dynamic action is not simply a one-time declaration or label we join with a single choice, but rather it institutes an ongoing process -- always renewing and at work within us.   The Lord's work is always making all things new (the literal meaning of the Greek in Revelation 21:5), and hence we are continually asked to renew ourselves and grow in these new wineskins of His covenant with us.  Our growth is meant to be a continual expansion.  Lent is a particular time to focus on this dynamic growth, making time and room to renew our life of prayer and our focus on covenant in the love of Christ.