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THE PARABLES OF THE PATCH AND NEW WINE(Luke
5:36-39; Matthew
9:16-17; Mark 2:21-22) 36
He told them [the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law] this parable: No one
tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one.
If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch
from the new will not match the old.
37
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will
run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for
he says, “The old is better.” THE
INCOMPATIBILITY OF THE OLD AND THE NEW In
this pair of parables Jesus gave two examples of two things that
do not mix because they are essentially different.
First, a new unshrunk piece of cloth is best not attached
to an old garment because it will eventually shrink and the tear
will be made worse. It would also spoil the new garment from which it is taken.
Secondly, new wine is not placed in old wineskins that have
lost their flexibility for as it ferments it will burst the old
skins, and both the wine and the skins will be lost.
Therefore it was as inappropriate to put new wine into old
wineskins, as it was to patch an old garment
with a piece of new cloth. These
twin parables have several applications: Judaism could not contain
Christianity; the old garment of our sinful nature cannot be mended;
law and grace do not mix; the day of Pentecost was an outpouring
of new wine; God will always do new things by his Spirit even if
the Church refuses them; and tradition is a good servant but a terrible
master. THE
NEW IS THE FULFILLMENT OF THE OLD Wine
is a symbol of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and wineskins are a symbol
of the structures of the Church.
Jesus meant that the wine is primary and the wineskins are
secondary. The two
short parables, found together in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and
Luke, have one main theme: the new
faith of Christianity cannot be confined within the old religious
forms and structures of Judaism.
The old garment and the old wineskin symbolise Judaism while
the new garment and new wine symbolise Christianity and
the new Age of Grace.
These two parables illustrate the incompatibility of the
old system of the Law of Moses, and the traditions of the Pharisees,
with the new garment and the new wine of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The
image of old skins and new wine illustrates the relationship between
the old covenant based on law and the new covenant of grace.
The life and power of the new age that Jesus brought meant
that the rigid structures of the old age were no longer suitable.
Just as new wine would break old wine skins and unshrunk
cloth tear from older material, so the Christian faith could not
be contained in the old covenant.
The new faith must have its own forms of worship and not
be tied to past Jewish practices.
The new wine of Christ could only be kept in new forms like
the Church, the universal body of Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Jesus
fulfilled God’s plan of salvation as revealed in the Old Testament.
He said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the
Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill
them.” (Matthew 5:17).
The OT sacrifices were temporary and provisional until Jesus
began the new covenant. No
compromise was possible between the old covenant and the new covenant.
This was the mistake of later Jewish teachers who mixed law
with grace (Galatians 2:16). They wished to circumcise as well as baptize; they tried to
put new wine into old bottles. But
the righteousness of God in Christ was not built on the Law of Moses,
or on the traditions of the Pharisees, but on the sacrifice of Christ
(Luke 22:19-20). God’s
law would now be written on human hearts and not on stone (2 Corinthians
3:1-3). The indwelling
Holy Spirit would enable believers in Christ to fulfill the righteousness
of the Law (Romans 8:1-4). A
CHRISTIAN IS A “NEW CREATION” The
old garment of our sinful nature cannot be mended. Christ excluded any repair work on it when he said, “Unless
one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John
3:3) To be “born
from above” (John 3:3,5) is to experience a spiritual change
as one is renewed and cleansed by the Holy Spirit.
This qualifies a person to enter the kingdom of God.
By faith in Christ the believer has undergone a fundamental
change; he is a new person that is part of the new creation: “Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
(2 Corinthians 5:17). In
the imagery of this parable Jesus offers a whole new garment, not
a mere patch. If the
“new wine” represents the inner part of the Christian life,
the “new garment” illustrates its outward life.
Behaviour is always a reflection of belief.
LAW
AND GRACE DO NOT MIX Jesus
brought a completely new way of living and relating to God. Christianity is based on free forgiveness and undeserved grace;
other religions are based on earning forgiveness and deserving God’s
favour. You cannot
mix the two: salvation by grace is incompatible with salvation
by works. Paul emphasised the antithesis between grace and works, “And
if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would
no longer be grace.” (Romans 11:6).
You cannot mix trust in Christ with trust in your own goodness.
God does not patch up our lives.
Rather he gives us a new beginning.
The salvation available in Christ was not to be mixed with
Judaism. “For the
law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ.” (John 1:17) THE
DAY OF PENTECOST WAS AN OUTPOURING OF NEW WINE The
Danish theologian Kierkegaard has suggested that while Jesus had
turned water into wine, the Church had been trying ever since to
reverse the miracle by turning the wine back into water!
He meant that while often parties form part of Jesus’ illustrations
of the kingdom of God, and joy is a fruit of the Spirit, believers
often portray Christianity as a dull and boring experience. The
new truth about God and the new gifts of the Spirit, given on the
Day of Pentecost, are likened to new wine (Acts 2:13).
Christianity is a joy that bursts out like new wine; it is
bubbly and excitable and the opposite of the long faced, stuffy,
fasting, self-righteous Pharisees who could not understand it.
Jesus preferred spontaneity and reality and he opposed the
dreary performance of a mechanical religious routine.
However, Christianity is not a frothy, shallow joy based
on a superficial faith that repetitiously sings meaningless choruses
like an eastern mantra. It
is a deep commitment to Christ as Lord. A
MESSAGE FOR TODAY’S CHURCH The
contemporary Church needs to understand the parable of new wine
in new wineskins because God will always do new things by his
Spirit even if the Church refuses them.
Some argue that the Church should be an unchanging institution
given that the gospel is a timeless message.
Yet the gospel needs contemporary expression as society changes
its ethnic composition and becomes more pluralist in values and
complex in structure. We
should never be afraid of trying new ways of expressing the timeless
gospel message as well as finding new methods of making that gospel
relevant. Church
history shows that God will begin a new move of his Spirit apart
from the religious establishment if it proves to be a hindrance
to the growth of the kingdom of God.
This is usually a painful and difficult process as seen in
the split between the Protestant reformers Martin Luther, John Calvin,
and John Knox from the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century.
Two centuries later John Wesley and George Whitefield separated
from the Anglican Church to form the Methodist Church.
In nineteenth century London the Salvation Army split from
the Church of England to better meet the needs of the poor.
In the twentieth century many Pentecostal and charismatic
groups have formed independent churches outside more traditional
churches. This is not
to say that all reformers were always the “good guys” and the establishment
wholly corrupt. In
general churches are inherently conservative structures that are
very reluctant to adopt new ideas and improvements initiated by
the Holy Spirit. TRADITION
IS A GOOD SERVANT BUT A TERRIBLE MASTER The
two parables speak of new things bursting out of old things. God’s presence cannot be patched onto dead religious institutions
or poured into apostate religious structures.
Rules and traditions may intend to protect us from error,
but they can also blind us to the work of the Holy Spirit.
There is a human tendency to “bottle up” the Holy Spirit
in the old forms and structures of the Church in order to preserve
past times of blessing in a familiar way. Sometimes
a new movement of the Spirit brings people who are newly converted
into a church. They
have little religious background and they simply wish to worship
God and experience him in new ways.
However, often long established Christians with a traditional
outlook are critical and unwilling to make adjustments to these
new believers. It is
important not to overvalue the old and underestimate the new, and
vice versa. History
teaches us that the Spirit of God surprises us as he “breaks out”
in new ways and new forms.
Tradition is a good servant, but a terrible master.
Sometimes we tend to favour comfortable rituals and practices,
but God has his own ways of working out his purposes.
God’s work should always be done in God’s way in God’s time. LIKE
THE PHARISEES WE TEND TO LIKE THE OLD AND REJECT THE NEW Jesus’
puzzling comment, “The old is better”, recorded only by Luke,
(verse 39) is probably an ironic comment on the attitude of the
Pharisees who resisted his ministry.
By itself, it contradicts the preceding
verses, since it supports the keeping of the old but in context
it is a warning against overvaluing the old. Jesus
does not say that his new teaching is not as good as the old it
replaces. He makes
the point that people tend to want the old and reject the new, wrongly
assuming that the old is better.
Let us beware of the prejudice held by the Pharisees; they
were not going to change.
They refused to try the “new wine” of the gospel,
or admit that it had any merit, because they assumed their old way
was better. They preferred
the old wine of the Law but this time it was the “new wine”
of Christ that was far superior.
CONCLUSION William
Barclay comments: “There
is in religious people a kind of passion for the old. Nothing moves more slowly than a church.
The whole passage is Jesus’ condemnation of the shut mind
and a plea that men should not reject new ideas.
We should never be afraid of new methods.
That a thing has always been done may very well be
the best reason for stopping doing it.
That a thing has never been done may very well be
the best reason for trying it.
No business could exist on outworn methods – yet the church
tries to. Any business
which had lost as many customers as the church has would have tried
new ways long ago – but the church tends to resent all that is new.”[1] FOR
REFLECTION
PRAYER Father, we pray for the ability to change. Give us wisdom to discern where the new wine of the Spirit is to be found. Help us to see every day as new and different, filled with new possibilities and opportunities. Amen. Jim
Peacock MA (Hons), Diploma of Education. [1]
William Barclay, Daily Study Notes, The Gospel of Luke,
pages 67-68, The Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, 1985. |
