Old and New

Then they said to Him, "John's disciples fast often and say prayers, and those of the Pharisees do the same, but Your's eat and drink."

Jesus said to them, "You can't make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you? But the time will come when the groom is taken away from them - then they will fast in those days." 

He also told them a parable, "No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise, not only will he tear the new garment, but the patch from the new garment will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wine skins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill, and the skins be ruined. But new wine should be put into fresh wine skins. And no one, after drinking old wine, wants new, because he says, "the old is better." Luke 5:35-39

Forever when I have read this I am annoyed by the constant criticism of Jesus by the Pharisees and see Jesus' reply as an admonition, but it's not. Jesus is lovingly teaching his listeners about something new. He is saying, "I am the new wine." He defends his disciples lack of fasting. Perhaps the disciples feel reprieved and are being a little rebellious against tradition, who knows. We do know there comes a time when they cannot cast out a demon and Jesus tells them, "this type only comes out through prayer and fasting." Perhaps the disciples came to rely so much on Jesus, much like children living in a house of faith, that they did not pray and fast like they should. We also know that in their time of need, when Jesus is about to be arrested, He admonished them for not being prepared.

Jesus is teaching His hearers another lesson: new wine needs to be put into new wine skins, new vessels. Trying to fill his disciples with new wine without first changing the wine skins was not going to work. They needed a transformation. We still do. When we want a new experience in God, when we are born again is a typical example. I had been raised in a catholic house but that did not prepare me for the born again experience, in fact it hindered it. It too years for the religion in my system to be washed out.

The last proverb is a warning. No one after tasting old wine wants new wine. The old has mellowed and is more appealing. In order for the new to be wanted, the old had to be completely removed from the memory banks, a new experienced had to replace it. We could heed this warning and not become complacent. Always search out the new, seek the new face of God. What is He doing today?