Parables of New and Old: Patches and Wineskins

“Then the followers of John came to Jesus and said, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees often give up eating for a certain time, but your followers don’t?’ Jesus answered, ‘The friends of the bridegroom are not sad while he is with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will give up eating. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth over a hole in an old coat. If he does, the patch will shrink and pull away from the coat, making the hole worse. Also, people never pour new wine into old leather bags. Otherwise, the bags will break, the wine will spill, and the wine bags will be ruined. But people always pour new wine into new wine bags. Then both will continue to be good.’ “ (Matthew 9:14-17, NIV).

It is well that we remember Jesus’ stated intention of why he used parables to teach: “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear” (Matthew 13:16). Stories about things the disciples could relate to added emphasis to what Jesus wanted his disciples then and now to learn. The occasion of the parables in the Bible reference given above was the disciples of John coming to Jesus to ask why they and the Pharisees practiced fasting and Jesus’ disciples did not follow the age-old customs of the law that recommended fasting, or abstaining from certain foods for religious purposes. Jesus answered by saying people did not fast when the bridegroom was present, but they celebrated with the wedding feast. This was a way of referring to Himself as the Bridegroom, and of His disciples celebrating while He was with them in the flesh. It was also a means of introducing a new and better understanding of the old ways of God with his people by introducing the way of grace through Jesus Christ. They were not able to comprehend all the new concepts of grace, although the Bridegroom was giving them ample opportunities to understand and to celebrate.

Then He followed by two stories from everyday life to which they could relate. Anyone who patches an old garment to make it wearable despite worn or torn places knows that a new piece of cloth that has not been preshrunk is not sewed onto the tear. It would make the tear worse. Likewise, in processing wine from grapes, they knew to always put the new wine into new leather wineskins so that when fermentation (which expands the volume of the wine) occurs, the wineskins would not burst but expand. Would the disciples (those who followed Jesus and those who followed John the Baptist) be able to understand that the Bridegroom is Jesus? Could they know that He has a new way of patching up old garments and also of filling new wineskins (those outside the fold of Judaism)? Could they understand that He wanted to reach those even in religious bondage hampered by the law (do this, do that) and His Way is available to admitted sinners as well (those who have not tasted the old law and its ways)? Here was a new concept of inclusiveness. God had tried to teach Abraham that that his descendants would be as the sands of the seashore. But alas, along the way, that vision was thwarted.

There is great joy in Christ’s companionship. He expects us to be reasonable and adapt our actions to circumstances. When my mother patched my father’s overalls so he could still wear the old garment to the fields to work, she always used for the patches faded denim, that which had been through the wash many times before. We were not winemakers and didn’t make wine nor store it in skins made from our sheep. But the Jews would have known of this practice. Here Jesus is teaching them (and us) that He is presenting a new and better way to God. Rather than through ritual and sacrifice, we can come directly to the point of salvation and know restoration and wholeness through faith in Him. These parables represent the bright and joyous character of the way of faith Jesus is offering. Recall that the Judaizers spoken of in Acts wanted to combine the Law of Moses with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That was like trying to put new wine into old bottles.

Are these two parables not deep, deep: of patching the old garment and the new wineskins for new wine? Indeed. The more we think about what Jesus is illustrating by these parables, the more we know that faith must step in where the substance of good works once reigned. God inspired the prophet Jeremiah to write: “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the Lord. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (-Jeremiah 31:33b-34). Thank God for the New Wine of His Word, even Jesus Christ, the very Word of God.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Tuesday, August 31, 2010