Mark 2:18 “John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?’ 19 And Jesus said to them, ‘While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.’
21 ‘No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. 22 No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’”
I had never seen a connection between verses 18-20 and 21-22 before. Mostly this had to do with my interpretation of verses 21-22. I had been taught that this parable was about the Holy Spirit and that you couldn’t pour grace into the law – that the New Testament superseded the Old. While it is true that grace and law cannot coexist, I am no longer convinced that this typical protestant interpretation of the parable is correct. If the new wine is Jesus or the Holy Spirit or grace, then the end of verse 22 makes no sense, “the wine is lost and the skins as well.”
How do these verses look in context, and how would the disciples and Pharisees have understood them? Here I have to give credit to Chuck Colson. http://www.colsoncenter.org/the-center/columns/changepoint/17244-old-wine-in-new-wineskins-2
The Pharisees were complaining that Jesus’ disciples did not observe the extra fast days that they observed. Jesus responds with three parables, the bridegroom, the unshrunk cloth and the wineskins. The bridegroom parable makes the most sense to me. I get how it would be inappropriate to fast during your friend’s wedding. And on the surface, I get the unshrunk cloth and wineskin parables.
Luke’s account of this event sheds some additional light. Luke adds, ““… And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” (Luke 5:39) The word for good here can be translated gentle, pleasant, kind.
What if what Jesus was saying was, “God declared one time a year, the Day of Atonement, to fast. You Pharisees are burdening the people with more rules, more law, so that you feel good enough for God. The old wine is the truth of who God is. When you add your ‘new wine’ you are ruining the image of who God is. The god you are presenting to the people is not El Olam, the Unchanging Eternal God. My disciples have tasted the ‘old wine’, the aged, perfected wine. They have seen El Olam, because they have seen me. They have experienced the gentle, pleasant, kindness of El Roi, the God who sees me. Why would they ever want the false god you are offering? “
I tend to try to earn God’s favor rather than resting in His kindness and grace. I add burdens to myself. I can never be good enough, but He is good for me. I don’t need new wine. I need the Ancient of Days.
The cure for religiosity is found in Psalm 34:8. “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” Drinking deeply of the old wine this morning as I wander the straight crooked path.
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