Old and New Together
Luke 5:33-38
33 Then they said to him, “John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.” 34 Jesus said to them, “You cannot make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.’”
The Pharisees continue their challenge of Jesus, saying: “John the Baptist has his disciples fast (have times of not eating so they could dedicate themselves to prayer) – but your disciples don’t fast.” In other words, Jesus’ disciples were not following the traditions of the past. The question being asked: is Jesus so new and different that following him is not in continuity with the faithful followers of God from the past? Jesus is about to challenge whether that is the correct question.
Vs. 39, which I take as essential to understanding what Jesus is saying here, reveals how Jesus sees himself. No one, he says, having drunk old wine wants to drink new wine – people want wine that is aged well, old wine is better. So, the question becomes is Jesus the new – or are the Pharisees with their interpretation of the law the new thing? Jesus was present at the beginning of time, Jesus was before the Pharisees and their interpretation of the law, Jesus is the old wine that is better. And the Pharisees are the new thing that does not fit – not matching the old and destroying the wineskins.
The new, upstart Pharisees need to shape themselves to fit in with the truth that has been from the beginning of the world, Jesus. The Pharisees face the challenge of each new generation, finding how to live the pattern of Jesus in a new time. It is not about making something new, rather it is finding the old wine and living that joy which is from the beginning of time in this new moment.
PRAYER:
Lord God, your church is constantly chasing the new thing, the new program, the new way of doing things – forgetting that you were before all things, and our calling is to find you who are the same yesterday, today, and forever. From the dawn of time you have shown grace, teach us to live in this joyous good news that is from before time. In Jesus’ name. Amen.