October 4, 2022

New Wine

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. Luke 5:37

In the past, this passage has always been a struggle for me to understand. It has only been recently, that I now have a better grip on what Jesus was talking about. I think the trouble I was having with it was that I didn’t understand the old and new wineskin language because we don’t put wine into skins now, we use bottles. However, Jesus explains His example by saying the new wine will break the old wineskin because they are hard and brittle. New wine is put into new skin that will expand as the wine ages.

Now comes the big question, at least in my mind. What does this have to do with Jesus disciples fasting or not? In today’s passage, Jesus’ emphasis seems to be on the new part. He uses two different examples of new clothe and new wine. He is talking about something new going on.

In Jesus day, He was teaching them radically new ideas and the biggest was to love one another. The Hebrew culture had lived by the commands an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. There was no talk about love until Jesus came into the world. When He talked about the new tearing or breaking the old, He was telling them that there is something new going on. Jesus brought us the new covenant and in that He fulfilled the requirement of the old one.

This was very difficult for the religious leaders to accept in Jesus’ day. It reminds me of how things are today. With our culture shifting into the digital age, it can be hard for people who are not so inclined to accept the new “wineskin” of technology. First with the invention of electricity, motor vehicles, travel and telecommunications. Now with the internet, computers and cellular data.  These “wineskins” have made it possible to carry the gospel to the nations and increased the effectiveness of missions. There is no reason to think less of or look down on ministries that use various “skins” to get the message out. Our job is to pray for these missions and use the resources we have available to do our part.

Today I want to encourage you to talk to your Heavenly Father about the “wineskin” He would have you use to carry His good news of salvation to the world around you. What mission does He have in mind for you and what is He leading you to in the future? Carry the message of God’s love and salvation in whatever “wineskins” you have available to you.

Today’s scripture reading: Luke 5:33-39

33 Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”

34 And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 

35 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.”

36 Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. 

37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 

38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 

39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”