Mark 2:18-22 "New Wine in New Wineskins"

Good Morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

Thank you missions team! Praise God for that great report!

Well… let’s get into the word. If you would, please turn in your Bibles to Mark 2. Mark 2:18-22 today.

We find ourselves in a series of brief vignettes of the ministry of Jesus. Mark has been sketching picture after picture of various scenes in the life of Jesus.

If we zoom out for a moment… the big picture is Mark is portraying scenes from Jesus’ ministry in the region of the Galilee… what is called Jesus’ Great Galilean Ministry.

It started off as a marvelous time… Jesus was teaching and preaching… healing the sick and casting out demons… and He had called His first disciples…

And, with all this ministry happening… of course… opposition starts to arise…

If you take a leap of faith… if you answer the call… if you put yourself out there to minister in Jesus’ name’s sake… expect opposition.

And, I say… GOOD… I must be doing something right for the Kingdom of God, if there’s a target on my back.

And, any fleeting opposition is worth it for all Jesus has done, is doing and will do for us… in this lifetime and for all eternity!

Well… starting in Chapter 2 of Mark’s Gospel… you begin to see opposition arise in Jesus’ ministry…

Mark shares the account of a paralytic lowered through a roof by his four friends and Jesus proclaimed his sins were forgiven.

The opposition begins with just a thought from the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus was blaspheming.

And, Jesus proved to them He had authority to forgive sins by doing the impossible… He restored the man physically where the paralysis left him immediately.

Next, Levi or Matthew the Tax Collector was called to follow Jesus… which he did… and after he threw a party and Jesus ate with Tax Collectors and sinners.

The opposition this time grew bolder… now asking Jesus’ disciples why Jesus would eat with the likes of these people!

And, Jesus said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

As we continue today… Mark continues with this theme of growing opposition…

Today, we look at the scene where Jesus tells the “Parable of the Cloth and Wineskins.”

The opposition is a bit more friendly, but it comes from John the Baptist’s disciples who question why Jesus and His disciples do not fast.

And, next week we will look at the Pharisees growing even more bold… directly questioning questioning Jesus for His disciples plucking heads of grain… working on the Sabbath.

And, we may look at the Pharisees waiting for Jesus to heal a man on the Sabbath… what looks like a set up… so they can plot against Jesus how they might destroy Him.

That’s that picture Mark is painting here… he is capturing for his readers… Christians in Rome… the better part of Jesus’ first year of ministry… and the beginning of His second year of ministry… which culminates in rejection by the Jewish Religious elite.

But today… Jesus is in Capernaum… He was dining at Matthew’s house… and now He is being questioned as to why He and His disciples do not fast.

Which opens a door for Jesus to share parables helping his listener to understand, this was a time for Joy… not affliction…

And, how the old systems won’t work with what He is ushering in.

Thus title of our message today is… “New Wine in New Wineskins.”

Let’s Pray!

Mark 2:18 “The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast [Luke adds “often and make prayers”], but Your disciples do not fast?”

So, here we have a relatively famous account… a question is raised about fasting.

And, we will read 3 memorable responses from Jesus in the form of a parables…

Responses to a question raised to Him about why He and His disciples do not fast.

To appreciate this scene… let’s again remember that in the verses just prior, Jesus is at Levi or Matthew’s house and presumably while Jesus and His disciples were dining at Matthew’s house OR shortly thereafter… a question over fasting arose in the minds of John the Baptist’s disciples.

Talk about sucking the life out of the party!

I mean… first it was the scribes and Pharisees questioning why Jesus would even eat with Tax Collectors and Sinners… because in their reckoning sharing a meal was becoming one with them.

And now… a little bit of friendly fire. John the Baptist’s disciples are asking… “Yeah… even more… why are you eating AT ALL?!?”

And, if you haven’t experienced it before… friendly fire hurts.

I mean… you kind of expect the world to act like they do, but when people… who are supposed to be God’s people… act like villains towards you…

It really catches you off guard.

But, truly… isn’t it amazing that God calls any of us? All our faults… all our failures… our bad moments…

The grace and patience of God blows my mind.

And, we see that here in this scene. The nerve of John’s disciples to question Jesus!

Did they not hear John proclaim about Jesus, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Jesus could have played that card…

“Hey, Don’t you know I’m the Lamb of God man? Who are you?”

But, He doesn’t play that card. He could have just said, “Man, get out of my face.” And, smoked them.

But, He doesn’t. God’s big enough to handle our questions… and our doubts… our confusion… He can handle it all.

It’s amazing to me that Jesus seems so patient and willing to answer John’s disciples… and then… He feeds them with a parable to disciple them further.

Isn’t that just like how our God works? We question Him, and then He meets us where we are… feeds us… and leads us.

I’ll take friendly fire all day long to serve a God like that.

Now… how do we know that it was the disciples of John who raised this question in V18 about fasting?

It’s not entirely explicit if it’s John’s disciples or the Pharisees speaking here in Mark… also in Luke, but in Matthew it’s very clear.

Matt 9:14 reads “Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”

And, as mentioned Luke throws in John’s disciples state they “fast often and make prayers...”

And, while this is opposition from a friend… their motive in asking this question is difficult to discern.

I like to believe they were NOT prideful and trying to appear more spiritual…

Maybe they were a bit envious that Jesus’ disciples got to partake in a joyous celebration… and they were abstaining from food...

Most likely they are confused and are trying to reconcile the disparity between being a disciple of John… versus a disciple of Jesus.

And, perhaps they are bit judgmental… a little Pharisaic… which often happens when people live by man made rules and then look down upon others who don’t abide by their personal convictions.

And to understand John’s disciples… what do we know about John the Baptist?

I don’t want to do a full overview of John, but I want to highlight John’s lifestyle as an adult… which would help us to understand why John’s disciples were disciplined in fasting.

Some liken John to a Christian Ascetic or having a similar lifestyle to the Jewish sect the Essenes who dwelt in the desert… though John doesn’t fit that picture perfectly.

But, he did live a rugged life…

Matthew 3 tells us he “came preaching in the wilderness of Judea”, so it’s thought he lived in a mountainous area of Judea, between the city of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.

Matthew 3:4 states, “...John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey...”

His clothes… his diet… both were simple… he deprived himself of luxuries.

His life was set not on the pleasures of the word, but upon the kingdom of God… and the coming Messiah.

So, it’s not surprising that fasting was also a part of his and his disciples lifestyle.

It’s interesting that John’s disciples mention both they and the Pharisees fast… I’m not sure I would want to liken myself in anyway to Pharisees…

But, this supports the notion that John’s disciples may have been a bit judgy towards Jesus’ disciples.

After all… the Pharisees were notorious for judging and feeling self-righteous by their works.

One example is that while the Mosaic Law prescribed only one fast… on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur (the day of confessing sins) according to Leviticus 16:29; Lev 23:27; and Num 29:7).

BUT the Pharisees had a tradition to fast… NOT one day a year, but TWICE A WEEK!

You may recall in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, in Luke 18:12, the Pharisee self-righteously prayed, “I fast twice a week...”

Pharisees fasted on Mondays and Thursdays… because in their tradition Moses went up on Mt. Sinai to receive the law on Thursday and came down on Monday.

And, they did this… not as prescribed biblically, but in following tradition. They developed a man-made system… and they hardened their hearts against anyone not following their ways…

But, they had lost their way… they lost their ability to be used by the Lord… because they were no longer pliable… they were calcified…

No longer was it “come as you are.” It was very difficult for a Gentile to approach Judaism… and God wanted the Gentiles to approach, but they were scorned by the Pharisees… they hated them… they avoided them.

And, there are many Christians today under similar bondage of Pharisaic-like traditions… man-made systems… their ideas that are not biblical ideas…

And, they put unnecessary burdens on others… they have no freedom in Christ…

They try to lay some sort of legalistic trip on other people.

Like “You have to tithe 10%...”

Well, technically if you want to follow Old Testament guidelines… and be legalistic about a tithe… a tenth… you’re off.

Israelites (who you are not)… were actually commanded to give a little over 23%…

Tithe 1 (10%): To support the Levites (Lev 27:30)…

Tithe 2 (10%): To fund celebrations (Deut 12:10-18)…

And, a Third of a Tithe (3.33%): to help the poor (Deut 14:28-29)…

Not to mention the Freewill Offering in Deut 16:10 which states “… you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.”

The OT required far more then a tithe.

But, 23% + a freewill offering is NOT God’s prescription today…

2 Cor 9:7 reads, “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”

That’s not a percentage, but a heart attitude… you may be able to give cheerfully at 5%… some people could give cheerfully at 20% or more.

The widow who gave two mites gave her whole livelihood.

Jesus said she “put in more than all those who have given to the treasury…”

And, I’m not sure why people get sucked up into legalism today…

Is it about control?

Are people insecure and feel better about themselves if they appear more spiritual?

Are some just misguided, and feel like they are helping others by laying a trip on them… when in fact they are just weighing them down?

I don’t know.

I do know that Jesus called out the Pharisee a lot for their religious show of praying, fasting, and giving to be seen by man… Jesus repeatedly called them “hypocrites.”

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” “… blind guides...”

And, these are the guys John’s disciples are linking up with here. “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?” (as Luke wrote).

The Baptist’s disciples remained loyal to these Pharisaic traditions.

And, so Jesus responds to them in three short parables… picturing a wedding… patching clothes… and new wine in old wineskins…

First, the wedding… VSS 19-20…

Mark 2:19-20 “And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”

So, Jesus answers their question first picturing a wedding.

Jesus is the bridegroom… pictured in this parable. His disciples are the friends of the bridegroom.

This should have immediately sparked something in minds of John’s disciples.

They should have remembered OT verses where God is likened to a bridegroom.

Hos 2:19-20 “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me...”

Isa 62:5 “And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you.”

Weddings are a time for joy!

They should have remembered the words of their own Rabbi… John the Baptist…

In John 3:29, John pictured a wedding scene to his own disciples saying, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.”

These were some of John’s last words… and he spoke about his joy as Jesus’ friend… in hearing Jesus’ voice. His joy was fulfilled.

Jesus had come for His bride… the church.

The New Testament is thick with pictures of Jesus being the bridegroom, and the church being His bride.

In Eph 5:25, Paul taught, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her...”

Christ is to the Husband as the wife is to the church… and Jesus sacrificed dearly for her.

You want a successful marriage men? Well, it starts with you loving… and then dying…

“But my wife doesn’t respect me!” Well… go back and read Eph 5:25-33… it has a lot of commands and suggestions for husbands in comparison to Christ… and then ends with “… and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

And, men… if you lead as Christ led… it will be leaps and bounds easier for her… to respect you.

In Matt 22, Jesus told the parable of the wedding feast. It begins Matt 22:2 with “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son...”

This pictures the Millennial Age… the Son will be married.

In Rev 19, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is pictured… Rev 19:7-8 reads, “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

Again… gladness… rejoicing… glory to God… this is a wedding scene… fasting has no part in this scene.

You have a part in this scene… if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior… you’re pictured in this scene.

Kind of wild to think of… you personally have one more wedding where you’re part of the centerpiece.

And, don’t worry… you’ll have a glorified body… you’ll fit in the wedding dress like you did when you were young.

But, just imagine this… your wedding. It’s always an honor for a Pastor to perform a wedding…

Weddings and funerals… these are both asked of Pastors, but weddings are preferred.

They’re just a different kind of funeral… because there’s a death of self… you leave father and mother… We just read in Eph 5:25 that Christ “gave Himself for the church”… that’s death… there’s a death of the old… a death of self… even more death of self when kids come along… I hear grand kids are great though… sugar them up and send them home.

But, at a wedding… the Pastor is marrying a young couple… going through the vows… “richer or poorer… sickness or health… till death do us part...”

And, that young couple is so enamored with one another… they’re not hearing a thing…

“Sickness or health… uh, uh… sign me up...”

You could say anything “older and wider… grayer and cranky...”

They’d just keep smiling… fixated on one another… “uh huh… uh huh… I do!”

Their minds are set on each other and the honeymoon.

Now, the guests… they’re in the moment… and they’re thinking, “C’mon Pastor… get to it… Say, “do you take?”

They want the wedding to be over, because after the ceremony is the best part… the reception. The food!

The husbands are leaning over whispering in their wives ear, “Did you order me the beef or the chicken? You didn’t get me the fish, right?!”

And, the following week… the food is what most people talk about.

I mean there’s a degree of protocol to not appear shallow… you must mention how beautiful the bride looked in her dress… how she was lovely…

But after that’s established… the conversation goes to the food.

“They had these little ding dongs wrapped in crust and bacon… I think the bacon was even caramelized…”

The ding dongs typically get more air time then the dress… or the covenant!

And, so… can you imagine… after the wedding ceremony… the Pastor wraps up… the wedding reception begins… and you get to your table and there’s a note that says, “The Bride and Groom were so moved by the Spirit, that we have decided to dedicate this time to fasting and praying. Please join us as we fast and pray.”

And, that’s a ridiculous thought… wedding guests would leave angry and offended.

But, this is the point Jesus is making here… the picture He is painting for John’s disciples.

The bridegroom was among them… it was a time for joy… a time for celebration… Jesus was fulfilling Messianic prophecies… He was fulfilling the law (Matt 5:17)…

This was NOT a time for fasting… which the OT refers to as ‘afflicting your souls.’

You don’t ‘afflict your soul’ and mourn at a wedding. It would be an insult to the Bride and Groom.

THIS WAS NOT the time for that. In this moment… Jesus… Messiah… was with the disciples…

Matthew just left the tax office to follow Jesus… many tax collectors and sinners decided to follow Him.

They were celebrating this through feasting… and celebrating His presence.

But… a time WAS COMING when fasting (at least in the metaphorical sense of being sorrowful) would be appropriate… in Mark 2:20… Jesus foretells the future… “But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”

Jesus is predicting His death here. That will be a solemn time.

He will be… note the words “taken away”… which implies ‘violent removal’… which would be fulfilled through His passion, crucifixion and death.

Taken away looks back to verses like Isa 53:8 “He was cut off from the land of the living...”

And, at that time joy will cease for a time… they will experience sorrow.

And Jesus told them this in John 16:20 “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.”

John 16 is a great passage to go back and read as it displays how Jesus prepared His disciples not only for His death, but also of His resurrection (which would renew joy).

After this illustration of a wedding, Jesus continues to illustrate to John’s disciples that the old religious rituals and traditions do not mix with new faith in Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament Prophets. His ministry was one of repentance and pointing to Jesus, but he and his disciples still clung to the old ways…the Old Covenant.

And, so Jesus shares two parables… the Parable of the Cloth and Wineskins… to help John’s disciples understand the difference between the new and the old.

Mark 2:21-22 “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

Did you notice how many times Jesus either directly said “new” or “old” or implied it? 5x in those two verses.

He’s really trying to drive home a point to John’s disciples, and help them to understand that a new day had dawned.

Because they were struggling to understand Jesus… “Why don’t you fast?”

They were stuck in a system of Jewish, but not biblical mandates that were legalistic. They added to the law.

And, Jesus is ushering in a NEW COVENANT… where salvation is not by keeping the law… NOT by works, but by GRACE THROUGH FAITH in Jesus Christ.

Eph 2:8-9 clearly portrays this “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

There are many disciples of John… figuratively speaking… still to this day, struggling with the simplicity of the Gospel.

Adding works to salvation. Continuing in rituals when Jesus already fulfilled the law.

A works-based religion based on self-righteousness does not mix the Gospel of Grace.

We are righteous… right with God… SAVED through Faith Alone by Grace Alone in Christ Alone… and to God alone be the Glory!

Righteousness through keeping the law and righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ are two different systems… they’re incompatible… and it you try to put them together… it will all tear apart.

And that’s what Jesus is portraying in this first parable…

Look again at V21 “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.”

This is a little lost on us because we live in the days of pre-shrunk jeans and fabrics.

But, I remember… even as a kid (which I was in the 80’s)… even more for those of you who lived through the 60’s and 70’s…

We got nervous about drying clothes… they might not fit anymore!

And, so if you did have clothes that shrunk… and assuming you could still wear them… and assuming you wore them a lot…

Eventually you earned a badge of honor… a rip in your jeans.

Kids today… they just buy their jeans ripped. They don’t even earn it!

But, back to this parable… I think you get the picture here… if you take an old garment that has already shrunk… and patch a hole with new fabric… when the new fabric shrinks it’s going to tear the original… making the whole situation worse.

Jesus is trying to convey that He didn’t come to patch up the holes in Judaism.

The old and new garments are symbolic of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant and their differences.

Both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant point to the Messiah and coming to Him in faith, but the Old speaks about living by the law, and the New speaks about living by grace.

They are both good systems, but they are different…written to different people groups in different times with different purposes.

To try to patch up the Law with Grace will not work…not only are they incompatible, but the pairing could also be destructive.

And, so Jesus’ message to John’s disciples is ‘I am not here to “patch up” or reform Judaism, but to begin anew with a Gospel of Grace…

In Matt 5:17 Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

The purpose of the Law was to be a schoolmaster, a tutor to instruct it’s students that they could not keep the law and they needed a Savior.

The Law pointed to the Messiah…to Jesus.

And, now that He was present in their midst… He was instituting an entirely new covenant, which replaces the old… and went beyond the old… giving His followers new direction and new instruction for this new Messianic age…this church age.

And, the next parable carries a similar in idea, in V22 Jesus states, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

I have a slide of a wineskin… because this it outside our normal day-to-day context.

It kind of looks like a pig hanging by ropes, but what this wineskin actually is by def. is “a leather bag… or bottle of skin.”

For Jews… they would use a kosher animal… a goat or sheep… remove the skin… tan the hide… cut the hair close… turn it inside out… and close all the openings with cords except for one.

And, as new wine ferments, it off gases carbon dioxide, and the off gassing would stretch a new wineskin, but would cause an old wineskin to burst… the wine to spill and all would be ruined.

John’s disciples were still following a Jewish Religious institution based on OT law and traditions.

And, Jesus likened this old system to old wineskins that lost it’s elasticity… this old way of thinking could not contain the newness of Jesus’ Gospel.

New wine needs to be place in new wineskins for both to be preserved.

The new wine of the new covenant… needed the new wineskins of Jesus’ new institution- the Church.

And, we all know the Church is not a building, but it’s the people.

We are the church… and Jesus wants you to be that vessels that carries the New Testament… the Gospel of Grace.

And, Jesus’ disciples who were feasting with him there… they were doing this… they were being flexible to Jesus’ new teachings… which have been passed down to us today.

I hope you get the picture here… because this hasn’t changed… we need to be like these guys… flexible to the work the Holy Spirit is doing… and taking His new wine… the Gospel to the world.

And, that’s still NEW WINE. Repentance… the Gospel… forgiveness… grace… These are all STILL New wine!

Now… I will caution you… there are those who recklessly re-define “new wine” as being sensitive to the culture… even when this means compromising that which is clearly taught in the Bible.

That’s not new wine… that’s something else… like vinegar. If you put it in your mouth it should taste bitter and if you’re wise, you’ll spit it out.

They want to do away with teaching the bible and doctrine and living lives of holiness.

They omit words like sin and repentance… Romans Chapter 1 which clearly teaching against homosexuality is not a popular reading for them.

Don’t fall for their nonsense. They don’t have new wine… they are just compromised by the culture… ans seeking selfish gain.

Forsaking sound doctrine and living in compromise is not “new wine”…it’s something else…

Like being under the influence of too much wine… because their thinking is drunk.

In 2 Tim 4:3-4, Paul warned and exhorted of these times,“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

This is being fulfilled in our midst… by people condemning the Gospel of the New Testament which is still New wine.

When Luke wrote on this same encounter, he added an additional detail, Lk 5:39 “And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.”

And, such it was with the religious leaders, they did not desire the new because change is difficult. It’s human nature to cling to the past, even when God reveals Himself.

Jesus revealed Himself to these religious leaders and they would not change.

And, that is a distinguishing feature of old garments and old wineskins.

To rigid to recognize God presence… and clinging to man-made traditions.

I don’t ever want to get to that place as a church… if 10 or 20 years into this church plant…

If we are so busy with good things, but we’ve left God’s things…

I don’t want to be guilty of leaving our first love… like the Ephesian church did in Rev 2.

if we’ve left being led by the Holy Spirit, for the sake of tradition.

If we’re caught up in legalism by adding rules that we made up to the simplicity of the Gospel.

We’ll be guilty of becoming old wineskins… and God will need to look for new wineskins… because we would have lost our flexibility to follow Him…

To Follow Him as He called Matthew.

To take steps of faith… to trust His leading even when it may feel a little reckless.

Do we trust Him?

Can we remain as new wineskins to contain His new wine?

Putting all of these parables together, we see a pattern of things that do not mix…

Feasting and fasting;

A new patch on an old garment;

And new wine in old wineskins.

They were all incompatible…just as trying to fit the tenets of the New Covenant into the Old Covenant would not work.

There was a time for the Old Covenant, but Jesus fulfilled the law which dawned the New Covenant...a time of Grace.

For John the Baptist’s disciples and for the Pharisees this was no doubt a difficult message to comprehend.

For centuries they were living under the Mosaic law, and now Messiah had come...change had come…and change is difficult.

And, the big caution for us today… is to not become too rigid… too legalistic… to caught up in man-made traditions,

But, to just allow God the space to move in our lives.

To allow new wine to expand in our ever flexible new wineskins.

Let’s pray!

If you’re hear today and you need prayer. Ask, seek, knock. We’d love to pray with you today.

If you struggle with legalism… of being like John’s disciples… and you don’t have freedom in Christ… let’s pray about that together!

And, keep in mind… as you go out this week… you are a vessel of fresh new wine… The Gospel… the New Covenant of Grace by Faith in Jesus Christ.

Share it… and God bless you as you go!