Luke Week 16: Luke 5:33-39

What makes you comfortable? Favorite pair of Sweat pants? Comfy Chair? Etc.

What makes us feel comfortable at Church?

Do we expect some level of being Uncomfortable at Church or in our faith?

Read Luke 5:33-35

Luke 5:33–35 NIV

33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” 34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

John’s Disciples and the Pharisees

John the Baptist disciples maintained a life that would match John’s. John was a Nazarite. This meant that he followed a strict set of rules to maintain. This was what the Pharisees were expecting Jesus and his disciples to follow.

The Pharisees would maintain fasting two days a week. They would on Mondays and Thursdays. This was something that they stuck to ritualistically. In fact they would make sure everyone knew it too. They would paint their faces white so that people would know they were fasting.

In fact, there devotion to things like this were intended to show that they could be uncomfortable. That for them your faith wasn’t really complete if there wasn’t an element of discomfort to challenge you.

Marriage in Jesus Time

Today in Marriage when a couple gets married they often have a reception after and the celebration lasts for a few hours. Then the couple will often go on a honeymoon for a period of time before they start life together.

Marriage in Jesus time a Marriage ceremony would last about a week. They would get married and then stay home for a week and keep an open house for people to come celebrate and share with them the event. The Bride and Groom were often treated as King and Queen their word was law. This is why Jesus would say things like

Luke 5:34 NIV

34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?

Jesus is referencing the fact that to ask a bridegrooms friends to not feast with them despite the call to fasting that the pharisees would maintain was not even thinkable.

What are the dangers of following Rituals?

What are the good things about Rituals?

What are some things that are better when they are Old?

What are some things that are better New?

Read Luke 5:36-39

Luke 5:36–39 NIV

36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’ ”

The Beauty of Parables

Parables are powerful tools that Jesus uses to help illustrate his points. One of the most powerful aspects about Parables is that they can have multiple meanings and layers of understanding. These two short ones are no different. However, when we start talking about wine and garments we may not relate to them as much as we would have in the past. Many of us don’t patch clothes anymore and wine production is probably foreign to us as well so i got thinking about some other ways we might understand these parables.

Think about Doctors today. Now I know how much we love Doctors. Imagine though for a bit that the only thing practices a doctor were able to perform had to be a minimum of 200 years old. No new procedures until they have been around for 200 years. Get ready for leeches and blood letting to come back into style. Want comfort in surgery better get ready for some pain.

Or think about it this way

What were some of the biggest businesses back in the 1980s?

I will give you a hint most were Oil/energy companies. In fact even a car company was in the top with General motors.

Today.

What are some of the biggest businesses today?

Apple, Amazon, Walmart, Microsoft, Alphabet

The World changed. these business adapted and built new idea. i remember when Amazon was only a place to buy books online for lower costs. Now they sell well everything.

Does the Church need to Change? If So what should change?

Why is it so hard to change things in the Church?

The old is comfortable but sometimes it hurts

Parable of a pair of shoes.