New Wine. Old Wineskins.

Introduction

Context: Matthew Chapter 9: Jesus heals a paralytic man and says “your sins are forgiven” he’s then called a blasphemer and then this is Jesus’ famous #burn: Is it easier to say your sins are forgiven or to heal him? Micdrop. He then calls Matthew…and another Jesus micdrop: “those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick” I desire mercy, and not sacrifice … For I came not to call the righteous but sinners

He then calls Matthew…and another Jesus micdrop: “those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick” I desire mercy, and not sacrifice … For I came not to call the righteous but sinners

Matthew 9:1–17 ESV

And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

Matthew 9:1-

So, today marks the beginning of City Light’s first “sermon series” ! How exciting. We will be going through Jesus’ parables. I get the honor of kicking us off. We will be in today. So… for the most part we know all know that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the Gospel accounts. The Gospel according to… insert name here. We also know that each author has his own focus:

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Synoptic Gospels

The result is a rich diversity within the synoptic unity which provides portrayals of Jesus from a variety of viewpoints. Matthew emphasizes Jesus’ Jewishness and the continuity of his person and work with the OT. Mark’s fast-moving account presents Jesus as a man of action, the Son of God who was a servant among men. Luke, in exquisite Greek literary style, seems to address cultured Gentiles and shows Jesus as a friend of disadvantaged groups.

We all have pre-understandings and presuppositions when we open up our Bibles. We have a tendency to read into it our own life and experiences and we are also quick to contextualize the Bible first and foremost through our 21st century American context. So, when we talk about oral tradition or the richness of Jesus’ method of teaching we can often be a little out of our element. As you guys may know, I love The Lord of the Rings. I love stories. I think there its a shame that our kids love stories so much and then all of a sudden we hit an age where we stop reading stories. We enter into a realm of realism…

We are a story formed people. The entirety of Scripture is a story that started a long time ago in a Garden with Man, Woman, a Serpent and God. It ends with these people being banished and an angelic being guarding the Garden from any who attempts to enter it again. It’s important that we never forget the elements of story found within Scripture. Hear me on this: i’m not saying that Scripture is fiction but that that Scripture tells one story…ebbing and flowing towards eternity. I fully believe that a lot of our identity issues stem from the fact that we are all deep down yearning for what Adam and Eve had in the Garden before sin. All of our internal compasses are pointing to a relational God that loves us unconditionally and in whom we find our innermost identities. I also believe technology, and this is coming from someone who loves technology, is our continued attempt to make up for what was lost in that Garden.

Tangent over:

Did you know that parables make up about 35% of Jesus’ teachings?

Understanding parables then is essential to understanding Jesus’ teachings. There is also one major difference for Jesus between the present day: the parables are not the sermon illustrations… they are the sermons.

Medieval interpreters would break the parables into a multiple meanings approach:

literal meaning

An allegorical meaning [relating to Christian theology]

a moral meaning giving direction for daily life

a heavenly meaning indicating something about future life

So…are parables merely heavenly stories with earthly meanings? Or is there more?

I don’t want to get lost in the woods here but parables include: figurative, literal, allegorical, riddles, paradoxes. Almost every parable (I may go to the extent and say every parable) tells us about the Kingdom of God and what its going to be like or is.

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible The Meaning of “Parable”

The parables focus on God and his kingdom and in doing so reveal what kind of God he is, by what principles he works, and what he expects of humanity. Because of the focus on the kingdom, some of the parables reveal many aspects of Jesus’ mission as well (note the Parable of the Wicked Tenants in Mt 21:33–39 and pars).

Parables:

Are concise and symmetrical (unnecessary details are omitted)

Everyday life features

Contain elements of surprise or hyperbole

Parables require their hearers to pass judgment on the events told of in the story… they then realize that they must make a similar judgment in their own lives.

Alrighty, English class has now concluded. Lets read together from

Context: Matthew Chapter 9: Jesus heals a paralytic man and says “your sins are forgiven” he’s then called a blasphemer and then this is Jesus’ famous #burn: Is it easier to say your sins are forgiven or to heal him? and then he drops the mic. He then calls Matthew…and another yet again Jesus drops the mic: “those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick” I desire mercy, and not sacrifice … For I came not to call the righteous but sinners

Matthew 9:1–17 ESV

And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

Excellent. So, this is one of those weird parables that you kind of remember reading or hearing about but chances are you’d have a hard time explaining it. So, the disciple of John (John the Baptist) roll up and say “hey, we fast, the pharisees fast, but your crew doesn’t fast...” Jesus starts talking about a wedding and wineskins.

So the first part if fairly easy to decipher or to read through: Jesus is referring to himself as the bridegroom and his disciples are the ‘wedding guests.’ Jesus equates fasting here with a ‘mourning ritual’ and says, essentially, one day I will die (you can see this foreshadowing element) and then they will mourn and fast.

Now Jesus’ and his disciples most likely fasted during the Day of Atonement and other Jewish feasts but this was more of a 2x week fasting for religious piety. Once again, we see this continue to come up within the Gospels: religious piety (a lot of times this was synonymous with looking religious for outward approval vs inward religion or true repentance). Jesus echos this when he says that he has come for the sick and not the healthy. Or that he requires mercy and not sacrifice. I require a heart change not just mere following of religious rituals and routines.

The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary A Time for Everything (9:14–17)

Cf. Mk 2:18–22; Lk 5:33–39. Some members of the socioreligious elite were disturbed that Jesus would eat with sinners (9:11); other religiously committed persons were disturbed that he ate (9:14)—or more particularly, that they did not observe his disciples fasting. For some, holiness meant avoiding eating with ungodly people; for others, holiness meant religious practices of self-discipline like fasting. For both, Jesus undoubtedly appeared self-indulgent (11:19). Thus Jesus responds with three illustrations about appropriateness: it is rude for the wedding party to fast during a wedding banquet when they must share the groom’s joy; likewise, though new cloth and wine are good, they are inappropriate for vessels they will not fit. The celebration of sinners returning to God through Jesus’ ministry is an inappropriate time for fasting

A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Matthew Exegetical and Critical

“Fasting should be the expression of sorrow; not merely an outward exercise, but the expression of an inward state.

These men were always focusing on outward exercises and not an inward state/disposition/ and angling of the heart. Even Jesus here could’ve easily stated that he did indeed fast… () but instead he argues that some times are inappropriate for fasting…

Thats the wedding explained but what about this business with wineskins and cloth?

1. Anyone sew here? You would never put a unshrunk cloth on an old garment…the old garment is already shrunken (?) So, when you fit up your patch and then wash it it’s going to shrink and pull at the old garment…causing it to be destroyed.

No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.

Oenology 101: Thats wine-making 101

Grapes + Fermentation = Wine

Skins on grapes already have yeast growing on them

As grapes are crushed, juice begins fermenting spontaneously

Yeast turns the natural sugars in the grape juice into alcohol and carbon dioxide

Fermentation process often continues after the wine has been stored in wineskins

The release of the carbon dioxide causes the wineskins to expand.

Wineskins were made from cleaned animal hides (often goats), wineskins were used for carrying wine offerings, for travel and for storing new wine. As the wine inside continues to ferment, the skin would stretch to the point of losing its elasticity. So here lies the rub. If new wine was then stored in these old bags, people would fill them and then the natural expansion process would happen but because the bag could no longer expand and would burst from the pressure.

Make sense now? We know what Jesus is talking about but what the heck does this have to do with fasting, weddings and patches?

We see a few things… the new thing, which is developing and expanding, can only be put with a new garment or new wineskin. Even the attempt to add a patch or to reuse an old wineskin, however good intentioned, will just end up with both the old and new perishing together.

Christianity: The New Covenant then is the new wine from the Vine that we call Israel. The Old Covenant, is the old garment and the old wineskin.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Chapter 5

by a mongrel mixture of the ascetic ritualism of the old with the spiritual freedom of the new economy, both are disfigured and destroyed.

Christianity: The New Covenant then is the new wine from the Vine that we call Israel. The Old Covenant, is the old garment and the old wineskin.

New patches are for new cloth that can accommodate shrinking, and new wine is for new wineskins that can accommodate expansion. Jesus could not be fit exactly into preconceived patterns and expectations, and those who tried would find themselves suffering great spiritual harm.

In other words, this new wine could not go in the former ways of thinking. The former worldviews. We juxtapose this with the fact that Jesus said he didn’t come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it () but we also see:

English Standard Version Chapter 11

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Jesus contrasts the burdensome teaching of the Pharisees with his own invitation to full discipleship which is ‘light.’ You will find rest in your souls for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light

To take this in full: Jesus has been dealing with religious people that are more concerned with outward appearances than inward dispositions. This people have held onto an old structure that makes them feel religiously legitimate. Christ comes on the scene to offer a new, fresh wine that isn’t burdensome. To this, the broken come drink freely while the religiously corrupt and self-sufficient respond with such things as: blasphemer, friend of sinners, etc. Christ is offering something much better than man made rituals and practices and all you and I have to do is come drink. We are members of the new Kingdom.

So, what lies and practices are you doing to make you feel Spiritually legitimate? In what ways are you not trusting in Christ Jesus and are trusting in your own strength and ability? In what ways are you holding onto

I’ll end with some lyrics from Michael W Smith: Washed Away.

“Guilty, I'm guilty It was all that I could say Mercy, Your mercy Crashed in like the waves

[Chorus] And all my sin was washed away, washed away You took them all, there's not a trace I stand here free, with every stain Forever washed away”

Jesus introduces a new wine and a new wineskin. No system can save us. No amount of daily devotionals or church retreats. The only thing that can save us is Jesus blood. Let’s pray.