New Normal: New Ways

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and the Corps of Discovery to navigate from the where the Missouri River empties in the Mississippi River in St. Charles, MO to find an all-water route west to the Pacific Ocean. Tod Bolsinger summarizes the journey in Leadership for a Time of Pandemic (pages 8-9):

After eighteen months of traveling upstream, a long winter with the Mandan tribe in North Dakota, a strenuous passage over the Great Falls of Montana, and a winding, long slog up a rapidly dwindling creek, they had indeed found the source of the Missouri. Following a short hike to the top of the pass [Lehmi Pass], Meriwether Lewis and his scouting party expected to find another stream that would become the Columbia River and propel them downstream to the Pacific Ocean and the accomplishment of their mission: finding a navigable water route across the continent. Those dreams were disrupted when this band of expert river explorers discovered that they were instead facing hundreds of miles of foreboding Rocky Mountains with steep, soaring peaks that made water navigation impossible.

There was no map of those mountainous obstacles at the time. So, the Corps of Discovery was faced with a choice: do we turn around and go back or do we trade in our canoes for horses? Tod Bolsinger wrote another book on their adventures that he titled, Canoeing the Mountains. Lewis and Clark chose to trade in their canoes for horses to get over the mountains.

We, like the Corps of Discovery are living in a time where there is no map for what we are experiencing. No one alive today has lived through or led through a pandemic.

In our time today and over the next couple of weeks, I want to address what is on everyone’s mind, “When will life get back to normal?” Prior to March of 2020, we had been sailing down the rivers of life in our canoes. Then, the pandemic hit and it was like our canoes all faced the base of the Rocky Mountains. We had to pivot our ministries, our education, social lives, and extra curricular activities.

I feel that we are living what Jesus described as new wineskins. In Matthew 9.17, Jesus challenges the people with some new ways. He said you must put new wine into new wineskins.

Earlier in Matthew 9, Jesus gives some miraculous examples of what those new wineskins were like. Early in Matthew 9, Jesus heals and forgives a man who is paralyzed. When the crowd saw this miracle and His authority to forgive sins, they were filled with awe and praised God (Matthew 9.8).

Then Jesus goes on from the paralytic to a tax collector named Matthew and invites him to to follow. Matthew got up and followed Jesus. Then, Jesus enjoys dinner at Matthew’s house, but the religious leaders questioned, “Why does Jesus eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Matthew 9.11). Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But, go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9.12-13).

Tom Wright shares, “While other religious leaders of the day saw their task as being to keep themselves in quarantine, away from possible sources of moral and spiritual infection, Jesus saw himself as a doctor who’d come to heal the sick. There’s no point in a doctor staying in quarantine. He’ll never do his job” (Matthew For Everyone, 1:101).

After answering questions from the religious leaders, Jesus receives another question from the disciples of his cousin, John the Baptist, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” (Matthew 9.14). Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast” (Matthew 9.15). Jesus tells his cousin’s followers, “Now is the time to celebrate while I am here, but a time will come when I will go the cross. Then, they will fast.”

So, in the midst of these miracles, Jesus answers questions about welcoming those who are on the outside into God’s family. He also answers questions of spiritual disciplines which are good and healthy. Jesus follows those questions up with some of the clearest and yet one of the most confusing texts in the gospels.

Matthew 9:16–17 NIV

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

As we look at these verses, we can look at them through the past, the present and the future. By looking at these verse, they will help us see the new ways of the new normal with Jesus.

First, Grieving the past is okay. Let’s admit it. We miss the way things used to be before this pandemic arrived. Our kids went to school, we had rooms full of people worshipping and learning about Jesus, and we went to watch football games on Friday nights. It is okay to grieve the loss of these things.

Jesus answers the question about fasting with the words, “The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast” (Matthew 9.15). Jesus reminds them that the happy times of the wedding will change to the sorrows of the funeral when he goes to the cross. Many times fasting was associated with grief and sadness.

In our example of the clothing, the garment has been torn. Don’t you hate it when your favorite pair of jeans gets a hole in it? Wait, that may be a bad example with today’s fashion of jeans with holes. Pick your favorite shirt, dress, outfit. If it gets ripped, you are sad. Something has been torn or broken. We can be sad about that.

In this season, it is okay to be sad. It’s okay to grieve changes from the past, but we can’t live there. It may be helpful to write or journal a list of things from the past that make you sad. It’s okay to grieve, but we can’t live there.

Second, Living in the present takes skill.

For the seamstress in Matthew 9.16, it takes extra effort and skill to pre-wash or pre-shrink that cloth so that the patch will cover the hole instead of enlarge it. If one doesn’t go to the extra effort to patch the hole properly, then the final condition will be worse.

Much like the wounds of our emotions. If we don’t deal with our brokenness in a healthy and proper way, then the wound will only grow worse. If you push the hurts away and deny that there are issues, then we are putting on a patch that will eventually make the hole worse.

In the case of the wineskins, one must find or sew up a new skin for new wine so that the wine can expand.

Job 32:19 ESV

Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst.

In an interview during the fear and uncertainty post-9/11, leadership author Margaret Wheatley wrote, The primary way to prepare for the unknown is to attend to the quality of our relationships, to how well we know and trust one another. . . . There is one core principle for developing these relationships. People must be engaged in meaningful work together if they are to transcend individual concerns and develop new capacities (Tod Bolsinger, Leadership for a Time of Pandemic, p. 7).

I encourage you to identify one relationship and seek one way to deepen that relationship this week.

Third, Preparing for the future requires change.

The lesson of the clothing and the wineskins is that changes must be made if the cloth and the wine and wineskins are to be be preserved. You cannot keep using the old methods and expect different results. New wine requires new wineskins. However, the word for new wineskins in the NIV may be best understood as “fresh.”

For example, you buy a car that has 30,000 miles on it and you call your friends and say, “Come, check out my…new car.” Is it a new car? To you, the answer is yes. But it is not brand new. It has already been used. The term for fresh in our description of the wineskins means something that has not yet been used. The same word describes the tomb that would receive the body of Jesus, “a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid” (John 19.41).

So, we must try something new, something fresh, something that has not been tried. Just as Lewis and Clark traded their canoes for horses, we must try some new things to advance God’s kingdom.

We must adapt to the season, but still maintain our mission. When a church fails to adapt, change, and innovate, then the results could be deadly. I’ve heard of churches that have closed or will close as a result of this pandemic.

In 1975, Steve Sasson, an engineer for Kodak invented the first digital camera. However, since the Kodak company failed to see the potential in digital photography they ended up filing for bankruptcy in 2012.

In 2004, Blockbuster movie rental was at its peak. Back in 2000, Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix proposed a partnership with Blockbuster. Netflix wanted Blockbuster to advertise their brand in stores while Netflix would run Blockbuster online. Blockbuster declined he offer and filed for bankruptcy ten years later.

As much as we want life to get back to normal, as followers of Christ, we have an opportunity to adapt and try something new and fresh to advance God’s kingdom.

Romans 7:6 NIV

But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Jesus confronted the thinking of His day by telling them a new way that fulfills the foundation of the old way had arrived. Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5.17). The examples from the cloth and the wineskins are cryptic ways that Jesus tells them that His new way, new covenant is here. In other words, Jesus is saying, “I am bringing a new normal called the kingdom of God.”

As we think about the new normal that is upon us, we need to think about what changes we need to make. Here’s a start of my list:

I don’t want to return to the days of over-scheduled family life. I have enjoyed have less activities to attend so that I can attend to the most important people in my life.

I want to value relationships more than I have in the past. This season of isolation helps me appreciate people more. The church needs to both gather and scatter.

The Church around the globe needs to rethink how we disciple the nations in this new era. We have a prime opportunity to get a few people together to read and study the Bible together. We continue to provide the sermon notes, Bible verses, and discussion questions that can be used with any person at any stage in their walk with Jesus.

Let’s be honest. This season has been incredibly difficult. We grieve the losses from the past. The present is challenging and the future is unknown. However, as you look at the larger context of these verse in Matthew 9, we see a Jesus who is strong enough to heal lame legs and forgive sins. He is brave enough to stand up to the opinions of the day and gentle enough to raise up a little girl. Jesus offers us a new normal.

Dominant Thought: Jesus heals our past and present to offer us a fresh future.

Discussion Guide: New Normal: New Ways

Dominant Thought: Jesus heals our past and present to offer us a fresh future.

You may want to refer to the sermon notes for further discussion. Take a moment to read the assigned Scripture and then reflect or discuss the questions. Customize this outline to your situation. Here are some questions to ask from the Discovery Bible Method:

What are you thankful for today or this week?

What challenges are you facing?

Have 2 or 3 people read the scripture out loud.

Can you summarize this passage in your own words?

What did you discover about God from this passage?

What have you learned about people from this passage?

How are you going to obey this passage? (What is your “I will” statement?)

With whom are you going to share what you have learned?

Based on this passage, what can we pray about?

Day 1: Matthew 9.1-8

Day 2: Matthew 9.9-17

Day 3: Matthew 9.18-26

Day 4: Matthew 9.27-34

Day 5: Matthew 9.35-38

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