Parables of Jesus: The Old and the New

Mark 2:18–22 KJV 1900

18 And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? 19 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber 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 shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. 21 No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. 22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.

This is one of the parables that it is easier to slide right over than to invest the time in it to really figure it out…

Because we no longer make our clothes and we don’t make things like wine or sauerkraut - we have no everyday life experience to help us understand.

The disciples of John the Baptist asked Jesus why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?

Jesus gave and example and two parables to help them understand

In doing this he would dive into the bigger issues - like normal…

Bottom line: You don’t understand what is happening, it is not time to fast.

Furthermore, unless you change, you will never understand!

Story: Jewish wedding - week long ceremony

Many times was more of a drunken party… (don’t forget Jesus’ first miracle)

You go to a wedding to celebrate!

You eat, drink and its a party the whole time.

The dates would have been carefully chosen to ovoid any traditional feast or fast days.

It would have been considered rude to fast during a wedding.

You go to a wedding to celebrate!

Jesus was saying, I am the bridegroom.

Fast when I am not with you.

First parable: New cloth on an old garment

Clothes shrink the first time you wash them…

More so then.

So if you sow a new piece of cloth on an old garment and then wash it, it new cloth will shrink, the old has no capacity to shrink, so when the garment is put on, the stress of wearing it will cause it to rip and the end is worse than the beginning.

Second parable: New wine in old bottles

Process of wine -

Grapes are harvested and tread out (stepped on) to produce juice.

Juice is poured into new wine skins (green).

Carbon Dioxide is produced by the fermenting juice and causes the new skin to swell.

Once the new skin is swollen, that is its capacity.

New wine would burst the bottle.

So what was the new that Jesus was trying to give them that they were trying to put in old containers?

He was the bridge from the OT to the NT.

He was trying to show them that in Him was all the Old Covenant fulfilled!

Meaning for us: Wine Skin = mind - our old mindsets cannot contain the new that God want’s to put in us!

2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV 1900

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

That’s not just the old man vs the new man.

Unredeemed vs redeemed

Every time God wants to give you something new, you have to allow him to change the wineskin!