Living Words: New Wineskins
Jesus changed the world forever. Why would we behave as if He hadn’t?
Jesus did all kinds of incredible things. He taught with great authority and He acted with the utmost integrity. He turned the world as people knew it then completely upside down.
While many were amazed by this and drawn to Jesus and His teachings, there were plenty who did not appreciate Jesus’ tendency to upset the order of the day. Particularly the religious order. Religious leaders had quite a bit of power within the status quo and they weren’t in a hurry to change that. They didn’t appreciate Jesus’ teachings and they wanted to quite literally have Him killed.
Now, while for many there was malicious intent behind their opposition of Jesus, this wasn’t the case for everyone. Some people were simply confused. They didn’t understand why Jesus was doing what He was doing. They had been trained and taught to behave one way their whole lives, and now here was this guy, who seemingly came out of nowhere, telling them that they had been doing it all wrong.
He was extending God’s law into every area of life — telling his audience that if they even had a lustful thought then they were already adulterers — while simultaneously preaching love, acceptance, and mercy in quantities far beyond what was considered appropriate — like when He refused to cast a stone on a literal adulterer.
At one point, Jesus was questioned about why He was acting the way He was. The question was specifically about why His disciples didn’t fast, why they were eating and drinking and not acting pious. He told his questioners that the time for fasting would come, but as long as He was with the disciples, they were to enjoy His presence. Next, as He did so often, He took the opportunity to make a larger point. Let’s drop into Luke 5:36–39.
Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”
I could get into the specifics of the fermentation process and why it’s wrong to put new wine into old wineskins, or speak about why seamstresses follow the processes they do, but I don’t think that’s necessary. Instead, I think it would be wise to talk about what I believe Jesus means by this.
In my view, Jesus is saying that He is creating a new way. He is announcing a new way of thinking. Jesus says He was not replacing the law, and indeed He was not. But He is showing us a new way to live and believe, a new way to practice our faith that allows for us to be guided by the Holy Spirit and react to the world around us without the rigidity that guided the powers of His day.
Consider the Sabbath. Jesus was always breaking the Sabbath. The religious leaders brought this up to Him numerous times, complaining to Him that He could not be from God if he had such disrespect for the Sabbath. Let’s look at one of these instances, in Mark 3:1–6
Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath, restoring their health. The religious leaders responded to this miracle by plotting to kill Jesus. Putting aside the idea that He violated a law, does this seem like a sane response? Even if one agreed that Jesus should have been more respectful of the Sabbath and waited a day to heal the man — which is ridiculous but let’s just let this play out — does it seem like the correct punishment for this is to plot to kill Him?
How could people possibly be driven to this level of madness?
Mark gets at the reason why when he writes that Jesus was “deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts.” Other translations use “hardened” hearts. It’s a phrase I heard quite often in churches growing up. Usually it referred to sinful people out in the world who would never become Christians because they had become so calloused and hardened they could not see the love of Jesus.
I find it quite interesting, though, that “hardened” here is referring not to unbelievers, but to the most religious people of the day. Certainly, even before Jesus came around, these people had their flaws. But they were also undeniably part of the church, part of the faith, and they were unwilling to adjust what they believed to be true. Even if it meant killing a man for healing someone. They were clinging to old wineskins.
The last verse in our original passage, Luke 5:39, shows how hard it is for anyone to accept change. It says, “And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’” Indeed, the old was better for the Pharisees. They didn’t want any new wine. They were quite happy with what they had.
In this time, for me personally, LGBTQ issues stand out as the place where the church is in need of new wineskins. A new understanding of what the Bible does and doesn’t say about being gay and how to apply that. I wrote about this last year.
I know that plenty of people will quote a few verses that seemingly stand in direct opposition to LGBTQ acceptance in the church. I’m not so sure those stand up to linguistic and theological scrutiny, but I also don’t think that I need to spend more time than I already have doing that analysis. I know in my heart what is right. I know what makes me deeply distressed when I look at this issue. I can identify a disproportionate response when I see one. It seems clear that the church is on the wrong side of this issue, clinging to an old wineskin.
And for what it’s worth, Jesus Himself says nothing about being gay. If it was such a huge deal for Him, for God on Earth, then why not mention it?
Jesus does say, to revisit a story we mentioned earlier, that the one without sin should cast the first stone. Yes, some will counter that after He said this, He told the adulterer in question to leave their life of sin. But He was also the sinless God on Earth, able to cast a stone Himself, and He did not.
Jesus also says in Matthew 7:1–2, “‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.’” Even if you consider being gay wrong, one must examine their own lives and consider how they might like to be judged. How would you like those around you to react to your imperfections? Would you like them to yell at you and disown you? To constantly remind you of the actions you take that they don’t agree with? Or would you rather they listen to you, to try to understand where you’re coming from and what you believe?
For those who might call this heresy or claim that this interpretation has simply been swayed by modern culture, who claim that the church cannot change in this way, I challenge you to review all the times the church did change and turn away from beliefs that seem quite antiquated now. The Bible has been used to justify slavery. To vilify those who divorce their spouse in an effort to escape abuse. To keep women silent in church. There are verses for those things, too, so why did the church adjust? If it did adjust before, why can’t it adjust now to accept people whose only supposed offense is to love someone?
At the end of the day, the Spirit works in all of us. I know that we all have diverse backgrounds and beliefs and standards. I know that not everyone will agree with my assessment. It’s hard to let go of the old wine. But I think it’s wise to try to understand new wine is allowed in the church. That Jesus was once new wine. That we need new wineskins from time to time.
I hope this is taken in the spirit with which it is meant, which is not one of conviction but of a petition for love, empathy, and acceptance. If nothing else, I invite you to take a moment to examine your faith and to search your heart. To pray about what it is in your life that you feel an aching for. To consider where there might be a need for some renewed examination.
