“Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved” (Matt. 9:17).
The exuberance of Jesus’ ministry regularly offended many of the legalists of Jesus’ day. The scribes and Pharisees were regular critics of Jesus’ ministry and now they are joined by “disciples of John” (9:14) who want to know why Jesus’ disciples did not fast. John’s disciples apparently had followed the model of John’s asceticism by adding a routine of weekly fasts to those taught by the Old Testament. The not so subtle suggestion is that Jesus and His disciples are not very devout.
Jesus’ reference to a wedding (15) is used to argue that a wedding celebration is a time of joy and celebration not a time for practicing asceticism. The reference to a wedding feast may also reflect the idea of the Messianic banquet with Jesus as the bridegroom and thus the center and cause of the disciples’ joy. Further, the reference to the taking away of the bridegroom is likely an indication of the violent end to the earthly life and ministry of Jesus.
But the imagery of the new wine and new wineskins speaks of the radical “newness” of the kingdom reality which is now present in and through Jesus. The old rituals and traditions cannot contain it. The explosive exuberance of the new era will rupture old traditions in the same way that new wine will rupture old skins which have no elasticity.
Why don’t you ask God to do something radically new in your life this year? Something so new and refreshing that you can’t put it in any old container.
Prayer: Burst all my old religious containers and give me new wine this year. Amen.