New wine into new wineskins (Luke 6a)

New wine into new wineskins

Luke 5:33–6:11
Key Verse: 5:38

I. New wine into new wineskins

A. Jesus’ disciples do not need to fast while Jesus is with them 

At the banquet held by Levi, the Pharisees complained to Jesus that he was eating together with sinners. Now they turned to Jesus’ disciples and complained that they loved eating so much and did not even fast like other teachers’ disciples did.

33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

In Jesus’ time Jews fasted twice a week (Monday and Thursday) and whenever they felt they needed. Their fasting included praying, mourning, and wearing sackcloth with their faces unwashed and sprinkled with ashes. In that way, they showed that they were pious and righteous. To the Pharisees, Jesus’s disciples were very strange and unholy.

How did Jesus answer? Jesus said that his disciples did not need to fast.

34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

In Jesus’ time the bridegroom and bride were exempt from fasting. The friends of the bridegroom did not fast either. Why? Wedding is a most important and joyful lifetime event God blesses. The day must be joyous and the bridegroom and bride should be joyful. The wedding attendants should join them in their joy. If someone fasted at the wedding, the person would ruin the wedding atmosphere. Fasting at the wedding is inappropriate.

Interestingly here Jesus compared himself to bridegroom and his disciples to his friends. In OT, God often compared himself to bridegroom and his relationship with Israel to marriage. When Jesus’ disciples were called by Jesus, they received forgiveness through Jesus. They were with Jesus the bridegroom so they should be joyful and did not need fasting. The same was true with Levi. He was lost but now came back to God through Jesus. He received God’s forgiveness and became God’s child again. So the banquet Levi held was like a wedding banquet. Jesus was there as the bridegroom and his disciples as his friends. This was a great event everyone should rejoice in. They would fast for their sorrow when Jesus would die.

BTW originally the law required only one fast a year, on the Day of Atonement. (Lev 16:29–34; 23:26–32). The purpose of fasting was to show repentance to God and thus receive his forgiveness and ultimately to rejoice in him. (So in Lev 23, God gave the ordinance that his people should keep certain days, such as Sabbath and the Day of Atonement, and called them feasts or festivals. In other words, all these feasts were aimed for joy through the cleaning of sin and fellowship with God.) And that joy now is found in Jesus and given by him.

·         Christian life should not be somber or ascetic.

·         Christian life should be joyful because of Jesus.

B. New wine into new wineskins

36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.

·         No one patches an old garment with a piece out of a new garment. Otherwise, they should tear the new garment and the patch from the new will not match the old garment.

·         No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins and so the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.

The common point between these two parables is that it is unwise and even infeasible to mix new ones together with old ones because they are simply incompatible. If so, both will be ruined.

Ex) Old PC and a new version of Windows; Apple devices vs. the Windows users

Likewise, what Jesus was doing was different from what the Pharisees practice. The Pharisees fasted because they thought that was a way of keeping the law. They believed that keeping the law was the only way to be righteous. But here is the new way to be righteous; that is, by faith in Jesus as we can see through the leper, the paralyzed man, and the tax collector Levi.  So Rom 3:21-22 say, 

“21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”

Fasting no longer works as a way to receive forgiveness and righteousness. But faith in Jesus brings us forgiveness and righteousness that the law fails to do. So Jesus did not have his disciples fast because they were already with him and had joy in God. In that sense, Jesus’ disciples were different from the disciples of the Pharisees. So Jesus’ disciples did not need to fast. Rather they should be joyful. But they would fast for sadness when Jesus would be taken away.

The practices of the Pharisees, including fasting, were like old garment, old wine, or old wineskins. But Jesus’s way is like new wine or new wineskins. Jesus did not mean that their practices were necessarily wrong or bad, however. But he meant that his new way were different from their way and actually better and superior.

The Pharisees needed to know that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and so they should understand the law from a new (actually the original) perspective not from their own (old or conventional) perspective. However, they failed to perceive this and continued to keep their way, which made them reject Jesus.

38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.

By saying this, Jesus invited them to join Him in this fresh way of achieving the purpose of the law, which is salvation. But he knew that people generally remained in their traditions and did not even try something new. They prefer the old. They were so entrenched in their traditional ways of following the law that they would not even taste the fresh, new way Jesus introduced, saying, “The old is better.”

·         The danger of Christian life is to be complacent with what we are and what we have and to stop growing in Jesus. If so, we will be like the Pharisees.

·         We should be refreshed with Jesus continually.

Following chapters show more about Jesus’ new way of salvation and the Pharisees’ opposition.

II. What is lawful on the Sabbath day?

A. The Pharisees accusation against Jesus’ disciples

One Sabbath when they were going through the grainfield, Jesus’ disciples plucked some heads of grain and the Pharisees accused them of their violation of the Sabbath law.

1 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. 2 Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

The fourth of the Ten Commandments prohibits working on the Sabbath day. What is work and what is not then? Jewish people defined details about it. There were hundreds of laws on Sabbath. The law permitted plucking grain from another person’s field, but not on the Sabbath day. So the Pharisees said that Jesus’ disciples did an unlawful thing. However, what did Jesus say?

3 Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

Jesus quoted David’s case, which is written in 1 Sam 21:1-6. One day David was fleeing away from Saul. He and his companions were dead hungry but they had nothing to eat. David went to Ahimelek the priest. David asked him for some bread, but Ahimelek said he had no ordinary bread but some consecrated bread, which must be eaten only by priests by the law. (Lev 24:5–9) However, he gave the bread David and his companions.

The point is that although David did something unlawful by eating the bread of the Presence, Scripture did not condemn David for eating the bread during his escape from Saul. It was because Ahimelek allowed them to eat the breads by his authority as priest in order to save them. This implies that even if someone breaks a law, he should not be blamed if God permitted.

Saying this example, Jesus declared something very shocking to the Pharisees.

5 Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

This means that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and so he, not the Pharisees through their regulations, ultimately rules over and has the authority to interpret the Sabbath. By his authority, his disciples’ deed was acceptable and so not unlawful.

·         The Sabbath should be interpreted and kept based on Jesus.

·         The law …

B. Jesus heals a man with a shriveled hand

The Pharisees, however, did not repent. Rather, their hostility grew more.

6 On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. 7 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.

When Jesus was teaching on another Sabbath, There was a man whose right hand was shriveled. He must have been miserable and fatalistic. He was limited to get a job. He might have been unable to marry. Jesus looked at him with compassion. Some Pharisees and the teachers of the law were also present there and looked at the man but with a different motive. They knew that Jesus would heal the person and that would be a good opportunity for them to accuse Jesus because he would violate the Sabbath law. So they intently watched Jesus. Jesus knew their thought. If he healed the man, he would be accused by them. Regardless, what did he do?

8 But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there. 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored.

Jesus challenged them by doing two things.

·         Jesus had the man with the shriveled hand stand in front of everyone. Then he asked the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil; to do save life or to do destroy it.” They were well versed in the law and so they knew what is lawful. It was obvious to do good, to save life, was lawful. By asking this question, Jesus wanted them to repent of their evilness and stand before God. Jesus looked around at them and challenged them to repent and do what was lawful. However, they were silent.

·         Seeing their evil mind, Jesus said to the man, “Stretched your hand.” Then, the man’s hand was completely restored. Jesus clearly showed what was lawful and exposed that they were actually not interested in what the law said. After this they were furious and began to discuss with one another what to do to Jesus.

Here, Jesus taught them what was lawful on the Sabbath, in other words, what was the spirit of the Sabbath. What was the Sabbath for?

In the beginning when God created this world and mankind, he also created Sabbath. It was intended to give rest to mankind. The reason God commanded Israel not to work on the Sabbath was also to give them rest. God knows that we human are weak and need his help. By cutting off the worldly work and instead coming to God, our life can be refreshed and strengthened. God is not concerned much about rituals things but more concerned about us – our salvation and our happiness. In that sense, Jesus was concerned about healing the man with a shriveled hand though he knew he would be troubled by that. He did this with compassion to give him rest in God, which is the purpose of the Sabbath. God’s people are not intended to serve the law, but the law was intended to serve God’s people. So, Jesus said in Mark 2:27,

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

Previously, we learned that Ahimelek the priest gave the consecrated bread to David and his companions by his authority. But he did this out of compassion. He knew that saving and helping people who were in desperate need was God’s desire rather than ignoring them not to break a law.

Again, the spirit of the Sabbath is to give rest for men. (And now Sabbath rest is found in Jesus. )

BTW, when healing the man Jesus just spoke to the man with a shriveled hand. Technically he did not work and so did not break the Sabbath law – “Do not work on the Sabbath.”

11 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Why did they get furious and try to get Jesus then? What was their problem?

·         Their fixed mindset – they were like old wineskins. Though they saw Jesus bringing life and Sabbath rest, they did not acknowledge it.

o   We should understand and interpret the Bible with Jesus, in Jesus, and for Jesus.

§  Luke 24:27,44

Our practices should be also continually renewed and refreshed by Jesus (the spirit of the law: the double love commands) - Ex) Paul’s exhortations - meat selling in the market

§  Otherwise, we will be legalistic and can even go against God’s will. (knowledge puffs up)

·         Their human agenda, pride - to maintain their own positions.

o   Saving life was actually what most Rabbis agreed too.

o   But their mind was not in truth or God’s heart toward to sinners, but in something else for their sake. So they rejected Jesus and killed him later.

Conclusion

New wine should be poured into new wineskins.

·         We try to be new. But we will get old soon. We even become legalistic Christians.

·         We can be renewed only by Jesus. We have to seek Jesus’ heart and spirit rather than just following blindly what we have and what we know now. by David Yun