Perspective: Weddings, Patches, and Wineskins

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Weddings, Patches, and Wineskins

Some people said to Jesus, "The disciples of John fast often and pray frequently.  The disciples of the Pharisees do the same, but your disciples are always eating and drinking."

Jesus replied, "You can't make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you?  The days will come when the groom will be taken from them, and then they will fast."

Then he told them a parable.  "No one tears a patch from a new garment to patch an old garment.  Otherwise, the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn't match the old garment.  Nobody pours new wine into old wineskins.  If they did, the new wine would burst the wineskins, the wine would spill, and the wineskins would be ruined.  Instead, new wine must be put into new wineskins.  No one who drinks a well-aged wine wants new wine, but says, 'The well-aged wine is better.'"

Luke 5:33-39 (CEB)

Give me Your eyes for just one second

Give me Your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missing

Give me Your love for humanity

From "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath

On one occasion, someone asks Jesus why His disciples are never seen fasting, while the religious leaders and even His predecessor John's disciples fast frequently.  Jesus responds with a series of interesting metaphors.

First, Jesus says, "You can't make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you?  The days will come when the groom will be taken from them, and then they will fast."  In Jesus' day, a wedding celebration was a week-long affair.  The newly married couple basically held court for a week, while their guests treated them like royalty; and there was a lot of eating and drinking.  These celebrations were important, not only to the newly married couple but also their community, because they gave people a joyful break from their otherwise difficult lives.  Rabbis went so far as to excuse people from any religious practice, like fasting, that might diminish their joy amid a wedding celebration.^1 2

One ancient sage claimed that "there's a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens," including "a time for mourning and a time for dancing."³  Jesus, by comparing himself to a groom, was suggesting that, for His disciples, it was currently a time for the latter.  God was doing something new through Him, and what God was doing through Him was, like a new marriage, a call for celebration - a time for feasting and not for fasting.

Next, Jesus says, "No one tears a patch from a new garment to patch an old garment.  Otherwise, the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn't match the old garment."  In some versions of this story, Jesus points out that, when the patch, which is made of new cloth, inevitably shrinks, it will tear away from the old garment, making the problem even worse.⁴

Basically, Jesus is saying that, when God calls us to something new, we might not be able to make it fit with what we're already doing.  To attempt to do so could be tantamount to destroying something brand new in order to fix or enhance something that might be better off discarded.  William Barclay writes, "There comes a time when the day of patching is over, and re-creating must begin...  It may well be that there are times when we try to patch, when what is wanted is the complete abandonment of the old and the acceptance of something new."⁵  When God is doing something new, it is time to let go of what has been.

Jesus then says, "Nobody pours new wine into old wineskins. If they did, the new wine would burst the wineskins, the wine would spill, and the wineskins would be ruined.  Instead, new wine must be put into new wineskins."  When Jesus speaks of new wine, he is referring to wine that has not fully undergone the fermentation process.  In Jesus' day, wine was stored in pouches made of animal skin.  As wine ferments, it gives off gas, so the wineskin that holds it needs to be able to stretch.  If wine ferments in an old, brittle wineskin, the wineskin will break.

Jesus is telling us that we need to have minds that can be stretched.  Barclay writes, "Jesus was perfectly conscious that he came to men and women with new ideas and with a new conception of the truth, and he was well aware how difficult it is to get a new idea into people's minds."⁶

Finally, Jesus says, "And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, 'The old is good.'"  Basically, He is saying that, like new wine, new ideas need to be given the opportunity to reach maturity.

Sadly, Christians are not known for being the most open-minded people in the world.  When Jesus, the one we claim to follow, began His public ministry, He said, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."⁷  Repentance is not feeling badly about one's actions.  The Greek word translated into English as repentance is metanoia, which describes a change of mind that ultimately results in a change of action.⁸  Following Christ actually requires us to be open-minded.

May we keep our minds open and limber so that we may hear God's call for us today.


Notes:

1. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Luke.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  p. 79
2. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Mark.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  pp. 67-68
3. Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 (CEB)
4. Matthew 9:16 and Mark 2:21
5. Barclay (Mark), p. 70
6. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume One.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  pp. 389-390
7. Mark 1:15 (NRSV)
8. Wikipedia: "Metanoia (theology)"

The photograph featured in this perspective, which was taken by Pixabay user _Alicja_, has been released to the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.