Good Morning Friends,
Some argue that Jesus came to initiate a New Covenant, not to improve the Old Covenant. Some say that Jesus came to give us new life, not so much to change our old life. And to some extent that is true. Life with Christ is not like putting patches on an old tattered garment – it is like getting a brand-new outfit. Life with Christ is not like adding some new wine into an old wineskin – it is like getting a brand-new wineskin to receive the new wine of His Holy Spirit. But if this is going to take place, we need to be willing to part with that old comfortable shirt and if the old wine tastes better because it has matured, then we have a challenge. Most interpretations of the idea of new wine skins seem to confuse the issue. So this morning in anticipation of the Jewish New Year which begins in a couple of weeks we are going to give some thought to a little out with the old and in with the new lectionary scripture that prompts this question, How Do We Feast And Fast In God’s Changeless Message When We Live In An Ever Changing Culture?
Scripture: Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.
1 Corinthians 4:1-5 (NRSV)
Then they said to him, “John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink. Jesus said to them, “You cannot make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.'”
Luke 5:33-39 (NRSV)
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”
Matthew 5:17 (NRSV)
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Matthew 5:17 (NRSV)
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
John 2:1-11 (NRSV)
Message: In Jesus and through him something new and amazing had come into the life of the people who experienced him. Fisherman laid down their nets to follow him…people were healed. But the power and the message of his life and love could not be expressed in traditional terms of the Law and Prophets alone. He made the experience culturally relevant. Unfortunately, Jesus’ entire earthly ministry was viewed as an attempt to take the old way… the Law… and trash it to bring in a new way…grace. The only problem with that thinking is that this is not what Jesus was about doing at all. Jesus is clear that he came not to destroy the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them. We need to think in a new way as a contract Jesus fulfilled. The Old Testament practices of sacrifice and fasting on the day of atonement were meant to teach people that God loves to forgive our sins more than anything. The problem was what the problem always is. Along the way the means to the end became the end. The purpose of fasting has always been to remove the physical to focus on the spiritual. But somehow the act of removing the physical became how we defined the spiritual. And how much you did that was the measurement for how much you loved God. The problem is about change and culture and dualistic thinking. And perhaps there is a better course of action rather than going with the winds of evangelical church culture experience by many in the 1950’s and 60’s in the United States for now all of those converts are in their 70’s and 80’s and dwindling in numbers in the pews. Something new is needed for a bridge to the next generation. It is a prayerful choice to consistently have a discerning ethic of engaging culture. It is about being a bridge with a marriage of the minds. We need to build bridges like Paul did in Athens so that we can preach the Gospel in our own age to an unknown God. But we need to do it knowing the God of Jesus.
And So, if I said to give me that old time religion, we would not probably agree on what that was, and it might not have much to do about the Hebrew faith. But maybe today’s scripture is talking to the next generation of young people of faith more than the institutions of religion. Today’s passage from Luke contains three short parables and they are some of the most difficult to understand, so if you are confused you are not alone and maybe even in a better place than if you think you claim to know exactly what Jesus was thinking. Let’s face it, Jesus is for eternity but walked and talked in a very different time, language and culture than we have today. The traditional explanation of the wineskin passage is that Jesus was starting something fresh and new, based on grace and truth. The thinking of some is that Jesus was starting a new movement that was incompatible with Judaism, especially the legalistic emphasis on the law. So, in the parables, the old clothes and old wineskins are equated with Judaism, and the new clothes and new wineskins represent the new grace-filled teachings of Jesus. But this approach to this passage really does not take into consideration Matthew 5:17. See above. The teachings of the Pharisees are often described as worthless, useless, and outdated according to the Law of Moses, while those of Jesus are full of grace, truth, and love according to life in the Spirit. This scratches an itch that many Gentile Christians have felt from almost the very beginning, namely, how to explain the Christian departure from the Jewish roots of our faith. But this thinking does not add up. Unfortunately, the traditional interpretation has lived on, and is frequently used to justify the separation of any new group from the old, traditional group. But Jesus prayed that we would be as one. Almost every splinter group within Christianity has similarly used the wineskin passage in such a way to defend and explain their departure. Such an interpretation of the passage also explains the church’s almost total neglect—and even denial—of the Jewishness of Jesus and the apostles. It is a bit of a Gentile passage in a Jewish Bible. Friends, maybe Jesus is not saying anything negative about the old garment, or old wine that is, the ways of the Pharisees. Nor is He saying that His new way is superior. But maybe he is saying that it can be offered to a larger population. Indeed, maybe Jesus is saying is that He was the old way in a contract completed and a new way, that will be fulfilled in a marriage feast yet to come. Yes, Jesus was bringing new teaching and new ideas which could not be contained in the old ways of the Jewish Law. But that does not mean that they were bad. The old ways should be thought of as something good having been completed in Christ. But if we seek good theology there is no replacement arrangement here. Jesus was Jewish and intended to affirm the Law and fulfill it, not abolish and destroy it. The point is that Jesus is clothed in something new in the resurrection. But old clothes, and old wineskins can still be quite valuable. Nobody would throw out old clothes, and nobody would dream of discarding old wineskins. To the contrary, old wineskins were often more valuable than new. Rather, Jesus affirms the value of both old and new wineskins and points out that each has its proper function. Friends, Jesus is Lord of the Feast. Jesus is Lord of the wine. Jesus uses his powers at a wedding party to make wine because he knows that history will ultimately end at another feast, the wedding party of the Lamb to which we have been invited. Jesus offers us his wine so we may taste God and know joy in anticipation of the Feast to come. Friends, if we want new wine, we must become new wineskins. But if we want Jesus maybe we should learn to laugh at the jokes he tells about himself.
Pray we are good stewards of the time we have been given. Pray we realize that if Jesus is making the wine it will always be good. Pray we find joy in the experience of life. Pray we know when to fast and when to feast. Pray we risk enough to try something new in ministry to others but at the same time do not forget that Jesus came to the Jews first. Pray we appreciate that which has been aged and matured in the faith and that which has been brought to new life with the joy of the birth of a child. Pray we rejoice that in all the universe that God has found us and brought us to new life. Pray we realize that our culture can corrupt the church. Pray, despite this challenge that we live out our faith in the context of community with a clear vision of the background and the foreground of our place in history. Pray therefor the gifts we share build up the Kingdom to come. Pray we build bridges of faith between our everchanging culture and our biblical faith in a never-changing Gospel. Pray we be patient and less judgmental for we do not see the full scope of history. Pray our faith is expressed in a loving relationship with Christ as the cornerstone of a marriage that lasts.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 