Walking With Christ

Mark 2:21-22
(21)No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. (22)And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”(ESV)

So much of what Jesus said in the bible has layered meaning to it. This is just one example.

First, we need to back up to verse 18 where it discusses John’s disciples and the Pharisee disciples fasting while the disciples of Jesus were not. The answer Jesus gave was profound on many levels. On the surface, Jesus was speaking about a new way of thinking. In verse 19, Jesus asked about fasting while the bridegroom was still present. There was a sharp contrast between a fast and a feast. You can’t have both at the same time because the two are mutually exclusive. The feasts that were common with weddings basically required people to eat. A fast, which required self-denial of food, was a time of reflection and mourning that was deeply tied to the Jewish religious system. The focus of the mind and heart cannot be internal for reflection while also being external to celebrate a wedding. Jesus was essentially saying to them that while He was still there that the disciples had no reason to fast and that a time would come where they would all fast.

In the next two verses, Jesus pivots and changes the analogy. He doesn’t completely change the subject but broadens the application of the analogy itself. He effectively says that He is the bridegroom and His presence changes the rules of daily life. The old laws (the old garment) were rooted in strict adherence to rituals, traditions, and the letter of the law. Like the old garment, the law is rigid. Jesus was openly saying that the religious system was broken, but He couldn’t fix it by simply sprinkling in the new stuff. The new covenant He was bringing required a transformation into something new. It wasn’t a rejection of the old law, but a fulfillment and transformation of it. The old garment represented the law and the wineskins represented the structures and systems, both religious and personal, through which people interacted with God.

This layered analogy covered the specific concept of fasting, but also brought a bright light to the systemic problems in the institutions that people relied on. Yet, it goes deeper still.

Just as the law was never meant to only apply to mass groups of people, this analogy also applied to the individual. Jesus was saying that people can’t simply add new spiritual practices on top of the old practices, teachings, and mindset. The old self must be transformed into something new. The combination of the old self and new life in Christ would result in spiritual tension and, ultimately, destruction. A new life in Christ cannot be housed in a heart or mind that is clinging to old patterns, whether that’s legalism, sin, or self-reliance. The new covenant requires a new container, a new heart that has been renewed and transformed by the Holy Spirit.

The challenge to churches stands even today. Churches must not become rigid like old wineskins by becoming mired by the structures, traditions, and practices they have always practiced, but must remain flexible enough to allow for a new movement by the Holy Spirit. The challenge for individuals has less to do with being flexible and more to do with being made entirely new. This isn’t just a patch to fix the parts of our old life that might be problematic, no, this is a complete renewal that brings with it a new way of living.

Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.(ESV)

God is speaking. He is going to do something unprecedented and completely beyond any expectation. This promise didn’t end with the life of Jesus. No, this promise rings true inside of every believer alive today just as it did to the exiles in Babylon. It may not look like what we would expect, but there will come a day when, looking back, we see the exact moment that we became something new. You may already be beyond that point and can testify to that moment before God. That doesn’t mean that the change is done. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t new still to come. It doesn’t mean that you’ve arrived and can rest on your laurels. No, the work is never done, and the best it yet to come.