Mtr Mary Trainor (5.11.19 Re-sent)

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins…” Luke 5:37a

Dear friend,
Most of us lack firsthand experience with new wine and old wineskins, but the message from Luke today seems to be that new wine would cause old wineskins to burst.
First-century Judaism being the old wineskins; Jesus’ teachings, the new wine. Seemingly the two are incompatible. But the wine-wineskin analogy is extreme and does not correlate one-to-one to a discussion of the old laws of Israel and Jesus’ teachings.
Rather, Jesus uses hyperbole to illustrate how difficult change is once we are rooted in patterns and practices.
At a dinner party hosted by Levi, the newest convert, Jesus faces party-line critics: Why do you eat with tax collectors and sinners? Why don’t your disciples fast and pray?
We tend to be suspicious of “Pharisees” in the Gospels, and some of them deserve it. But not all.
Jesus’ followers at the time were observant Jews, more than likely cradle Pharisees, who somehow were open to Jesus’ invitation to follow. It would appear that sometimes old wineskins actually can receive and hold onto new wine.
But many Pharisees, steeped in Torah law and teachings, could not imagine a new way of following God, could not imagine that this itinerant country preacher might be the long-awaited Messiah. They were deeply formed in what to believe, how to worship, how to keep the commandments.
Their faith reduced to a set of rules, they could not see that what Jesus preached did not violate the law’s intent. Rather, it was an expansion of the law, an interpretation, always in favor of love.
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins…”
It’s a cautionary tale. Centuries later we still desire rules and the attendant comfort and predictability they bring. But the same rules that make us feel safe can become objects of worship.
Mtr. Mary