MARK 2:18-22 MEDITATION - Part 4
NEW WINE IN OLD WINESKINS?
New Wine in Old Wine Skins? A New Patch on an Old Garment?
An old garment cannot be repaired by applying a new piece of unshrunk cloth on the old garment because in the wash the new would shrink and tear the old, rendering it useless.
Neither can new non-fermented wine be contained in old wineskins because the fermentation process of the new wine would release gas and cause the old wineskins to expand and explode resulting in the loss of both the wine and wineskins. There were no bottles in those days but wineskins made from the skin of an animal were used for the fermentation of new wine because they were flexible.
But what is this new wine and what are these old wineskins? What is this old garment and what is the cloth sewn onto it?
Both the old wineskins and the old garment represent the old covenant and the relationship with God through the law, something inherently good and fulfilled by Jesus rather than abolished by him (Matthew 5:17).
The Law and New Wine
The bridegroom has come the new covenant of the Kingdom is at hand. This is a time for rejoicing, not for fasting. The prophecies of Ezekiel and Joel are about to be fulfilled (Ezekiel 37:14, Joel 2:28-32 and Acts 2:17-21). This is the new wine, the outpouring of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit can only be poured into new wineskins, the old cannot contain the new. The new covenant of the kingdom is not a new patch to be put on an old system or contained in old wineskins. This is something revolutionary. It requires a whole different mindset to enter into a completely new relationship, a relationship that liberates and empowers. It is Jesus, the Messiah, Jesus, the Christ who is the way to this new relationship with the Father. Moses brought the law, Christ brought Grace. “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
Just as there is no opposition between Moses and Jesus, so there is no opposition between the law and grace. Grace empowers us to fulfil the law and the law prepares us for grace. Jesus is the one greater than Moses (Hebrews 3:1-6).
The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen (Deuteronomy 18:15)
The new covenant was instituted at the last supper with the Eucharist (Luke 22:20). It is the death and resurrection of Jesus that makes the new covenant a reality. The actual transition from the old to the new is seen in the transitional verses of Acts 2:3, 4
tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
In verse 3 the Holy Spirit “rested on each one”. This is the old covenant where the Holy Spirit characteristically operated from outside of man and was said to “rest on” the person God was to use. In verse 4 we read they were “all filled” with the Holy Spirit. This is the new covenant. There is a radical change in the relationship with God, from relating with God from outside, through the law, to relating to the Holy Spirit of God from the inside. In the new covenant we become temples of the Holy Spirit.
do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? (1 Corinthians 6:19)
We can now relate to the God within, with all that this can possible mean in terms of empowerment. Ezekiel 37 begins
“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley”.
In chapter 36 we have the prophecy of the Spirit of God within:
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (v. 27)
And again
And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live (37:14)
It is our new relationship with the Spirit of God within that empowers us to walk in obedience to the law and something extraordinary happens to those who do so
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. (John 14:23)
This is the new covenant made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus; we become the dwelling place of Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit.
The transformative power of this new relationship is seen in the case of Paul, who, as a Pharisee, moves from his despairing struggle with the law and from the conclusion “Wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:24) to Romans 8:2 “the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death”.
This chapter 8 is the famous chapter that illustrates the revolutionary relationship between the spirit of man and the Holy Spirit of God. Paul can now stop struggling and start resting in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the journey we all go through from struggling and despairing in the old self of Romans 7 to the freedom of the sons of God under the new covenant in Romans 8. It is this struggle that prepares us and shapes us into new wineskins able to contain the new wine, the Holy Spirit of God that sets us free.
The new is not born out of the old but from the death of the old, we are set free from the old. Legalism does not generate the mindset and change of relationship that is needed to accommodate the new. The new covenant of the Spirit gives us the ability to live the law by embracing it and by going beyond it. Legalism makes us aware of the state of separation from God (sin), grace brings us into union with God through the power of the indwelling Spirit and through the interaction of our spirit with the Holy Spirit of God when we experience the freedom of the sons of God.
We become a new creation when we are united to Christ in baptism and become new wineskins able to contain the new wine of the Holy Spirit
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
What Jesus brings is not a simple addition to the old, not a new patch sewn onto an old garment. He is not just another rabbi or prophet. He fulfills all prophecies. He is the good news of God bending down in a definitive act of humility to uplift man from the rut of the old.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honour. (1 Samuel 2:8, 9)
This is the new wine that cannot fit into old systems or old mindsets. This demands a complete change, the old wineskins cannot contain this new wine, they will burst at the seams as the fermentation of the new is alive and active and bubbles within. Neither can it be attached to an old garment of the ancient Jewish system. A new patch attached to an old garment will only tear the old apart. The new covenant is not interested in tearing apart but in bringing together. A new garment is needed and new wineskins. A complete change of mindset ready to establish a completely new relationship.
A revolution is taking place. Can we not see it?
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. 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. … to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise” (Isaiah 43:18-21).
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Return to Part 1 Mark 2:18-22 Meditation
Mark 2:18-22 Text and Questions
Go to Mark 2:23-28 Meditation Part 1
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