The Cloak / New Wine
The Scripture
Matthew 9:16-17
16"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." (NIV)
Mark 2:21-22
21"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins." (NIV)
Luke 5:36-39
36He told them this parable: "No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, 'The old is better.''" (NIV)
Textual Context
Leading up to the parable, Jesus finds himself in "Capernaum" (Mark), in "one of the towns" along the Sea of Galilee (Luke), and "his own town" (Matthew). As usual, Jesus preaches to the people gathering from the surrounding area. In all three Gospels, a paralyzed man is brought before Jesus, for which He forgives him of his sins. At this, Jesus is implicitly claiming to be God, which is not missed by those "in-the-know," that is the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Jesus, who actually is God, knows their thoughts and responds by in fact healing the paralyzed man as "proof" of his Divinity.
Next, Jesus meets a future Disciple, Matthew (a.k.a Levi) and asks him to "follow me." Matthew clearly accepts the invitation and invites Jesus to dinner at his home. Note, tax collectors where notorious for stealing extra tax while performing their official duties, so Matthew is certainly not a "righteous person" in the eyes of his fellow Jews. As is usually true in life, dishonest people like Matthew tend to hangout with other less than favorable characters, of whom several were present at the meal. As such, Jesus was in fact eating with some very sinful people. Again, this did not go unnoticed by the ever zealous Pharisees. They ask, why Jesus would associate with such people? Jesus responds with his now famous line, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." Further, He gives them a challenge to determine the meaning of an Old Testament verse and sends them on their way.
Finally, with the context set, some disciples of John the Baptist come and ask Jesus a question. Presumably they ask in "good faith," because He answers their question using the Parable of this chapter. John's disciples ask Jesus why His followers, unlike both the Pharisees and themselves, do not fast, an activity well established in Jewish culture as a good practice for religious people. In response, Jesus shares the parable.
Parable Summary
Jesus begins by asking how can the guests of a wedding can be sad while the bridegroom is still there with them (i.e. the party is still in full swing). The time to mourn, he says, is after the bridegroom has left the party (i.e. the wedding). Jesus then says, one would never sew a new patch of cloth on an old garment, as the patch will pull away wasting the patch and further damaging the already broken garment. Likewise, new wine is never put into old wineskins, as this will cause the wineskins to break, making them useless, and also waste all the wine!
Interpretation
To begin to understand the Parable, consider the purpose of fasting in the context of the question. Fasting, is not eating food - sometimes additionally not drinking - for some extended period of time - typically one or more days. This causes the human body to become weak, and thus shows the fragility of the human condition. The faster is thus reminded of their dependence on God, and puts Him back into proper focus in their lives.
Immediately before saying this Jesus claimed to be God - by forgiving sins - and showed evidence for this claim by performing miracles. Meaning, his disciples have God in their physical presence, with them 24 hours a day. Jesus is the bridegroom, celebrating such as at a wedding, having a joyous time with His disciples. He is saying it doesn't make sense for them to fast, as the purpose of fasting is to refocus your life to God, but they have God literally with them and their entire lives are already focused to God, seeing they are following him.
The new patch and the new wine symbolize this direct connection with God offered by Jesus. It would not work to mix this direct connection with God with the old ways of fasting to reorient toward God, symbolized by the old garment and the old wineskin. God is literally there with them, so they don't need to refocus their attention towards him with the help of fasting. Jesus is saying the question doesn't really make sense if you understand the purpose of fasting as well as the fact that he is God.
To come full circle, however, Jesus does foretell of a time when the bridegroom - himself - will be taken away and fasting will again be necessary for his disciples. I believe this is a prediction of Jesus being killed, and his Disciples being scattered about, loosing their focus on God, and having to fall back on the "old ways" of focusing their life to God.
Thankfully for us, the Disciples did manage to start fasting again after Jesus's death. We see evidence of this in the Bible, early Church documents, and the fact that Christianity today is due largely to their efforts, and this would not have been possible without them refocusing on God in their lives.
Qustions, comments, or feedback?
Tweet at Brederick using #theParablesProject
