Luke 5:36-39 NIV
36 He 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. 37 And 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. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
In God’s master plan, involving the 3 eras of “Pre-Covenant”, “Old Covenant” and “New Covenant” His divine purpose would run it’s course.
As Jesus was speaking and teaching in these verses, he told a parable about change and replacing something that is old with something new. He said you can’t repair what is old, instead you replace it. In other words, “new” is better.
There are a few interpretations of this parable, however my interpretation is that Jesus is saying that God’s master plan is entering a new and final phase, with the advent of God’s “New Covenant” with humankind.
To the Pharisees, Sadducees and Jewish Council, this would not be a good thing.
Jesus was new.
Jesus was different.
JESUS HEALS AND FORGIVES SIN
Jesus reached out to sinners in a way that was foreign to the religious leaders. He healed people and forgave them of their sins…and they did not like it.
Luke 5:17-26 NIV
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
JESUS SOUGHT OUT SINNERS
Again, Jesus was different.
He didn’t shun sinners, but sought them out.
He picked one of the “worst sinners” to be his disciple. Levi (Matthew) was a tax collector who were thought to be the scourge of the earth by the Pharisees.
Matthew then gave a great feast, where a large crowd of tax collectors/sinners gathered and ate with Jesus. This prompted the question by the Pharisees to Jesus “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus was different.
Luke 5:27-31 NIV
Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners
27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
JESUS WASN'T BEHOLDEN TO TRADITION
The Pharisees then asked Jesus why He and His disciples didn’t fast like the disciples of John the Baptist.
The religious leaders were not as concerned with the disciples as they were with Jesus.
Jesus was a threat to them.
The Pharisees didn’t like the fact that Jesus was marching to the beat of a different drum, so to speak.
Jesus was different.
Luke 5:33-34 NIV
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”
JESUS WAS DIFFERENT--HE CAME AS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR
Jesus was a major concern for these religious leaders. A true threat.
Thousands of people flocked to hear him speak. He performed miracles that the leaders could not explain away.
Jesus was like nothing that the Pharisees and religious leaders of Israel had ever seen before. He was different.
He said that there would no longer be animal sacrifices for atonement of sin.
He said there would no longer be a day of atonement and that anyone can access God the Father through Him.
He said there would no longer be a need for a High Priest who would intercede for people in the Holy of Holies.
He said that our bodies were now the temple of God if we believe in Him.
He said that He would be killed and rise again from the dead.
He said they were hypocrites.
Jesus makes it clear to these leaders that His presence represents something new in God’s master plan. There are going to be some changes made.
Jesus is telling them that the old covenant cannot mix with the new covenant.
The gospel of Jesus is a new way that cannot be contained in the old way.
He illustrated this to his disciples with the parable of the new wineskins.
The new wine must be poured into new wineskins, otherwise both the wine and the wineskin would be lost if poured into old wineskins.
Lastly, Jesus understands that He will be rejected by the religious leaders. He knows they don’t like the change that is coming. He says “no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, the old is better.”
Jesus knows he will not be accepted by the Pharisees and religious leaders of Israel, for they are totally content and satisfied with the wine that they have (the old covenant).
He knows that nothing will change their minds and He will be rejected and killed in an attempt to maintain that old wine.
Unfortunately for those religious leaders, they cannot stop what God has set in motion.
Let us thank and praise God for the “new wine.” Let us thank and praise God for sending His Son to die for our sins. Let us thank and praise God for the new and final covenant with humankind, whereby we all have access to God, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
RVH