THE PARABLES OF JESUS

GARMENTS AND WINESKINS

 LUKE 5:36-39

 

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

Luke 5:36-39

“He told them this parable: ‘No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’”

 

Jesus talked in parables many times where He would use common and everyday items and situations to explain spiritual truths to people. It was a very practical and illustrative way to teach. Sometimes today we have difficulty understanding the parables because our culture and time is different. The spiritual truths are still valid and true, but the items or situations of the parable can be confusing.

 

During the days when Jesus walked the earth in Palestine people were very poor and often would patch their clothing to repair holes and make them last longer. New cloth patches sewed onto old garments would not match exactly and when washed would shrink and pull apart the older thread-worn and weaker garment. Containers for wine and fluids were not glass but the skins of animals. They were like a sack sewn together from animal skins. As these wineskin containers lost their elasticity, they would not hold new wine placed in them because the new wine was still under the influence of the process of fermentation. If new wine was placed in these old wineskins the old wineskins could burst.

 

So what was Jesus getting at when He used these parables to communicate the word of God? The new cloth and new wine represented His message of salvation to mankind through Him and Him alone. The law and the Jewish religious system were the old garments and wineskins. They had served their purpose of maintaining the chosen people’s spiritual faith, but Jesus was bringing a new message. Jesus came to fulfill the law and show that the Jewish religious system was set up by God to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus where He would provide the way of salvation. Jesus was trying to explain that God was changing the way He worked with people. Up till Jesus’ time the Jews had to bring sacrificial animals to the temple on a regular basis to atone and ask forgiveness for their sins. Jesus’ new message was that He brought salvation through one and only one sacrifice, His death on the cross. No longer would Jews or anyone else have to continue to offer sacrifices for their sins over and over again. God now wished for those who desired a personal relationship with Him to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. This meant they accepted the fact that Jesus was the Son of God and that His death on the cross was adequate payment to provide for the forgiveness of their sins. Once this was done, their sins were forgiven and they could have a personal relationship with God made possible by the death of Christ on the cross. Jesus’ power was also dramatically demonstrated by His resurrection from the grave where He now sits at the right hand of God, praying for those who accept Him as their personal Savior.

 

As Disciples of Christ, we still need to ask for forgiveness for our sins each day even though they have been forgiven because this demonstrates to us and God that we wish to remain in fellowship with God our Father. Asking for forgiveness when we sin restores our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Up till Jesus’ time the Jews worshipped God in a particular way and manner and their religion was restricted to only Jews. Now, Jesus invited everyone from every nation and race to belief in Him as his or her Savior and Lord. Jesus claimed to be God and to be sent by His Heavenly Father. He was the fulfillment of over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament of the coming Messiah.

 

This new teaching caused much conflict among the Jews. The Pharisees and Sadducees were religious leaders of the time who were dedicated to the law. Jesus’ new teachings were a threat to their understanding of who God was, what the purpose of the law was as well as their power over the people. Jesus’ rocked the boat and many of the religious priests didn’t like the things that Jesus said. Ultimately it was the religious leaders who were responsible for handing over Jesus to be crucified. But of course Jesus knew what would happen all along. He knew that the new teachings of the new covenant were necessary to bring salvation to all of mankind. God in the beginning of time had planned for these events to occur. God worked down through history and through the laws given to His chosen people to prepare the way for Jesus to come to the earth and be born.

 

Jesus’ teaching of this parable has a personal application. Before a person accepts Christ as their Savior, they live their life as they see fit. Often there is sin and a lifestyle that is not according to what the Bible teaches. These verses might say to such a person that if they want to become a Christian they couldn’t just tag on Christianity to their current way of living. They couldn’t hope to let the Spirit of God live within them if they were going to continue living in sin like they currently do. To accept Christ as one’s Savior requires becoming a new creation, a new person. You can’t put new garments on old ones, new wine into old wineskins or God’s Holy Spirit into a sinful person. When you accept Christ as your Savior you’re not just joining a club, going to a church building or saying you want to do good sometimes. You are committing to listen intently to what God’s Spirit tells you, obey what the Bible says, fellowship with other Christians, worship God with all of your life, serve the needs of others and seek to grow in your understanding of who God is. It means turning over a new leave, going down a different path, choosing a new road to travel. It is a relationship with the living God that is new and fresh.

 

The benefits of having a personal relationship with Jesus are numerous. You are not under God’s judgment. You have been forgiven of your sins. You begin to understand in a dramatic way the Truth that is in the Bible. You are given the Holy Spirit to help you live as you were meant to live. This new relationship with God provided by Jesus’ death on the cross will transform your heart, mind and soul. You will make new friends who believe as you do. You will belong to a family; a local church which can minister to you in your walk with Christ. You will have resources to call upon to face the hard times in your life, the tragedies that can attempt to overwhelm you at times. Most of all, your sins will be forgiven and your name will be written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life that will assure you a place in God’s home for you in Heaven. You will live for eternity in peace with hope and blessed beyond your greatest imaginations. You will possess a spiritual body that will live for eternity. Do you want to be a new creation of who you are and fulfill the reason God created you. Just pray to God that He will save you. Commit yourself to live like Christ. If you do this the Holy Spirit will come and live within you to seal you as one of God’s family members. Great changes will take place in your heart. To be truthful, you will also face great battles as you battle your sinful flesh, but God will give you weapons and tools to overcome anything you face. Other Disciples of Christ will assist you in your new life and you sense a love you have never known before as the Family of God will minister to you. I would encourage you to pray now and seek this new life in Christ.