New Wineskins for New Wine
There are three accounts in three of the four gospels, where this message from Jesus is recorded. We can assume that when most of the gospel writers cover something, it’s not just important (all of Jesus’ teaching is important), it’s vital. What we are dealing with today is of vital importance, in order for Christians to function as we are called to, and for the Church to be all we are called to be.
See Matthew 9 v 16, Mark 2 v 21-22 and Luke 5 v 36 – 39.
We’re taking Luke’s passage; it says slightly more than the other two.
36He 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. 37And 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. 38No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ “
The context is that Jesus chooses to associate with ‘Tax Collectors and sinners’. Not only that, but he actually visits the home of Levi (later called Matthew), who has called together all his tax collecting and sinning friends. Levi was probably very frowned upon by the Pharisees because, as his name suggests, he must have been of a priestly family – priest turned tax collector was a real indictment.
Anyway Jesus visits his home then even calls him as one of his disciples. The Pharisees couldn’t get hold of this – everything Jesus could do wrong, he was doing! However they were intrigued by Jesus and were trying to understand him. The problem was that their criteria for measuring spirituality, was not God’s and Jesus didn’t fit! He didn’t tick the boxes of fasting, associations, etiquette etc.
Rather than walking away from this, Jesus walked into the storm, to teach us some essential principles. He began to tell these parables – first one about sewing, then one about winemaking. Both are illustrating the same point. We’re taking the winemaking illustration today.
The Wineskins Jesus referred to would most likely have been whole goatskins. The practice was to remove the skin, cutting off the lower leg parts then sewing everything back together, with only the neck remaining open. The skins were tanned and prepared for the wine. So imagine a goat sized bag, with four leg shaped bulges. The pressed grape juice was then poured in and left to ferment. Through the fermentation process, the skin would inflate, due to the carbon dioxide generated by fermentation. After a while the whole thing would be like a big balloon. It relied upon the flexibility of the goatskin to contain this expansion until the fermentation was complete. It must have been that occasionally one of these things would go bang – spraying partially fermented wine all over the place. No one wanted this to happen, because they’d have lost some good wine and there was a terrible mess to clean up afterward. This scenario would have been relevant and pertinent to the audience.
Job quotes the experience in Job 32 v 18 – 19;
“For I am full of words,
and the spirit within me compels me;
inside I am like bottled-up wine,
like new wineskins ready to burst.”
Jesus pointed out that no one in his right mind would try to recycle one of these skins – the process and the presence of alcohol for a prolonged period stiffened the skin and greatly reduced its pliability.
So what was Jesus saying through this parable?
Wine usually refers to the Spirit of God; His plans, His work; His influence and power; His Salvation.
The Wineskin, being the container for the wine, refers to us; what we do, how we reach out; our culture and activities. In short, we can say that the Church is the wineskin.
We can look back through the last 30 years or so and see how the wineskins in this country have changed considerably – in the late ’70s/early 80s we saw the House Church movement arise, redefining established Church models. The 80s were very much about real and engaging worship, reality in applying our faith to everyday lives and allowing the Holy Spirit to bring things alive. The late 80s, early 90s were about strengthening Churches – restoring apostolic ministry, returning principles of authority to new Church structures. The late 90s and early 2000s were about experiencing God and enjoying Him. Now there is a new move which gets our focus out into society, bringing Jesus into the community in ways that ordinary (unchurched) people can understand. God is encouraging us to be those who care about the world and people around us.
There is new wine flowing – how do we respond? How do we take what God is doing and bring it to the people? New strategies of God require new ways of thinking. Young people generally have a more flexible approach – they are more easily given to be new wineskins. Older people like me(!) do well to take notice of how they think. It’s easy to fall into the mould of trying to keep things as they are, to maintain the status quo, rather than to flex and expand to accommodate the new things God is wanting to do. We’re wise to listen to the younger generation. Some ideas and ways of doing things may not be our cup of tea, but we’re wise to take notice. They often have keys we don’t think of, because they have a more open view of the world.
In Luke 5, v 39:
39And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ “
It is true that aged wine often tastes better than newly bottled wine. Often we want the old things – old songs, old experiences relived, old styles, old well proven techniques. These are good things and still to be savoured, but if we don’t bottle new wine, there will be no wine in the future. The reason vintage wines are so costly is because they are rare – they are consumed and become even more rare. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying Handel’s Messiah on occasions (for instance), but it’s not how we will grow. We need new wineskins for new wine – new methods and ways to bring the gospel to people in the 21st century. Old evangelism methods are often not relevant these days – we need to serve people, get alongside them and share some life with them. We need to be aware of the importance of image and the way things look. We need to be sure to communicate in ways people can understand and relate to.
It’s a challenge, but well worth asking yourself some serious questions about whether you’ve got ’stuck in the mud’, or whether you are able to flex and change as God moves in new ways.