Old clothes and new wine

In Matthew 9:14 Jesus was asked why his disciples did not fast, but the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees did. Jesus responded in verse 15 by saying that just as it was inappropriate for the guests of a bridegroom to fast at his wedding feast, so also it was inappropriate for his disciples to fast while he was with them. He added that the day would come when he would be taken away, and that his disciples would fast in that day. Then, in verses 16-17 Jesus spoke the following illustration:

“No one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

This passage illustrates a powerful principle that does not just apply to the people to whom Jesus was speaking, but to all of us as well. Ultimately the point Jesus was trying to make was that the Scribes and Pharisees had gotten used to the old covenant, which he referred to as an “old garment,” and therefore they would not receive the “new wine” of the New Covenant – even though it was a better covenant established on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6)

Jesus further told the Pharisees that trying to mix the new way with the old was like cutting a piece out of the new garment (The “garment of salvation” – Isaiah 61:10) and using it to patch a tear in an old garment. (The “filthy rags” of our own righteousness – Isaiah 64:6) He warned them that doing this would only result in making the separation worse because the new would not “agree with” the old.  (Luke 5:36; Hebrews 8:8-9) The word translated “tear” in this passage is, literally, “a separation” - the same meaning as the Old Testament word for the veil in the temple - which represented man's separation from God due to sin - Isaiah 59:2). It was this very doctrine of preferring the old way of a works-based righteousness to the new way of grace/faith that was the “leaven” Jesus sternly warned His disciples to beware of in Matthew 16:6,12. And it was this same leaven that would later infiltrate the church “in order to bring them into bondage” again to law and to sin. (Galatians 2:4-5; 11-21; Acts 11:2; 15:5; 21:20)

The “new wine” Jesus spoke of refers to the Holy Spirit of God living within us. The comparison to wine is actually quite fitting in the sense that wine is a substance which, when we drink it, influences our behavior from within. The very essence of the New Testament is that, because the blood sacrifice of Jesus has taken away our sin, we can now “drink” the “living water” of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39). And once we drink of the Holy Spirit, He then begins to influence us from within – “working in us to will and do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13) and producing “The fruit of the Spirit” in us (Galatians 5:22-23).

The basic principle Jesus was teaching in this passage is that it is possible to get so rigid and inflexible in our beliefs that when God wants to teach us or give us something new we cant receive it. Just as the Pharisees had gotten used to the “old wine” they had been drinking, it is easy for us to get used to certain ways of thinking, or believing. And if, at such times, we are not willing to let God give us new “wine” and a new “wineskin” to put it in, we could easily find ourselves in a situation like the Pharisees – where our own inflexibility keeps us from growing spiritually.