In The Tank Comments

Reference Text
New for old Friday, June, 25, 2010
by John Fischer

Jesus once warned against trying to patch an old garment with new cloth or put new wine into old wineskins. In the case of the garment, the new unshrunk piece of cloth will tear away from the rest when the clothing is first washed. And in the case of the wineskins, the new wine will be too acidic for the old skins and they will burst. New wine and new skins need to grow old together.

I used to wonder about exactly what this meant. I'd heard it taught as being related to new methods of sharing the Gospel and pretty much left it at that. Recently I found something new. I found out that Jesus told this story right after being criticized for hanging around tax collectors and sinners at Matthew's house. (Matthew was a former tax collector who, upon being invited to become one of Christ's twelve disciples, decided to celebrate his career change by inviting all his friends over to dinner to meet his new boss. Tax collectors were thought of as pretty much the scum of the earth.)

When the religious leaders (Pharisees) questioned Jesus as to his choice of friends, he promptly replied, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matthew 9:13) Which translated meant, I didn't come for you; I came for them. And shortly after that is when Jesus is suddenly discussing garment repair and proper wine storage.

Here's what I think. I think that little piece of advice was meant for the Pharisees. It was meant to announce to them that God was now going to usher in a new thing entirely.

Jesus did not come just to fix religion. He did not come to patch up the Old Covenant. Nor did He come to pour new life into it (new wine into old wineskins). He came to do something entirely new. And in order to “get it” you can’t come in through the existing door. The Pharisee’s framework of thinking about God and religion will forever prevent them from being able to understand and partake in something new -- what Jesus came to establish. Therefore, Jesus is pleased to start with people who have no preconceptions of God and how to please Him; they just know they’re messed up. That’s all Jesus wants. He doesn’t want the religious sacrifices of “good” people. He wants the entire lives of people who know they are sinners and failures so he can begin something entirely new with them -- new clothes... new wine... new skins.

Now all this should come as terribly good news to anyone who knows he or she is not a good person. That's precisely the point. Jesus didn't come for good people; He came for sinners. He did not come to make good people better, but to make bad people good. And Lord knows that's what we all need.


Comments Go Back
Today's date: Tuesday, September 07, 2010
David W. Reis Friday, June 25, 2010
Portland, OR, USA
That's why the Reformation shifted to the Protestant movement. The state church had a cancer that had metastasized throughout the system.
I recently listened to Ravi Zacharias' "The Grand Weaver"
He observes that Jesus came not to make bad people good but dead people alive. (I take your point, Jesus came for those who recognized they were "sick" and not for the self righteous.)
So we are not restored again, but born again. New wine skins.

Debbie Kelly Friday, June 25, 2010
San Jose, CA, United States
Amen! It's usual for us as Christians to walk as if we've always been saved and never were in the need of salvation. Why is it that we don't like to talk about what we've been saved from? What we were and what we are and are becoming is what brings glory to God! I have a daughter who is a prodigal. She got pregnant and is now raising a 4 month old child. She hasn't gone back to church....pray she meets "new wine" christians who aren't relying on their laurels for God's love and approval, but know they are saved by His amazing grace!
Thanks for sharing your insights and living for Him....there is no greater goal!

Bruce Youngberg Friday, June 25, 2010
Ramsey, MN, USA
Hi John

Thanks for your insight! Once again you have made me feel better about myself and the struggles I go through fighting temptation and sin.

Bruce

Dan Tonder Friday, June 25, 2010
Little Falls, MN
I recently visited the Science Museum of MN's Dead Sea Scroll exhibit. The text below is from one of the scrolls on display. It is taken from the rules of living for the Essenes at Quomran who were thought to be the authors of the scrolls. Judging by their use of living sin free for 2 years as a measure of holiness, I think that Jesus' message in today's Catch was for more than the Pharisees. Of course the Essenes would not have heard it since they were living in caves in the desert to remain holy.

Community Rule 4Q258-131/1
11 BCE-78 CE
The Community Rule scroll, or the Manual of Discipline, contains a set of rules by which the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls conducted their lives.
"...they shall exclude him from the purity and from the council and from the judgment for two years, and he shall return to the madras and to the council, if he has not committed again a sin by inadvertence for two full years. For one sin of inadvertence he shall do two years' penance, but for a deliberate sin he shall return no more. However, he shall be tested for two years concerning the perfection of his way and concerning his counsel, in accordance with the decision of the Many, and he shall be inscribed in his rank in the Community of holiness...when these shall become a community in Israel according to these rules, to establish a foundation of a spirit of holiness in eternal truth, so as to atone for the guilty rebellion...and for the sin of unfaithfulness, and to gain divine acceptance for the land without the flesh of holocausts and the fat of sacrifices, the offerings and free-will gifts of the lips (being reckoned) justly as a fragrance."

Go Back


Copyright © 1997 John Fischer
All rights reserved

If you encounter difficulties with this web site, please notify our webmaster at Onto Technology, Inc.

357693