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.
Jesus doesn’t come to patch a few tears in our worn-out religious clothes. He brings an entirely new garment!
Some things we say indicate we aren’t listening to the Teacher. Like…
“We do our best and Jesus makes up the difference!”
This relegates Jesus to a seamstress who merely patches a few holes in our own virtue. When actually we need a completely new suit tailored out of the whole cloth of His own character!
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.
Jesus is explaining that religion based on keeping rituals like fasting and other forms of rule keeping cannot contain the message He brings. The new wine of His teaching will break out of such rigid forms!
His Good News must find more elastic containers. Ones that can grow and expand to be filled with the very character of God!
There is only one such vessel. His message must be received and preserved in the human heart!
As our Savior, Jesus provides absolute forgiveness of sin and peaceful security with God. Then, as our Teacher, He gradually pours the new wine of His own character into our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is the process of the Teacher-student relationship. As His message grows in our hearts, we are gradually changed to become more like Him.
So how is the wineskin of our hearts?
ReplyDeleteOld and set in our ways, or fresh and flexible, ready to expand and grow?