07/26/21 Parables of Jesus #5 — New Wine in Old Wineskins (Mat.9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37-38)

Luke 5:37-39 (ESV) 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

Mat.9:17 “new wine into old wineskins”: Animal skins were used for fermentation of wine because of their elasticity. As the wine fermented, pressure built up, stretching the wineskin. A previously stretched skin lacked elasticity and would rupture, ruining both wine and wineskin. Jesus used this as an illustration to teach that THE FORMS OF OLD RITUALS, SUCH AS THE CEREMONIAL FASTINGS PRACTICED BY THE PHARISEES AND JOHN'S DISCIPLES, WERE NOT FIT FOR THE NEW WINE OF THE NEW COVENANT ERA (cf. Col 2:17). In both analogies, the Lord was saying that what the Pharisees did in fasting or any other ritual had no part with the gospel.

Luk.5:39 “The old is good”: Those who had acquired a taste for Old Covenant ceremonies and Pharisaic traditions were loath to give them up for the new wine of Jesus' teaching. Luke alone adds this saying. [The MacArthur Study Bible]

It IS true that old wine is better than new wine, I’m told. BUT this is NOT true of old, stale, sterile religious rituals compared to the Abundant Life that Jesus offers!