Luke 5:33-39

John Burnett:  ³ They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”  Jesus is the bridegroom in this passage.  They had limited time together and evidently Jesus didn’t see fasting the best use of that time.  He was their to teach his disciples what they would need to know to grow His church, the bride.

³⁶ He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸ No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”  Jesus is the new patch that fixes our relationship with God.  We always gravitate to our old way of doing things because we are more comfortable doing it our way than how God calls us to do things.

Have a great weekend.

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Allen Michaels:  ³³ They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.” Jesus knew his death was coming. After that time, fasting would be in order. Although he was fully human, Jesus knew he was God and knew why he had come—to die for the sins of the world.

³⁶ He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸ No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. What was Jesus trying to get across to the people with whom He spoke?  Remember, He was responding to the scribes and Pharisees.  What was their religion?  Their religion was a religion of dos and don’ts.  Religion to them was not a joyous expression of God’s blessings on them.  Religion to them was dos and don’ts. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

Because new wine expands as it ages, it had to be put in new, pliable wineskins. A used skin, having become more rigid, would burst and spill the wine. Like old wineskins, the Pharisees were too rigid to accept Jesus, who could net be contained in their traditions or rules. Christianity required new approaches, new traditions, and new structures. Our church programs and ministries should not be so structured that they have no room for a fresh touch of the Spirit, a new method, or a new idea. This is fine as long as it follows Gods Word. There are becoming more and more “kinder and gentler” churches that disregard Gods word on marriage, homosexuality, and other sins. We, to, must be careful that our hearts do not become so rigid that they prevent us from accepting the new way of thinking that Christ brings.

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Monday’s reading for Luke 6:1-5

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. ² Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

³ Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”