Truth verses tradition. The danger of preconceived opinions.
Let’s first read what Mark wrote and then we will have a look at what Luke wrote:
Mark 2:21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.
Mark 2:22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
Luke 5:36 Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.
Luke 5:37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.
Luke 5:38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.
Luke 5:39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ “
What did the spiritual leaders believe”? why did they reject Jesus? What kind of Messiah were they expecting?
Let us examine carefully prayerfully the words of Jesus.
Mark 2:21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.
In this extended metaphor, or brief parable, Christ points out the folly of attempting to patch the old mantle of Judaism with the new fabric of His teachings.
Piece. Rather, “a patch.” Jesus’ teachings were not simply a patch to be applied to the worn-out Jewish religious system.
New. Gr. agnaphos, “uncarded,” hence, “new,” here meaning “unbleached,” or “unshrunk.”
An old garment. Here Judaism is compared to a worn-out cloak, one that has become useless and is on the point of being discarded. The original spirit of the Jewish religion had long since been lost by the majority of those who adhered to it, and in its place there had grown up a system of forms.
By the use of this figure Christ endeavoured to make clear to the disciples of John the Baptist the futility of trying to interweave the good news of the kingdom of heaven with the worn-out observances of Jewish tradition.
Mark 2:21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.
Made worse. That is, when the garment first becomes wet after the application of the patch. What is intended to improve the old mantle only serves to make its defects more evident.
Mark 2:22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
New wine. See on Luke 5:39. By “new wine” is meant wine in which the forces of fermentation have not begun their work, or in which the work has been begun but not completed. The representation of the gospel by “new wine” and its work by the process of fermentation resembles in essence the parable of the leaven, but emphasizes a different result (see on Matt. 13:33). The “new wine” represents the vital truth of God at work in the hearts of men.
Bottles. In ancient times these would be wineskins, which were skins of sheep or goats with the skin of the legs sewn up, and the neck serving as a mouth of the bottle. “Old bottles” would have lost their original resilience, and become dry and hard. Such was the condition of Judaism in the time of Christ.
Burst the bottles. Jesus’ revolutionary teachings could not be reconciled with the reactionary dogmas of Judaism. Any effort to contain Christianity within the dead forms of Judaism, that is, to unite the two by forcing Christianity to take the shape of, and be reconciled to it, would prove vain. Jesus taught that the principles of the kingdom of heaven applied to the souls of men would lead to the outworking of those principles in lives of active, radiant religion (see on Matt 5:2).
Wine is spilled. The attempt to unite the new with the old would result in two-fold destruction. The “wine” of the gospel would be “spilled,” and the “bottles” of Judaism would be “marred.”
New bottles. Probably either a reference to the people ready to receive the gospel or to the new type of church organization through which the gospel was to be promoted.
LUKE 5
Let us have a look at the way Luke explains the parable:
Luke 5:36 Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.
Important textual evidence may be cited (cf. p. 146) for adding the word “tear,” to make the statement read: “No man tears a piece from a new garment and putts[it] upon an old.”
The new makes a tear.
Textual evidence attests (cf. p. 46) the reading “he will make a rent.” The new garment is torn (by having the patch material taken out of it), and the old is not bettered materially (by having a patch of such diverse material placed upon it).
The new does not match the old.
Only Luke notes this further fact, namely, that the patch is of different material from the old garment, and that thus the appearance is marred.
Luke 5:37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.
Luke 5:38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.
Luke 5:39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”
No one. Only Luke records this added comment of Christ.
The old is better.
One who is accustomed to the old wine considers it more mellow, in comparison with the new, and therefore more pleasing. Christ says that a person used to old wine finds that it is pleasant to his taste; it suits him well, and that is enough. He will not change his old habits. This parable illustrates the deep-grained prejudice of the Pharisees.
The work of Jesus was to reveal the character of the Father, and to unfold the truth which He Himself had spoken through prophets and apostles; but there was found no place for the truth in those wise and prudent men.
Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, had to pass by the self-righteous Pharisees, and take His disciples from unlearned fishers and men of humble rank.
These who had never been to the rabbis, who had never sat in the schools of the prophets, who had not been members of the Sanhedrin, whose hearts were not bound about with their own ideas,—these He took and educated for His own use.
He could make them as new bottles for the new wine of His kingdom. These were the babes to whom the Father could reveal spiritual things; but the priests and rulers, the scribes and Pharisees, who claimed to be the depositaries of knowledge, could give no room for the principles of Christianity, afterward taught by the apostles of Christ.
The chain of truth, link after link, was given to those who realized their own ignorance, and were willing to learn of the great Teacher.
Jesus knew that He could do the scribes and Pharisees no good, unless they would empty themselves of self-importance. He chose new bottles for His new wine of doctrine, and made fishermen and unlearned believers the heralds of His truth to the world.
And yet, though His doctrine seemed new to the people, it was in fact not a new doctrine, but the revelation of the significance of that which had been taught from the beginning. It was His design that His disciples should take the plain, unadulterated truth for the guide of their life.
They were not to add to His words or give a forced meaning to His utterances. They were not to put a mystical interpretation upon the plain teaching of the Scriptures, and draw from theological stores to build up some man-made theory.
It was through putting a mystical meaning upon the plain words of God, that sacred and vital truths were made of little significance, while the theories of men were made prominent.
It was in this way that men were led to teach for doctrines the commandments of men, and that they rejected the commandment of God, that they might keep their own.