|
 New
Wineskins
I find it
fascinating that when Jesus set out to preach the Kingdom of God, he
did not begin
a reform movement within Judaism. He did not begin with Rabbinical
schools, but rather with a group of spiritually uneducated men
including some fishermen and a tax collector. When questioned by
religious leaders of the day about his followers' apparent lack of
spiritual discipline, Jesus responded, "No
one puts new wine into old wineskins. The old skins would burst from
the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must
be stored in new wineskins. That way both the wine and the wineskins
are preserved."
Christ's chosen metaphor of
"old wine" communicates something very important. Aged wine is very
good! It is smoother and more refined than new wine, and those who
are accustomed to drinking it will not want the new. It's a matter
of taste.
Jesus chose men who were not acquainted with the old wine - men who
could be trained up in a completely new way. Attempting to mix
the ascetic ritualism of the old with the spiritual freedom of the
new would simply produce a disaster...the skin would break and
all the wine would be lost.
Today, new wineskins are
forming once again. Some are bound to be controversial, marked both
by freedom and a notable lack of refinement, but God will use them
to fulfill his purposes in a new generation. | 
