New Skins

Mark 2:21-22

21 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If they do, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And people do not pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins."


I'm living the saga of the twenty-year-old house. Apparently, at twenty-years-old, many pieces of a house that you never think about start becoming worn and need to be replaced. A few months ago, I replaced the water pressure reduction valve; the laundry sink was next to go, followed by nearly every window in the house. Little changes can make a big difference, and the house is a more comfortable place with all of these adjustments.

Sometimes, though, you have to know when the little adjustments aren't making life any better, whatsoever. My wife's car has been a solid family auto for nine years. It still looks pretty good, and drives to my wife's place of employment safely. That said, we are starting to see the tell-tale signs that its time of service is coming to an end. The maintainence trips to the mechanic are becoming much more frequent, and the oil leaks are starting to grow. Any expense we would spend to try and correct the real problem of the car (age) would overspend the usefulness of the endeavor. It simply is time to retire the car for a new one...if we wait much longer, we won't get a good trade and the safety issue will begin to be a factor.

The Pharisees lived by tradition. Their role in Jewish society was guide, teacher, and attorney...showing the population how individual actions in life could be done within the context and guidelines of the Law. The full execution of the Law had become fairly complex, so, much like our own legal code, normal people needed expert guidance in order to navigate its waters.

We can imagine, therefore, why the Pharisees were so troubled by the parable of the wine skins. In the midst of discussions about Christ's obedience to the Law, He explains to the Pharisees that the old system of obedience, from which they drew so much of their prestige and importance to society, needed to be discarded in order to make way for a new Covenant. Christ was not discarding the Law; rather, He was dismissing the man-made complications and confusion which had been added by the lawyers and scribes. Instead of trying to repair these legal codes, Christ decides that they must be wiped away. His new wine will not fit in the old wineskins (a very clear metaphor...as new wine in old wineskins would simply explode); new wineskins must be brought to use.

The Pharisees' reaction is not unpredictable. Much like accountants learning that the nation is going to a flat tax, they see their livelihood and control fading into peril. Control can be gained over people if you subject them to a complicated system that only you understand (or, at the very least, that you understand much more than they do). In the end, this regard for "the way things are" can be perverted into a lust for control.

Mature Christians need to pay heed to the dangers of lording ritual and routine over the unchurched. Having respect for the Word of God can be perverted into exclusionary tactics. Do the least of these feel welcomed and loved? Do we have a caste system of piety in our congregations? How simple is our message of grace and faith to those who need it?

We may need to check our wineskins.....