Is Old Bad?
Pastor Brian Yi shows how Jesus’ parable is still relevant today.
It’s been two months since we made those New Year’s resolutions. Let’s rethink our goals, concentrating on compatibility and getting rid of the old to take on the new.
In Luke 5:36-39, Jesus says, “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment.
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”
Jesus shared the above parable to a group of people who challenged him about the when and why of ritual fasting. For those questioning Jesus, this age-old practice was something to be done regularly and consistently. However, Jesus and his disciples did not fast regularly. Jesus’ answer/illustration to this perceived disconnect, reveals at least two things about how Jesus approached his mission and ministry, two things of which we can use to move through this new year: compatibility and getting rid of the new.
First off, the parable rests on the issue of compatibility. A new piece of fabric sewn onto an old garment will result in tearing. The condition and quality of the fabric matters in order to ensure an undetectable repair. New wine poured into already stretched out wineskins results in wine on the floor. Simply, this is a picture of compatibility issues.
In Jesus’s context, his ministry and message was announcing the arrival of God’s kingdom. This was a reason to celebrate and party! I don’t know about you, but when I get my party on, I want to eat a lot of buffalo wings, laugh with friends, blow into some noisemakers, and have fun. I know for sure that fasting would not be anywhere on my what-I’m-gonna-do-at-the-party list. Jesus was of the same mind.
He and His Father’s kingdom has arrived and it was time to party, not put on a sackcloth and deprive oneself of celebration. In short, what Jesus was announcing and representing was incompatible with what people were expecting.
Let’s review our 2023 resolutions and check for compatibility issues. What areas in my life am I finding a sort of cognitive dissonance? Where are forces pushing and pulling away from each other? Perhaps your life’s computer has bogged down and what may be required is to update the operating system? Look for places of disconnect and either discard, update, or reframe to ensure consistency and less clunkiness.
The second idea comes from Jesus’s statement about folks preferring old wine over new wine. This is something to easily miss, especially as we think about new years and new starts. We essentially think about deleting all of 2022 so we can start with a blank slate.
Jesus’s statement here about old wine being valued over new wine is important because it reminds us that “old” doesn’t automatically mean “bad”. This was Jesus’s way of saying that the spiritual discipline of fasting isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. What He was saying was that the timing and/or the context in which we fast, matters.
The old, established, traditional practice wasn’t bad or obsolete. We just need to be mindful about the when.
For this new year, resist the temptation to delete it all because there were good and meaningful things experienced in the past year or years. Don’t shy away from things, relationships, experiences, and perspectives that appear dated or no longer relevant to you.
While the ancients and tradition might not have a word for you next Tuesday, who knows where your heart and mind will be come July.
A seasoned contractor’s toolbox will have all sorts of tools, collected over time and projects. Not all of the tools will be used at once and at one job. You may not need to dump out the whole toolbox because you think purchasing a whole new set of tools at Home Depot is the best way to start the new year.
The new year offers us a mile marker by which we can initiate change and growth. Look for those compatibility issues and adjust from there. Find and hold on to that aged wine, knowing that from time to time, measured sips of it will be a source of comfort and peace.