Wednesday, January 19, 2022

The Taste of Change

 

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

One day some people said to Jesus, “John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees.  Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?”  Jesus responded, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom?  Of course not.  But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”  Then Jesus gave them this illustration:  “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.”  Luke 5:33-39

Jesus brought plenty of change to contemplate, and sometimes confuse.  That can be good or bad, depending upon which side you settle.  If you’re confused, it’s ok; not everything Jesus said is for immediate understanding and implementation.  However, if you’re just going to contemplate (with little intention of diving-in and doing), you’re always going to be a little empty...that is, until you finally get it, that the interruption of life you’re feeling, over what Jesus is bringing to your table, is exactly what Jesus came to bring.  In short, He came to change everything.  He came to turn everything that needs turning on its ear.

In the case of new wine vs. old wine, there is problem with neither.  The problem exists in how you treat it.  New wine is going to expand.  The older the wineskin, the more possibility it won’t hold…the container will go bust!  Old wine has done its expanding, but still needs attention…a cool, protected place where disturbances are minimal.  In that scenario old wineskins will do.

The mistake Jesus was pointing-out in this conversation with disciples, was the focus too many of us have on the wineskins.  We become attached to that which we’ve come to hold dear.  That’s seen in everyday life, from cradle to senior living homes.  A child loves his favorite toy or “blankey” which give security and comfort.  An elder wants quiet and predictability – also the hallmarks of safety.  A twenty-something wants none of the above, only that everything should change.    

Giving up a comfort zone is something that rarely happens when you’re talking about church.  Hymns, choruses, loud-clanging cymbals, and guitars will be at war in the rehearsal rooms.  Praise teams will push choir-seekers to the side, and the quiet of yesterday’s prelude will be replaced (changed) into whatever new thing hasn’t yet been done.  And the old (I can use that because I am that) will lament about the discarding of old skins, while the young push back with get a life…we’re here to show you the NEW you’ve been missing. 

The saddest thing (to me) about all the pushing and shoving is that, at times, both sides are right.  There is a time for the new to be held in expandable minds, and a time for young minds to venerate what stands forever.  The target, lest we forget, is the wine…not the skin in which it is held.

For You Today

Got a little judgmental in you about new or old wineskins?  Better check out the wine before you berate the Wine Master.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Fresco Tours via Wikimedia Commons   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©    

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