New Wine

‘New wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, “The old is good.”’ Luke 5:38-9.

There is a natural resistance to the new. Some like the Athenians of Paul’s time hanker after new teaching, and flit from one fad to another. But mostly we like to feel comfortable with what we have long known. The teaching of Jesus built on the old – but it is a new superstructure. To seek salvation by obeying commandments has been done away with – not possible. But how easily we try to justify ourselves and our
faith by appealing to our good deeds – our church attendance, our faithful prayers and all the rest! They may really be good deeds, but they do not count to our credit. Jesus calls us to abandon the old ways of thinking and acting, and to heed his voice. There is to be a new attitude which will result in action. We cannot confine his new teachings to the old ways of self justification – they will burst!