Question: Hi Greg,

My question is about Jesus' parable in Luke 5:36-39:

He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say,‘The old is better.’”

What was Jesus talking about here -- old minds not being able to hold his new teachings? If this is true, why did he say that people would desire the old? What is the point of this parable?

Answer:

Two questions to answer before discussing your specific question: 1) What is the context in which this parable appears -- and 2) What is a parable?

Context: The context in which this parable appears is the same in all three of the Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). What John the Baptist’s followers and disciples, as well as disciples of the Pharisees believed and taught (Luke 5:33) is quoted as precedent or normative. Jesus’ teaching and behavior differed in respect to traditions and procedures about fasting that were adhered to by the Pharisees and disciples of John. This set up the obvious question – "Who is right?"

Parables: A parable is a literary and oral linguistic tool or genre. Parables are designed and used to teach and illustrate a central point. It is a mistake to try to force a parable into some kind of specific blueprint that gives us definitive information and teaching, precise marching orders or details. Jesus was not the first to use parables. They were actually a somewhat familiar rabbinic tool, but he used them in a way that others had not – and did not.

Jesus used this parable at a banquet (where wine was no doubt being served from skins). He offers the parable in response to Pharisees and teachers of the law who raised this critical question about fasting (Luke 5:33):

They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

The Pharisees and teachers of the law charged that Jesus' disciples were paying far too much attention to eating, drinking and enjoying themselves -- and far too little attention to rigorous religious observances. In verse 34 Jesus sets up his answer with an assertion that he was/is the bridegroom. Audacious and dogmatic – Jesus often claimed priority, something that those who heard him then and now, have difficulty with.

Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

Then Jesus goes further and offers practical wisdom that can be brought to bear on this spiritual question – that is, why he did not conform to the traditional religious patterns of worship and behavior?

This parable is about new and old -- the first part concerns the teaching about repairing an old garment. Patching up an old garment with new cloth is not wise, for the new garment has not yet shrunk, and when it does it will further disfigure the old – the old garment should be mended with old cloth.

Of course, to us – now – this clearly shows the difference between the old and new covenants. But this teaching and application was not that clear to the original audience. The cross and its meaning was not at all known or revealed to them. All they saw was someone who was not behaving according to the religious status quo. So they would have tended to focus on what Jesus was saying and doing – and not doing – about fasting. That’s the immediate context and the primary meaning. The significance of the old and new covenant to all who live after the cross is obvious.

Jesus then offers the second part of the parable -- the new wine into old wineskins. Just as new cloth shrinks, new wine also is not finished "changing" -- new wine is still fermenting. If new wine is put into "bottles," containers or wineskins of leather that have already been stretched and formed by old wine, the container itself may not be able to handle the fermentation of the new wine. The old, brittle, inflexible wineskin would burst under the pressure of the carbon dioxide that is a bi-product of fermentation. The old wineskin had served its purpose. It was used, worn out and obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). Practical wisdom would dictate that new wine is put into new, elastic wineskins.

The minds and hearts of those who first heard this parable was like the old wine in old containers. They couldn't begin to comprehend new wine any more than they humanly could contain or accommodate it. What Jesus taught was so new and revolutionary it would "stretch" the minds of those whose religion was old wine -- eventually, of course, the new wine of the gospel would blow their minds. There was trouble "brewing" just as much as new wine brewed spelled trouble for an old wineskin – and of course, in the end they killed Jesus, as the new wine of the gospel overflowed and spilled over all their acceptable religious boundaries.

You ask, with reference to verse 39, why Jesus commented that that people would say "the old is better."

As any wine connoisseur knows, the older the wine, the better the wine (within certain limitations, depending on the kind of grape and the quality of the harvest in a particular year and location). Once you have tasted a high quality, well-aged wine, a younger, "new" wine would seem unpalatable -- so you would not even want to try the new wine (one notable exception, of course, was in John 2, when Jesus' miraculous new wine was judged to be far better than the old wine being served at a wedding).

Jesus turns this common knowledge into a spiritual lesson, making the point that we humans resist change, that we prefer the status quo. We like to eat the same food for breakfast every day – we often prefer the same dish at our favorite restaurant. As my wife and family will tell you, I'm a perfect example. When I discover what I like to eat, I stick with it! We do not like change. We like what we are accustomed to. When it comes to religion and religious forms of "worship," we much prefer what "we have always done" – and resist any innovation, because we think tradition is better. But Jesus was not about perpetuating ritualistic fasts, rules, regulations and rote prayers of the religious regime of that day. It was evident and disturbing to the Pharisees and teachers of the law that Jesus and his disciples were ushering in something new. And just as with Jesus' first miracle, the "new wine" of the new covenant that Jesus offers would be infinitely superior to the old covenant -- or to any religion.