Luke 5:36-39 36And he was telling a parable to them: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. But if he does, he will also tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. But if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be destroyed. 38But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
The second story Jesus gave in response to the criticism of the Pharisees and scribes was in the form of a short parable. This is the first account of Jesus telling a parable by Luke. A parable is a story that has one or more points. Often, the message of a parable is associated with the characters in the story or the action they do. Jesus gives two short parables that have the same message of putting the old on the new.
Unlike modern life, in the first century, every piece of clothing was laboriously made. Certain cloth material will shrink when washed. Patching an old garment with new cloth could lead to the new piece tearing away from the old. It will ruin the whole patch job and make the garment look bad. The keyword in verses 36-38 is new (), which occurs seven times.
The other story makes the same point. Wineskins were made of animal hides. Time and exposure to the wine causes such storage containers to harden and shrink over time. The new leather is pliable and soft. Patching the old skin with the new skin will result in the same situation as the cloth. The two pieces of leather would be incompatible, resulting in the wineskin bursting and everything getting ruined. Verse 39 adds the incentive for using new wineskins and letting the wine ferment until it is good. It is not that the old ways are all bad, but how the Pharisees and scribes were doing the fasting was the problem. Jesus talked about that at another point (Matthew 6:18). Acknowledging the new would lead to new spiritual breakthroughs in time.
The Pharisees and scribes were attempting to impose their old ways on the new life that people were experiencing through their faith in Jesus. Their legalistic interpretation could ruin all that was being done in the lives of these people. Jesus was bringing a new kingdom, new way of life, and new system of religion. Trying to put this new kingdom with the old legalistic practices of the Pharisees would be counterproductive and only lead to spiritual discouragement and defeat. Jesus can make everything new.
Legalism can be a killer of new faith. People will come to know the way of the truth when they meet the One who is the Truth. New life does not mean a person can do as he or she wants. Jesus called for repentance and people to turn away from their old lives. To follow the call of Jesus requires leaving the old and following the new.
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