New wineskins for new wine

SCRIPTURE:

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” Mark 2:18-22

OBSERVATION:

“Why do your disciples not fast?” the people asked Jesus, curious as to why His disciples did not fast while John’s disciples and the Pharisees did so. The Lord then gave a most intriguing answer, poignant with meaning yet also difficult in comprehension.

Firstly, the Lord likened the situation of His presence with His disciples as a bridegroom being with wedding guests. The time was unsuitable to fast while He was with them. The imagery of the bridegroom reminds us of the coming great Marriage in Heaven between Christ as the Bridegroom and the united true Church as the Bride. We who are in Christ are destined to be part of the Bridal Church when He returns.

Thereafter, the Lord said that the bridegroom would be taken away from the guests, prophesying of His coming death, and it was then only that his disciples would fast. This again is a reminder that as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to practice the discipline of fasting. There is no hard and fast rule as to when or how much we are to fast, but in general, fasting is an expected part of our Christian walk with the Lord.

Then, the Lord makes two astonishing comparisons about an unshrunk cloth on an old garment and new wine in old wineskins. Both are incompatible and will only cause damage and spoilage. What is the Lord saying here?

Basically, the lesson is one and the same. What is old is incompatible with what is new. An old garment cannot take in new cloth and an old wineskin cannot take it new wine. When Jesus came, He established the new covenant which required the Jews to leave the old and embrace the new. They could not remain in their old ways yet embrace the new way of faith and living that Jesus brought.

The new covenant is based on grace, while the old covenant which was based on works and law. We need to move completely from old to new, and become new creations in the Lord.

That’s why, we have the term born again, which speaks of being reborn new to new life in Jesus Christ. In another sense, our old selves are synonymous with the old wineskins, with its passions and desires for worldly thinks. We need to move away from that, and put on our new selves in Christ Jesus, with its mind set on heavenly things.

 What does all this have to do with fasting? The purpose of the fasting of John’s disciples and the Pharisees had to do with works, human effort with the intention of attaining some measure of holiness. However, the Lord’s disciples would fast later for a different reason. The decision to fast or not was not dependent on tradition or religiosity, but solely on relationship, more specifically relationship with their Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus was with them, it was not time to fast but to fellowship with Him and enjoy His presence. When Jesus was taken away, His disciples would fast, but not out of religiosity but genuine mourning because they missed Jesus.

Today, our purpose for fasting again is not based on religiosity or to gain brownie points with God. Our purpose in fasting again is relationship to draw closer to God, to our Lord Jesus, to know Him deeper, to understand His will better and we do so according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. This is all part of the new covenant where we live not by works but by faith and seek relationship instead of religion.

APPLICATION:

Whatever the disciples did, whether to fast or feast, to mourn or be joyful was dependent on the Lord Jesus. Everything they did was to revolve around the Lord. We need to learn to direct our lives to do the same, to revolve around our Lord Jesus Christ and seek to please Him as we are led by the Holy Spirit. Desire to set apart times of fasting to seek to know the Lord better. Ask Him to pour forth His new wine into us, and give us a new heart and a new mind that is being renewed day by day.

PRAYER:

Lord Jesus, blessed be Your precious name. You hold all things in Heaven above and Earth below. All things were created for You and by You. Teach us to fast we pray. Give us the wisdom and discipline to know when to fast and how to fast. Help us draw closer to You even as we fast, and fulfill our desire to know You deeper and to understand Your will. Fill us more and more with new wine we pray, and create a new renewed heart within us. May Your name be praised forever, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen