New Wine and Jesus’ Promise to Make All Things New
March 1, 2024 | By Valerie Hu Cornell ‘24
image description: wine corks lumped together in a heap
“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.’
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.’
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.’” [1]
Shortly before winter break, I discovered a rip in my favorite pair of jeans. Inspired by my friend who studies fashion design, I turned to WikiHow and Youtube and became determined to prolong the life of these pants. I learned more about textiles and sewing than I ever thought I would—what type of patch to use, where to line up the grain of the patch with that of the original fabric, and how to sew in a zig-zag that would prevent the denim from ripping further. Sadly, the ending to my story is anticlimactic. After hours of labor, I broke the tip of the needle and got it stuck in the fabric of the jeans.
Perhaps I should have heeded Jesus’ wisdom on mending clothing before my failed attempt.
“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.”
Certainly, I would not cut up newly purchased jeans to fix the pair that had a rip. Advice well taken.
However, what Jesus says next is more elusive.
“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.”
In Jesus’ time, people used bags made of animal skins to store wine. New wine expands as it ferments. When you pour new wine into an old wineskin, whose fabric has been stretched and weakened from repeated use (not unlike my old favorite jeans), the bag tears and the wine spills, resulting in wasted wine and a huge mess.
But Jesus, ever the clever and enigmatic storyteller, isn’t primarily concerned with clothing repair or beverage storage. He’s revealing a much more important contrast between the old and the new. The old covenant was a promise between God and His people that included religious laws and standards for holiness that were impossible for any human to uphold. Now, Jesus establishes a new covenant—through His death and resurrection that paid off the debt we accrued for our sins, we are now “not under the law, but under grace.” [2]
What does it mean that we are under grace? It is not only a settling of accounts for all the ways we fall short of God’s goodness and perfection, but also a promise of renewal and transformation.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” [3]
This promise ascribes a beautiful new identity to us. Jesus is the new covenant, and He has come. If we are in Christ, we are a New Creation. We can “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
It struck me that we put on the new self, like we put on clothing. Jesus bought us new clothes—robes of true righteousness—and gave them to us for free. The new garments and new wineskins in Jesus’ parable parallel our new identity in Christ. Jesus sacrificed his life, spilling his blood for our sake. His blood is the new wine; it is the symbol of the new covenant, and it is what makes us a new creation. The old self is put away, and the old wineskins set aside, because
new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
Jesus is making all things new. [5] Our transformation into new wineskins is part of God’s redemption of all of creation and it makes us capable of being filled with new wine—the life of Christ, the love of God our Father, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus pours His life into us and enables us to serve Him “in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way.” [6]
Lord, help us to live in the new way of the Spirit. You have redeemed us and made us a new creation in Christ. Fill us with your Spirit and teach us each day what you are calling us to do. Keep our eyes fixed on the beauty of a creation that is being made new and of your kingdom that will be fully realized and completed in the new heaven and the new earth.
References:
[1] Luke 5:33-38
[2] Romans 6:14
[3] 2 Corinthians 5:17
[4] Ephesians 4:24
[5] Revelation 21:5
[6] Romans 7:6