* PARABLE OF THE NEW CLOTH ON AN OLD COAT
* PARABLE OF THE NEW WINE IN OLD WINESKINS
Bible Memory Verse:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17
* PARABLE OF THE NEW CLOTH ON AN OLD COAT
Matthew 9:16
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.”
Mark 2:21
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.”
Luke 5:36
“He told them this parable: ‘No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.”
* PARABLE OF THE NEW WINE IN OLD WINESKINS
Matthew 9:17
“Neither do men pour new wine in old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Mark 2:22
“And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.”
Luke 5:37-39
“No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. (38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. (39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, “The old is better.’”
1. Matthew 23 shows Jesus’ judgment on people who claimed to be religious but are not. Why do you think the rejection of the gospel by religious leaders was so harmful?
2. Why is it so dangerous to mix legalism and true Christianity?
3. Why do you think it is difficult for some people to accept anything new?
4. Can you honestly say that you have a “newness-of-life” experience with Jesus Christ?
5. If the old refers to the Law rather than to legalism, what advantage would someone have who knew the Law well before accepting the grace of Jesus?
“The Jews did not have pre-shrunk cloth for their clothing, and they frequently kept their liquids in skins. If a woman sewed a patch on a garment that had already been washed, the next time it was washed the patch would shrink and ruin both the patch and the garment. If new wine was poured into dry, brittle skins the pressure of the gas from the fermentation would break the skin and the wine would be lost…Jesus…does not reject either the old or the new: He transforms the old so it is fulfilled in the new. ‘Think now that I am come to destroy the Law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17 Meet Yourself in the Parables by Warren W. Wiersbe
“…This parable illustrates the incompatibility of the old with the new. And when Jesus uses the illustration of the unfinished cloth being used as a patch for an old garment, He’s implying that something new, yet unfinished, is not compatible with something old, which has been damaged or torn. The new, unfinished cloth is His message of the Kingdom; the old, torn garment is the present condition of Judaism. The New Covenant is not yet fully revealed, so it is not completely understood. The Old Covenant (the Law and the Prophets) has been damaged, torn and rendered useless by the religious whims of men, determined to follow their flesh, rejecting God’s righteousness and devising means to produce their own self-righteousness…
Jesus tells us that if the two were joined, the damage would become worse than ever. What you see, among other things, in the Book of Acts is those Jewish Apostles struggling to understand the revelation of God as they move away from Judaism (the old garment torn by the wrong, religious influences of men). Then, when you begin to read Paul’s letters, you see his struggle to keep the tear from getting worse as the Judaizers infiltrate the fellowships trying to patch the old and the new together…The parable of the new wineskins follows…Here, Jesus incorporates the prevailing knowledge of winemaking in this culture to illustrate yet another point regarding the incompatibility of the old Jewish religious system with the new message of the kingdom, but with a different twist. This difference is discovered in the process of making wine. If you believe the KJV (and most subsequent translations), you would assume that every year new wineskins (leather bottles) had to be produced, because new wine could only be put into new wineskins. Such was never the case. Old wineskins when emptied were saved for the next year. Over the course of time they became dry and brittle. But they were easily "reconditioned" by soaking them in water for a few days. Then, when they softened, they were coated with olive oil and were ready to use again. Now the bottles were able to stretch, accommodating the expansion of gases that were a result of the fermentation process.
The illustration is obvious. The old is still incompatible with the new. However, in this case, Jesus makes it clear that the new message can only be successfully deposited in the old heart that has been reconditioned and is soft, pliable and ready to extend itself to new limits as the revelation of the kingdom continues to grow. The new message of the kingdom is going to experience expansion and change as it distances itself from the old dried out, inflexible Jewish system. And those who receive it must be ready and able to withstand the pressures caused by the agitation and violence of that process. The new wine would destroy those trapped in their rigid, religious ways. And to them, the new message it pictures would be lost to them forever…
I want to go to Luke 5:39 and show you something not recorded in Matthew or Mark. This is what it says. "And no one after drinking old wine, right away asks for the new, for he says, the old is better."…Here Jesus contrasts the old Jewish system (old wine) to the message of the kingdom and the revelation that was to follow (new wine). He’s making a simple statement of fact. He’s not saying He agrees that the old is better; He’s saying that people think the old is better. He’s warning against the tendency in people to hold on to the old, resist change, over value the old or find false security in it. The word translated "old" is palaios, and is used to designate something whose time has past or that which has lost its usefulness or is worn out. The old Jewish system had lost its usefulness (this same word is used to describe the "old" garment in the first parable). At any rate, the old system had its time, but now its time was past. It had lost its usefulness and was being replaced with something better. It was worn out and the time had come for those who had ears to hear to begin asking for the new."