SEWING AND WINESKINS
MATTHEW 9: 16; MARK 2:21; AND LUKE 5: 36
MATTHEW 9:1-17 & MARK 2:21 ARE SAME…
V16 & 17 “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. Neither
do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will
burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they
pour new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Context:
In His (Jesus’) hometown, He healed a paralyzed man; then He went from
there and called Matthew (Levi), a tax collector, to be His disciple. Matt
invited Jesus to his home for dinner. The Pharisees went ballistic!
v16 “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…”
New/unshrunk patch = the Kingdom of God
Jesus was teaching –fulfillment of the Law and
prophesies –changes necessary
Old garment = their current practices –the
Pharisees and their practices represented the
old
V17 “Neither do people pour new
wine into old wineskins. If they do, the
skins will burst; the wine will run out
and the wineskins will be ruined. No,
they pour the new wine into new
wineskins, and both are preserved.”
The freshly crushed grapes will
ferment and gases will blow-up the
container (skin)
JESUS’ APPLICATION:
•Old wine and wineskins = in process of making the wine, the grapes
ferment, the skins were at first flexible –pliable and expands as the gas
increases, the skin after time, becomes unable to expand more.
•The old wine is tasty, preferred, mellow and pleasant…
•Jesus compared the old wine with the traditions practiced by the
religious leaders –the Pharisees watching Jesus having dinner with Levi
and Levi’s friends – other tax collectors, blew their minds!
•The beauty of the Word of God (Laws of Moses, Words of the Prophets,
and the Poetic Writings) was at one time fulfilling to the believer;
however, it had become mellow, profane – common, and inflexible…