"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 wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

 

         In chapters 8 and 9, Matthew recounts a series of miracles showing the authority of Jesus. This list is interrupted by a criticism of Jesus' disciples, spoken by the disciples of John the Baptist. The followers of Jesus are criticized because they do not fast. This seems odd to me.

         To summarize, Jesus heals disease and casts out demons, with a response of faith. Then Jesus demonstrates authority over the wind and waves, forgives sin and heals a paralyzed man, with the reaction of fear and amazement. But some accused him of blasphemy. He then called a tax collector to become a disciple, and then had table fellowship with Matthew and his circle of sinful friends. This also raised an objection: "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

         Then comes the criticism about fasting, followed by the raising to life of a dead girl, the healing of a woman with a chronic and incurable condition and then giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, along with more casting out of evil spirits. That is met with both faith and also the accusation of some that Jesus works for the prince of demons.

         Why then, in the middle of all these amazing miracles, is there a question about the lack of fasting by Jesus' disciples? It seems trivial to me, in comparison with these mighty works of God. Why was fasting so important to the disciples of John? Why couldn't they focus their attention on the evidence of the Kingdom of God in their midst, people being healed, and also being restored to family and community? Why do people make such a big deal out of insignificant things?

         Perhaps a little sympathy for Jewish tradition is in order. Israel carried a long history of failure. For centuries they kept falling into idolatry, and into the immoral ways of the surrounding nations. Then, in the Exile, they learned to step away from the ways of the world. They learned holiness. They learned to be separate. And they have not returned to idolatry since.

         Today, the Christian Church faces a similar issue as families try to live in this culture and live for Christ. Young people especially get hit with an immoral lifestyle that is promoted through very persuasive technology and media. There is significant social pressure to conform to worldly behavior. And such a lifestyle comes with short-term rewards. So we constantly struggle to live in our world without falling into idolatry and immorality and injustice. I think we understand why the Jews came to develop and follow laws related to holiness and purity and dedication to God. We may not understand some of the particular rules. We are not sure why touching the body of a deceased person made one ritually unclean, or why eating dinner with a group of Gentiles would cause one to be impure. But we understand their desire to live a life that was pleasing to God.

         Three reform movements developed in Judaism. The Pharisees stressed a deep love for the law of God, and encouraged people to go beyond its requirements to a new level of devotion and practice. The disciples of John the Baptist adopted a simple life, even an ascetic life, to escape the corruption of the big city. Jesus and his disciples focused on the nearness of the Kingdom of God, and the experience of healing, forgiveness and return to community through faith.

         So Jesus sets aside fasting during his years of public ministry. He sets aside rules governing table fellowship, so that forgiveness might reach more people. He ministers with the authority of God so that his disciples can truly experience the life of the age to come. For Jesus, it is especially the forgiveness of sin that leads to celebration. When the Prodigal Son returns home, the Father throws a party. When the woman finds the lost coin she invites her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her. And it says that there is rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents.

         But the disciples are criticized for celebrating. You know how that feels, when someone more mature in the Lord or more spiritual than you are criticizes you for being overly exuberant or happy. Such criticism quickly withers the celebration. Serving God becomes suddenly very serious. I wonder if the disciples were stung by this criticism. I wonder if the joy went out of them for a time. Were they able to continue the celebration of life with Jesus, the bridegroom, for a time?

         But if the disciples did not fast while Jesus was with them, their life together was not a continual celebration either. Celebration is good for the soul when its focus is on the work of God, when the expression is pure. But celebration all the time can degenerate into an escape from responsibility, and inattention to the soul. It is like the joy of a sunny day that can turn to despair if the continual sunshine brings drought and fruitful land becomes a desert.

         So fasting, mourning and waiting are all good in their season. But when the groom is present, the joy of the wedding takes priority. In Jesus day, the wedding feast lasted many days, and the whole village was there, and people were fed. That was important, for their experience in much of the rest of the year was one of scarcity of food.

         How important it is for us to celebrate the presence of Jesus! But also, how important it is for us to learn how to long for his return, how to wait for seasons of renewal, how to pray, and how to weep and lament, because we know our citizenship is in heaven.

         That brings us to the wineskins. In the parables of the torn cloth and the split wineskins we learn that something is incompatible with new life in Jesus. But what is it exactly? R.T. France explains that leather is at first soft and pliable but later on becomes brittle with age, so that it is unable to stand the pressure of the last stage of fermentation of the wine that takes place in the skins. But the parable is not decoded for us, and he says "we can only speculate what sort of new religious structures Jesus had in mind as the appropriate context for the new wine of the Kingdom of Heaven."

         I thought "Confessions of an Old Wineskin" would be a good title for this sermon. I can tell in my body a progressing brittleness, a growing inflexibility of muscle and joint. I can feel in my mind the leather getting rigid. I know my spirit is less confident, that I have a narrower breadth of optimism than I used to, that not only am I keenly aware of what I can no longer do, everything that I do takes longer.

         What I have decided though, is that in this passage Jesus is not talking about youth vs. age. New wineskins are not young people and old wineskins older people. He is also not talking about forms of worship, contemporary vs. traditional. He is not talking about organizational structures: committees vs. ministry teams. He is not talking about our capacity to use and integrate new technology. That is not what he means by new and old wineskins.

         I think Jesus is talking about the soul. The soul does not age like your body, your knees or back getting stiff, your hair getting gray. The soul may be soft and pliable or it may be brittle and hard at any age.

        The question is whether your soul is ready to receive Jesus.

        Is your soul ready to accept his authority in your life?

        Is your soul able to trust in His Word?

        Is your soul willing to let Jesus heal you?

        Is your soul able to confess its diseases and sins?

        Will your soul welcome Jesus love and forgiveness?

        Is your soul eager to receive his joy?

        There are many things that can make your soul brittle: disappointment, unbelief, hard circumstances, loss or sorrow, sin.

        In repentance and turning to Jesus your soul becomes soft and new again.

        Lina Sandell wrote in her beautiful hymn "In the Springtime Fair but Mortal" these words,

"Though at every moment near you, is the Lord unheeded still?

For how long will he continue speaking to your shuttered will?

Open now, before the autumn sweeps the summer's flowers away:

open while the sun is shining – all too brief our earthly day!"

Amen.