I have often heard that I had to get ready to receive the new wine and that the new thing God is doing is better. The first miracle of turning water into wine can be used to teach that people must be ready to receive something new, but this is not exactly what Jesus was saying to his disciples. Over and over Jesus was confronting the religion of his time over the fact that they were giving more emphasis to their traditions instead of staying loyal to the original teaching. If you understand the context of what was going on you will see that during the Second Temple period, there was a lot of zealous adherence to the current teachings while excluding many people that were not following those teachings. Jesus came relating to the people who were not accepted by the religion of his time, the publicans, the sinners, and the people who did not fit in “church.” In today’s terminology, Jesus came for the church and the churchless.
“Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:1–3)
The old wine refers to the ancient faith and practices of the Jewish people. Then the question of fasting is related more to these additional fast days, which were called by John the Baptist and the Pharisees, and certainly not to the recognized fasts of the Jewish holy days, which would be observed by everyone. New fast days were used sometimes for encouraging members of a particular religious order to express their identification with their movement. These new fasts were being called in addition to the accepted practice. The new fasts may be compared to new wine while the old wine is closer to the accepted practices of the ancient faith. For genuine spiritual renewal, according to Jesus, the people must return to the best of the old wine.
The purpose of Jesus was to revitalize the people spiritually by a revival through the old wine. He did not teach that Judaism should be abolished. Rather he compared the Judaism of his day to an old garment which needs mending or to old wineskins. Jesus was saying that the spiritual condition was not ideal. But certainly he did not desire to put away the noble traditions of the ancient faith. On the contrary, when he says that the old wine is better, he is upholding the finest contributions of ancient Judaism and seeking wholehearted reform from within. The old wine is the Judaism of his time. It is best.
Jesus wanted people to revitalize their faith in God. New fast days may not be the best way to pursue the path leading back to the old wine. He wanted to see fresh wineskins for old wine. The truth and grace of the ancient faith must be renewed for all the people. Men and women must embrace the ancient faith with their whole hearts and receive God’s salvation.[1]
This is a classic example of what religion does, it judges and excludes people who do not conform to their tradition, and a lot of times their tradition becomes more important than the real commandment, the Word of God. The Word became flesh in Jesus Christ to give us a proper way to understand the way that God thinks. He came to include everyone, all the church and the churchless. He did not come to abolish the previous teaching, the Torah, but he came to open the way for a real application of that teaching, a way to relate to God as a Father.
1 – Brad H. Young, Jesus the Jewish Theologian (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011), 156–157.