This whole story sounds to me like, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Jesus brought with him a new way of looking at things, and this new way of thinking was difficult for some to see/hear/think. The Pharisees were used to the way things were, and didn’t desire any significant changes. But the only way to move into a new world is by reimagining and reinventing the old ways.

I happen to be one of those people that looks forward to new things – new ideas, new ways of thinking and seeing the world, new experiences. But truthfully, I like these things on my own terms. I don’t want to be surprised by or forced to face a new thing. Still, trying to keep things the way they’ve always been is extremely unhealthy, and impossible. We were created pliable so we might be able to weather the storms of what is new and different.  

Text:

Then they said to him, “John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink. Jesus said to them, “You cannot make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.’”