Mark 2:18-23
Jesus’ new teaching would not fit into the old religious paradigms that had been observed for centuries. Jewish tradition earmarked several times and seasons to fast for the promised rescue of Israel and for the coming Messiah. But here Jesus is telling his accusers something amazing. The Messiah has come. The Bridegroom is here and now is the time for joy and feasting, not for mourning and fasting. In just a few sentences Jesus is revealing the promise of the whole Law in one simple parable: the One you’ve fasted for is now among you, and when he is taken away, it will then be time to fast and mourn.
The clichés about traditions and old habits are true. They hard to break and let go. New wine needs a new wineskin in order for it to be able to expand with the active fermentation that young wine undergoes. New wine poured into aged, hard wineskins will eventually breakthrough the already weakened walls of the skins. But new wineskins are strong and are able to stretch along with the new wine.
The heart and mind that is committed to the old paradigm and traditions will never voluntarily leave them, and they will never be able to hold a radically new teaching that threatens the old. With Jesus’ message came the threat to the old paradigm and for the hearts that clung tightly too it, the Gospel was simply too fantastic. It was too explosive as its truths forced their way through the hard old cracks and burst through.
In the same way as the skins, no one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth over an old coat. When washed the new cloth will shrink and leave the damaged area worse than before. In the same way, Jesus explains that his teaching will only make the hard heart even harder and leave it more damaged. This is why it takes a new, revitalized heart to hold and embrace the Gospel.
With the coming of Jesus, the Old Covenant gave way to the new. The Old symbolized and promised, the New revealed and fulfilled. And now that the New had come with Jesus, the Reality of the symbols and the promises of the Old, the religious professional’s entire world was threatened. The old caterpillar had morphed into a new, glorious butterfly. Its metamorphosis came in the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all this terrified the Pharisees and Sadducees.
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