This parable was a little puzzling to me, so I went and got some help on this one. Not only did I find what I was looking for, but also a great series of commentaries on the New Testament. You can find the book here.
Just to set the scene for this passage, the Pharises and the teachers of the law saw Jesus and his disciples eating and drinking and having a good time. They thought that the disciples were too cheerful. They were surprised that they were not fasting. Here is the passage and his answer:
33They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking." 34Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast." 36He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' "He tells them that, while in his company, the disciples are very happy, so why practice a mournful ritual of worship. He already hints at the day when he will not be with them... in those days, they will fast. Verse 36 gets into the less strait-forward explanation. He uses the illustration of patching torn clothes. You would not tear a new garment, to fix the old garment...it just not make sense and they would not match. And then he talks about wineskins. Wineskins were made from the skin of animals to hold liquids. When they are new, they are flexible and able to expand. As they age, they get tight and can burst if you try to expand them. New wine must be put into new wineskins. He is using both analogies to make this point: He is not just patching up Judaism, but rather teaching something radically new. If he tries to explain his teaching in the constraints of the "old wineskin" of Judaism (practices like fasting), the result would be disastrous. This is totally new. He realized that his teachings may not be palatable to some: those who prefer the old wine would not enjoy the new wine. To them the old wine is better. You have to remember how much of a radical Jesus actually was (in a good way of course). His teachings were not immediately accepted and many did not get it. I have to admit that I had read this parable before and just did not understand it. I am really glad that I found the Tyndale New Testament Commentaries and figured this one out. I am constantly amazed at the depth of the teachings in the bible. I can see how you can read it over and over again and learn something new each time.
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