Jesus' Destructive Gospel

A rebuke hidden in the margins of Luke's gospel

Oct 17, 2023

Hi friends,

You may have subscribed because I several upcoming topics on Instagram, including the Voice, Israel/Palestine and Jordan Peterson. I’ve written a short piece on the first two of those topics, but I’m exploring the possibility of having it published elsewhere (then sharing it here). If that doesn’t work out in the next few days, I’ll publish it here directly. In the meantime, here’s a short reflection on an easily-missed rebuke from the man whose cultural influence and importance dwarfs all others’.

On its face, it’s not a bad question.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect said to Jesus, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” (Luke 5:33)

John the Baptist’s ministry clearly linked to and anticipated the ministry of Jesus, and my impression is that the religious elites considered themselves experts on ‘spiritual discipline’, although perhaps with an emphasis more on discipline than Spiritual. So why do Jesus’ disciples, unlike these others, go on eating and drinking?

It is perhaps telling that the disparity these authorities pose to Jesus is not, in fact, a question, but a statement.1 Is this just another scheme intended to discredit him?

Jesus answers them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.” (Luke 5:34-35)

Interestingly, John the Baptist has already taken up this (Old Testament) image of marriage in relation to Jesus’ ministry, saying, “The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.” (John 3:29)

The ministry of Jesus was like a wedding – a time for joy and intimacy, not fasting. But Jesus foresaw that he would be dragged out of his wedding, and in those days his companions would rightly fast.2 When asked what shapes the practice of his disciples, Jesus unhesitatingly points to himself; his own presence defines this period of redemptive history.

“No one pours new wine into old wineskins.”

Now we arrive, having taken the scenic route, at an inconspicuous saying of Jesus, present only in Luke’s account.

Jesus tells this parable:

“No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.” (Luke 5:36-28)

Perhaps naively, I always saw this as a relatively straightforward parable, once it has been explained.

When asked what shapes the practice of his disciples, Jesus unhesitatingly points to himself.

Just as no one would mend a torn cloth by tearing a piece out of an unused one, no one would pour new wine into old wineskins, because they are already brittle, unable to endure the expansion of fermenting wine. Again, both are ruined, as the new wine runs out and the skin is destroyed.

Jesus separates himself from the tradition of the Pharisees and even of John’s disciples, presenting himself as the centrepiece of a new era: the era of the Kingdom of God.3 Yes, the old needs repair, but trying to mend it with a piece of the new will not do; it will only render both incomplete. What Jesus brings is a new approach, qualitatively different from the old and irreconcilable with contemporary religious traditions.4

As Darrell Bock puts it, ‘The point is simply that the gospel cannot be contained within Judaism without destroying both.”5

The Pharisees, like this woman, have no taste for new wine; and, unlike this woman, who seems to have drunk four bottles anyway, they reject the coming Kingdom of God.

Jesus concludes, “No one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better’.” (Luke 5:39)

This saying, absent from the accounts of Matthew and Mark, is potent as a simple aphorism, with wide-reaching implications for discipleship.

For instance, pretend for a moment that we could separate eight billion people neatly in half according to one binary characteristic. If you are more conservative in temperament and outlook, you might consider this a rebuke: Don’t be like the Pharisees, whom Jesus rejects as unwilling even to try the new wine, convinced that the old is better. We might say they have no taste for Jesus, nor for the Kingdom of God.

Of course, if you are more progressive in temperament and outlook, there are plenty of biblical warnings too about the danger of transgressing – a favourite pastime of some (some!) progressives – the Lord’s instructions.

But when we take this saying in its context, it caps Jesus’ emphatic assertion that he comes to inaugurate a new era: bringing a new, authoritative teaching; pouring out a new, hard-won covenant; giving a new, love-centred command; releasing us to serve in a new, Spiritual way; creating in himself a new, united humanity; and – lest I go on and on – inviting us into a new, resurrected life.6

Praise God, who is making all things new in Jesus.

What saying of Jesus do you find most challenging?

Jesus' Destructive Gospel

A rebuke hidden in the margins of Luke's gospel

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