As a theological student, i could supplement my lecture slides with some of the recommended texts. But as ordinary Christians, most of them can only have direct access to their bible, or at most a study bible. Reference materials like biblical commentaries, concordances, dictionary and Christian literature are rare commodities, biased towards those who can afford the money, time and interests. As a result, many Christians obtain their spiritual inputs from the Sunday's pulpit or weekly cell group (if any).
2006 had been a fruitful year for me, especially so with the many essays which i had produced. I must confess that these articles were presented in an unpolished form and may raised many controversial issues, which can be easily resolved with a much detailed research. Nonetheless, like what most bible scholars described the Apostle Paul as a Theologizer, i am still gabbling with the profound Word of God too, establishing known Christian Theology and venturing into unfamiliar grounds in a process called theologizing. In due time and according to the grace given to me by the Almighty God, i hope to be able to pen down volumes of concrete Christian Theology, in particular, the evolution of God's intervention into the history of human race in the 21th Century. Pray along with me, will you?
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"And no one pours new wine into old wineskin. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskin will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskin." ~Mark2:22
Have you ever tried pouring boiling hot water into a non-thermal plastic flask? If you have not, then well and good, try to refrain from doing so at any cost! Not every container can hold boiling hot water, some would melt, pollute the water and destroy the container. This is just an illustration for us to appreciate the saying of Jesus above.
According to David[1],
"A wineskin would expand under the pressure of fermentation, so if you put new, non-fermented wine in an old, brittle wineskin, it was sure to burst."
There are two issues being mentioned here - the new wine and the old wineskin. In our resolution, do we change the new wine back to the old wine or do we change the old wineskin into a new wineskin? One thing is certain, new wineskin can hold both the old and new wine because of its durability, but not for the older one. That provides us with a good clue to which aspect of the saying is more important and that is where we should focus our attention.
Around 2000 years ago, the Jewish community in Jesus' time saw him as a Rabbi (or teacher) who was introducing something new and revolutionary to their Jewish religious traditions (now known as Judaism). Most of them, especially the teachers of the Laws and the Pharisees, could not accept Jesus' teachings. The contemporary interpretation of the Torah (The Laws of Moses) by Jesus was regarded as blasphemy by the Jewish religious leaders and hence rejected without further clarification. Seemingly, Jesus was subsequently labeled as a dangerous rebel who had instigated people to go against the Jewish religious practices at that times. It may not be too surprising if some had also likened him to a new wine, resulting in the "drunkenness" of the Jewish people who had followed him.
Earlier we have established that the old wineskin must be changed in order for both the new and old wine to be poured into them. Without a constant renewal, the old wineskin is subjected to constant wear and tear, resulting in a more rugged state. The eventual stage is where there is no choice but to throw it away because it has lost the primary purpose of holding wine. We can compare this phenomenon to the regular exterior painting of our house, where the primary objective is not merely to brighten up the colors but also to strengthen the weather resistance capability of the house. In fact, many things around us are evolving and constantly changing to avoid getting retired by the society. Some examples include the design of aircrafts, ships, television programmes, advertisements, movie plots, electronics and the list goes on and on.
In deeper examination, there are dual roles in the above saying of Jesus. The first is to introduce us to new wine and the second is to change the old wineskin which we have so that we can hold the new wine. For Christians, we have already taken a sip of the new wine. But if we merely accept the new wine without changing our old wineskin, then we may find ourselves getting stuck in many of the controversial theological issues without any valid resolution. Supposedly, if we only change our old wineskin without taking in more new wine, then we would always find our wineskin half-full because the old wine is unable to completely fill up the wineskin. In the process of changing the old wineskin, we must also be taking in new wine so that the new wineskin can be fully utilized. The converse applies too.
By now, some would have guessed correctly that the wineskin actually referred to our mindsets. According to social behavioral theories, one's actions or behaviors are pretty much influenced or driven by our attitudes and cognition, that is, the ways in which we think or look at things. Therefore, when Jesus asked his disciples to change their old wineskin, he was actually asking them to change their old perception (way of looking and interpreting things) and mindsets. For Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit is coming and will teach them all things[2]. The "all" here implies that there are things not revealed yet but will be shown fully when the Holy Spirit comes. That explains why the disciples were so disheartened over the death of Jesus. They were still having their old wineskin which is unable to hold the new wine, that is, the reality of Jesus' death. Only after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the many post-resurrection teachings by Jesus and the filling of the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost did they finally change their old wineskin into a new one. But even then, the old wineskin of salvation to the Gentiles was not yet changed. The Jewish Christians still refused to acknowledge the salvation to the Gentiles. It was until the time of Apostle Paul's missions when this old wineskin was finally changed into a new one. Therefore, we can see that the changing of the old wineskin is a continuous process, ceasing only when we reach perfection in Christ.
The immediate application is for us to ask ourselves what is the old wineskin which we need to change. We can also reflect whether we have taken a new sip of the new wine from Jesus recently. If not, could it be the right time for us to renew our old wineskin? Or are we too comfortable with the current one and refused to bulge, even when the Holy Spirit is actively prompting us? Perhaps it is also high time for us to wake up from our slumber and move on. The new wine which Jesus gives does not lead us into drunkenness. In fact, it cures us of the negative effects of the worldly wine as it is said:
"For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'" ~Mark 7:21-22
and also:
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — His good, pleasing and perfect will." ~Rom 12:2
Therefore, let us rid ourselves of the old wineskin and obtain new ones from our gracious heavenly Father. Then we would be able to take in the new wine of Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit. By assimilating in this way, we can truly be regarded as legitimate branches of the true vine[3], producing quality grapes used for making new wine of Christ, to where Christ is proclaimed!
References
1. Blue Letter Bible, http://blueletterbible.org/Comm/david_g
2. John 14:26
3. John 15:1-8
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