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BURIED TREASURE: Exploring The Parables Of Jesus

by J. W. Jepson, D.Min.

Copyright © 1997 by J. W. Jepson

All rights reserved, including the right to grant the following permission and to prohibit the misuse thereof:

The Author hereby grants permission to reproduce the text of this article, without changes or alterations*, as a ministry, but not for commercial or non-ministry purposes.

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1.

NEW GARMENTS AND NEW WINE

And they said unto him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?"

And he said unto them, "Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days."

And he spake also a parable unto them; "No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.

"And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, 'The old is better'."

--Luke 5:33-39

NEW GARMENTS AND NEW WINE

In one corner of the living room sits an old, vinyl-covered recliner. When it was new, the cover was soft and pliable. But over the years the headrest has turned hard and stiff from the oil in people's hair. Before long the vinyl is going to crack, and the chair will have to be re-covered.

Religion tends to be like that, too. What starts out as a dynamic relationship with God can easily deteriorate into a rigid form.

Why? Because a living relationship with God demands active heart involvement. But as heart involvement diminishes, there is less and less reality and more and more mechanical form. When heart involvement ceases, all that is left are the familiar forms--the ways people used to act from the heart, but now act only out of habit or tradition. They cling tenaciously to the forms because that is all they have left. There are too many sentiments associated with the forms for people to discard them. Letting go of the forms would seem like abandoning the values that they once signified. That would leave them with nothing.

So they remain attached to the comforting, reassuring forms. The motions are so routine that they can be performed almost mechanically, requiring little thought or effort and no heart involvement.

Some years ago, after attending a particular church service, someone remarked to a visitor, "These people have been worshiping off of page two for years." One wonders what would happen if someone were to slip into the church building some Saturday night and clip page two out of all the hymnals! Probably nothing. It could all be done easily from memory without missing a beat!

That happened to Israel. Look at the nation's beginnings. Miracles in Egypt. Awesome phenomena at Sinai. Heaven-sent bread in the wilderness. Providential victories in battle. The dynamics of a living faith shaped every aspect of life. But when the Messiah came on the scene many centuries later, what did He find? Only forms--mindless, meaningless, oppressive forms.

One day Matthew, a tax collector, decided to have a banquet in Jesus' honor. The Master had just invaded Matthew's meaningless, mediocre existence and had vitalized it with His summons, "Follow Me."

So what if the religious tradition that had suffocated Matthew all his life decreed that this was a "fast day." He had met the Master and now his life had a new agenda. This new life in Christ was something to celebrate!

We pick up the account in all three of the synoptic gospels (Matthew 9:14-17; Mark 2:18-22; Luke 5:33-39). We are generally following Luke's narrative.

Many other tax collectors and sinners attended the banquet that day. The tax collectors worked for the Roman government (and, of course, for themselves) and were despised by the people. Right away Jesus and His disciples were confronted by the scribes and Pharisees, who were habitually complaining about Jesus saving and healing people and making them happy.

"Why are you eating with these people?" they demanded. Jesus answered, "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Then the disciples of John the Baptist joined in the chorus of questions: "Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?" (Matthew 9:14).

The Lord let them know that this was a time of celebration. He, the Bridegroom, was there! The disciples of John should have known this from what John had said to them earlier (see John 3:29).

Then the Lord gave the twin parables about putting a new patch on an old garment and putting new wine in old wineskins.

The religious system of the day had substituted the repressive and spiritually irrelevant traditions of men for the wholesome commandments of God. Righteousness was defined as obedience to external rules rather than love for God and for others. Justice, mercy and the love of God mattered not: but be sure to strain out that gnat!

Such is the sad state of affairs when morality--that is, genuine heart-love for God and for others--is divorced from religion. Both morality and religion die. All that is left is cold legalism. Whenever people see no vital relationship between their religion and their lifestyle, religion for them has become an empty form.

Jesus would not compromise with a religious show, a mockery that had divorced itself from moral reality. Human systems have always tried to force Jesus into their mold. But the Lord refuses to play their games.

So, if we are going to get to Heaven, we cannot play games here. We must face the moral imperatives of the gospel. In other words, we must stop playing church. We must repent. We must change our heart and our ways. We must come to Jesus Christ, trust Him as our Savior and follow Him, as the Lord of all of life.

Now who in their right mind would cut a hole in a brand new suit of clothes just to get a patch to sew on an old dress or pair of pants? Besides, in those days new cloth was not pre-shrunk. As the new cloth shrank, it would tear the old garment.

And who would put new wine in old wineskins? Imagine a typical house in Judea or Galilee with old smoke-hardened wineskins hanging on the wall in the kitchen area. Suppose that someone absentmindedly poured some new wine into one of the brittle old skins. As the wineskins hang near the warm fire, things start happening inside. The family goes to bed and for a while all is quiet. Then suddenly, about 3:00 am,--"ka--pow!"--and there is new wine everywhere! On the wall hangs the forlorn remains of the ruined old wineskin.

New wine can really cause a commotion if we try to force it into old wineskins. Old forms cannot hold a new, dynamic faith. The new wine will tear the old, rigid, man-made systems apart! Some people are so self-satisfied in their present spiritual state that they refuse to change. They are like an old gentleman who lived in Rainier, Oregon, many years ago. When urged to receive Christ into his heart, he retorted, "I have all the religion I want." Poor man. The old, empty traditions were all he desired. The new birth means change--radical change. And some people would rather die than change.

Now, God does not want to break all the old religious wineskins that are still hanging around. Some of them still have some good, orthodox "wine" left in them. It is all that some dear people have to sustain their Christian faith. If some of God's "frozen chosen" are too rigid to respond to a genuine revival, let them be. Let us not break their wineskins. On the other hand, when the issue is saving truth versus soul-subverting error, let us not attempt to patch up the old, apostate systems with pieces of truth from the new garment. Off with the old rags! On with the complete, new robe!

Put the new wine into new wineskins. Adopt modes of spiritual life and expression that are compatible with the new life in Christ and responsive to the dynamic of the Holy Spirit.

In a sense the epistle to the Hebrews can be regarded as a commentary on these two parables of our Lord. In Christ we have a better covenant, a better sacrifice, a better sanctuary, better promises and a better hope. We have a new and living way. It is a new life, a new wine that breaks to "smithereens" the old, inflexible wineskins of formalism and legalism.

So instead of patching up the old garment, let us put on the new. Let us put the new wine only into wineskins that can handle it. Jesus said,

"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

--John 4:23,24

The Father is looking for people who will put on the new garment of righteousness and holiness and imbibe the new wine of the Spirit and truth. He invites you to be among the blessed. Life in the Spirit is yours as the gift of divine grace. It is yours in Christ Jesus by faith.

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2. Nothing To Pay

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