New Wine Skins?

In one of Jesus’ many arguments with the Pharisees, Jesus throws out this kinda strange remark about not putting new wine in old wine skins, or not sewing a new patch on an old garment. When you look at the context of the passage you think, “Wow, Jesus was like schitzo! That makes no sense.” But then you [I] realize that he makes perfectly good sense. He has argued with the Pharisees so many times that he is slightly exasperated. It’s like he says, “Ya know these guys are never gonna get it. They are too stuck in their old mindsets.” They [Pharisees] wanted the Messiah. They wanted new fangled things. New spiritual insights, but they wanted them to fit into their mental and theological boxes.

Don’t you find it interesting that we read the passage in Isaiah where God said, “I’m doing a new thing….” And we jump on the soap box and talk about embracing the freshness of the Good News, and all the new things that God is doing……..as long as it fits into our current structure of beliefs. Don’t believe me? Really? Think about it…….Go on, think for just a second. How often do you purposefully hang out with and spend time with people of other belief structures than you? I’m not talking Muslim and Buddhists. Let’s start with easy ones……..If you’re Baptist, how often do you purposefully hang out with Methodists? If you’re Pentecostal how often do you hang out with Catholics?

Let me shock you a bit…….If all we ever do is hang out with people of our own makeup [spiritual belief structures] then how do we grow? How do we learn? How do we become bigger, better, and stronger? Of course if you go into all of these relationships in order to force change in their thinking then you will never learn anything, nor grow. But when we go into it not to change the other, but to actually engage in a meaningful dialogue then two things happen: We become more aware of what we believe, and our spiritual ‘tank’ is enlarged through compassion and understanding for the other.

Let’s be honest, as long as you believe in Jesus Christ as your personal savior, then we should be able to call each other brother. That’s easy to say, hard to walk out. In Proverbs we are told that iron sharpens iron. Last time I checked that is not a feel good situation. But if I want to sharpen my leadership skills, if I want to grow, if I want to be able to receive the new things of God then it might just get uncomfortable for me. I might have to endure some things that are just not easy. I think it’s time for “mature” Christians to grow up and enlarge their borders. Allow themselves to be sharpened and challenged. Be around others that are…….well……..different. Who knows, we might just learn something. Our boxes of theological oddities might begin to dissolve. We might just be able to receive some new wine, in some new wine skins.