Old Vs New                                         Matthew 9:14-17

Today, once again, we’re looking at an event that starts off with a question. At this point John the Baptist is still alive and in prison. Several of his disciples are still around. And we also have Jesus preaching, and he also has disciples, but the differences between the two teachings is starting to show, so John’s followers seek Jesus out to question him about it. Verse 14, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”

This simple question goes to the heart of how Jesus tells us to worship God. And as an important question, Jesus gives an important answer. At first this question can seem rude or accusatory, but actually it’s not disrespectful or meant to make Jesus look foolish     or sinful. It’s not meant to make Jesus’ teachings look false. It is a legitimate question asked by those seeking knowledge and seeking God. And as far as I could determine, it’s the first time Jesus is questioned about his teaching of a new covenant of God’s grace verses the old covenant of law and effort.

This question also shows how Jeus teaching is starting to cause people to think. How people are starting to understand. How people are trying to resolve the differences between what Jesus is saying and the rules and laws they’ve lived with their whole lives.

As I studied on this, I asked, if John is leading the way for Jesus and his message of grace, why does he obviously hold his followers to the law?

Even though John is in the New Testament, he is considered the last of the Old Testament prophets because he talks of the coming of Jesus. John is also a transitional character. Jesus mission on earth is not yet complete, so God’s people are still bound to the old system of the law. This is why John’s followers are still fasting to fell close to God. But as a transitional character, John is also leading his followers away from the sacramental system for forgiveness, teaching his followers to repent; Luke 3:3, “He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

 For thousands of years the old way was the law for salvation. For thousands of years the new way is repentance and faith for salvation. But for a brief time in history,     John was the transition between the Law of Moses and the grace of Jesus.

Through his answer to the question about fasting, Jesus is saying he is bringing something new. He is explaining how this new covenant cannot be mixed with the old, how it’s one or the other. As Jesus responds to the inquiry, he gives three illustrations.

 Verse 15, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is still with them?” A wedding is not the place to mourn; it is a time to celebrate. What Jesus is telling the disciples is, you don’t have to fast in order to experience God because God is right here with you.

Jesus brings God into our lives. This is a new concept for the disciples who were used to hearing of a wrathful God, a God separated from them by the law. For us, this is saying don’t mourn, don’t get gloomy, don’t get dragged under by the events in your life because God is always with you. Life’s meant to relish and to wonder at the creations of God. Life’s an experience to enjoy.

Verse 16, “No one patches an old garment with unshrunk cloth because the patch pulls away from the garment and makes the tear worse.”

This one’s a little dated because I see people wearing ripped jeans all the time, the more holes the better. But for people my age, I remember patches on the knees of my pants.

As we know, if you wash new clothes a few times, the material shrinks a bit. If it rips and you put on a patch of new cloth that hasn’t shrunk yet, as the new cloth shrinks it will pull apart from the pre-shrunk material and make things worse.

Think of what Jesus says in Matthew 5: verses 21 and 22, “…anyone who murders will be subject to judgement. I tell you, anyone who is angry with a brother…will be subject to judgement.” Jesus likens the old way of the law to the shrunken fabric. The old covenant has been torn and ripped by man’s nature. Trying to fill in the holes where we fail to keep the spirit of the law with grace, makes those places we fail and don’t notice even worse. We will never notice all the times we fail to keep the spirit of God’s law, but by patching some transgressions with new cloth, with grace, it only makes our other transgressions more noticeable. You cannot patch the old covenant with the new covenant; they don’t work in sync. You need to follow the law, the spirit of the law, perfectly, or you need to follow Jesus and his grace.

Verse 17, “Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If you do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out, and the wineskins will be ruined.”

At the time, wine was aged in leather bags. You would put new wine into new bags. As the wine continued to age and ferment, it would cause the leather to stretch and expand. After the bag reached its limit, the wine would be poured out. If you put more new wine in the old bag, as the wine aged, the bag couldn’t expand anymore. Eventually it would break, ruining the bag and losing the wine. Again, with this illustration, Jesus tells us the old system of the law cannot be combined with the new covenant of grace he brings.

Through these examples, Jesus tells John’s disciples they are clinging to the old ways, the ways of sacrifices, rituals, and laws. Jesus is illustrating for them that he didn’t come to patch the holes men made in the law, he came with something new. He explains that the focus of our faith should not be on legalistic rituals, or on laws or traditions. The focus of our faith should be on Jesus.

The last thing I saw in this passage is Jesus telling us the difference between our wanting God, and our needing God. The old covenant of the law is a covenant of want. I want God in my life. And when you want something, you must earn it. You need to follow the laws, honor the sacrifices, and keep the traditions.

The new covenant of grace is a covenant of need. I need God in my life because I cannot do what’s needed to earn him. I am a sinner, I am lost, I am sorry for what I have done and need you God.

Today’s reading starts with a simple question about fasting. Jesus’ answer tells us much more than whether to fast or not.

Jesus gives three scenarios as an answer. The first explains how Jesus is bringing God into the world, and how we should live life with enjoyment because God is with us, here and now.

The last two illuminate how Jesus came to change things. The old system of law and sacrifice and tradition is replaced with a new system of faith.

He demonstrates how these two systems cannot be intermingled. If you chase the law, grace cannot fill in the holes because you will never know them all. Therefore, you lose God and salvation. If you follow grace yet still want to hold fast to laws and traditions also, you lose God because you are relying on more than just faith for salvation.

Jesus came to replace a system of want, which involves our working for it, with a system of understanding our need for God, and our trusting in faith of Jesus. Hebrews 8:13, “By calling the covenant (of grace) new, he made the first on (the covenant of law), obsolete.”

God bless, and may you be at peace in your life, and with God.

Amen