Level Up!

By Pastor Dan Hickling

“Then John’s disciples came and asked him, ‘How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus answered, ‘How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.’”—Matthew 9:14–17 (NIV)

There’s a lot going on here! Pharisees . . . fasting . . . bridegroom . . . patches on garments . . . bursting wineskins . . . huh? It’s understandable that this vignette from Matthew’s account of Christ’s life comes off as a bit confusing. After all, there’s a time gap of roughly 2,000 years and a cultural gap that spans the length of the opposite side of the world facing us here. Not to mention, Jesus is weaving in some of the most profound theology ever to hit human ears here! Let’s pull back and unpack it because we need to understand what Christ is communicating.

In context, Jesus is starting to make some spiritual waves within an already-established religious system. He’s bringing in a “newness” in terms of truths, beliefs, and behaviors that are radical and which are forcing His hearers to process them. Included among these hearers are those who followed after John the Baptist. John’s message and ministry were rooted in what God had revealed up to that point in time, which were the commandments given in the Law of Moses.

This Law was also the basis of the religious system that the religious rulers of that day, the Pharisees, had constructed by adding their traditions onto it. And the practice of fasting was somewhat representative of this system as it demonstrated devout obedience to following it.

In other words, in that day, if you were serious about God, you’d demonstrate it by fasting. This is what has confused John’s followers because they began to notice that Jesus and His followers didn’t emphasize fasting as much. How could someone who truly speaks for God fast so little?

Here’s where Jesus takes what they had known up until now to the next level. He leads them to the next level by sharing three illustrations that basically state the same truth. The truth is that what He’s bringing is greater than the religious system they had known up until now!

He says that His coming is not a time to be characterized by mourning or fasting. It’s an occasion for celebrating! To focus on fasting with what Jesus is now doing would be like treating a wedding like a funeral. He then shares that what He’s bringing is so wonderfully new that it can only be received as its own new thing. It cannot be combined with what “had been.” It would be like putting a new patch on an old garment or new wine into an old wineskin. The nature of what’s new cannot be contained by the old; it must be set apart and accepted on its own terms.

By coming to live, die, and rise from the dead on our behalf, Jesus introduced something so wonderfully new—a new way to approach God by trusting in His Son. This new way can’t be defined by a somber spirit or share space with an old religious system riddled with man-made traditions. It liberates people by moving them from a legally oriented relationship with the Almighty Judge to a love-based relationship with their heavenly Father. This is the new level of spiritual life Jesus opens up to us, and it’s our great privilege to now walk in this newness of life.

Pause: What was the basic truth Jesus put across here?

Practice: How do you sometimes try to combine the old with the new in a spiritual sense? Today, pray and ask the Lord to help you cast off old ways that aren’t of Him.

Pray: Lord, thank You for giving us a way to level up from the Law to love. May we always appreciate what You did for us through Your life, death, and resurrection. Help us to walk in the newness of life that You’ve secured for us. Amen.