GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 2:22
Old Wineskins
Every tire sold in the United States must have a manufacturing date on it. Drivers rarely look at the date stamp for tires because the tires usually wear out and need to be replaced before they age out. However, there is a recommendation that tires be replaced if they become 10 years old. It seems that the material used in tire manufacturing begins to harden and become less flexible with age until they blow out, often with bad consequences.
St. Mark said that Jesus continued his message to critics about their fasting rules. He told them, “And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the wineskins, and the wine and wineskins will be lost. But they pour new wine into new wineskins.” (2:22) Old wineskins—the critics—harden with age and become inflexible. As new wine ferments, it releases gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), and the skin container needs to expand to make room for the gas. New wineskins are flexible and can expand; old skins cannot—they split, and both the wine and wineskin are lost. The tire analogy may not be an exact match, but the principle seems to be similar.
Without over-interpreting Jesus’ analogy, new wine is active, energetic, and alive. The wineskin needs to be able to expand to accommodate the activity. Traditions, guardrails, and customs are valuable, but when they harden and become inflexible, they burst when something new comes. The 16th-century Catholic Church hardened and could not contain the new wine of Lutheranism; it split. The 18th-century Anglican Church hardened and could not contain the new wine of Wesleyanism; it split.
There is a delicate balance between being a “new wineskin” and being gullible—a balance relying on a clear understanding of the Bible and the importance of divine guidance.
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