Thursday, January 10, 2013
Time for Something New?
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 wine skins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wine skins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wine skins, and both are preserved. -Matthew 9:16-17 (NIV)
Note: For some reason, yesterday's devotional did not "send." As a result, you'll get two devotionals today.
If you know anything about me at all, you know that I'm an Ole Miss graduate and Ole Miss athletics fan. Last weekend, Ole Miss played in its first bowl game in three years. The game was at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.
Legion Field was completed in 1927. If I didn't know better, I'd say that they haven't renovated it since that time. I saw advertisement signs on the wall for products that no longer exist. It took us twenty minutes to find our seats because there were no numbers on the aisles in our assigned section. The aisles were so small that two-way traffic was impossible. You get the picture.
The game-day program that I read said that the stadium was renovated as recently as 2005. I'd hate to see what it looked like before then. At some point, pouring money into this dilapidated stadium seems pointless. If they're really serious about hosting a bowl game, I'd suggest doing some significant patchwork or tearing down the stadium and building a new one.
That seems to be what Jesus is saying in today's suggested readings. There comes a time when patching up an old garment is useless. There comes a time when the best thing to do is get something new.
Of course, Jesus is not just talking about clothing. He's talking about faith. Jesus came to bring something new to a religion that was based on legalism. He came teaching that salvation comes not by adhering to laws, but by grace (an undeserved and unearned gift) through faith (belief and trust).
I'm all for patching something if, after it's patched, it works. To get rid of something that can be successfully patched only because we want something new is a big problem in our culture. But if patching isn't working and won't work, maybe it's time to try something new.
What in your life have you been trying to patch unsuccessfully? Is the poor patchwork the result of you not really trying or because you haven't included God in the repair? Or is what you're patching just un-patchable and trying to do so only makes the tear worse?
May God grant you the grace to know what's worth patching and what's not.
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Tomorrow's suggested readings: Matthew 10.
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In contrast to the disciples of John (the Baptist) as well as the Pharisees, Jesus and his disciples do not fast (Mt. 9:14). So the words in 9:16-17 portray this contrast in terms of "wineskins" (the old being the Pharisees and disciples of John, and the new being Jesus and his disciples) and "wine" (the old being fasting, and the new being not fasting). And in 9:10-13 the Pharisees have been critical of Jesus for eating and drinking with sinners like Levi, his new disciple, and other tax collectors. Jesus tells the Pharisees to learn what Hosea meant: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice (Hos. 6:6).
ReplyDeleteUnlike the Pharisees (and even John the Baptist), Jesus was not focusing on ritual sacrifices like fasting or baptizing; and Jesus was not trying to put a "patch" on Israel. Instead he was calling outcasts (of Israel) like Levi to join a new kingdom, whose king focused on showing mercy and love to those not part of the old wineskins, and welcoming them into this new kingdom/wineskin that was full of Jesus' new wine of mercy.