Wineskins
Luke 5:36-39
I haven't lived in a house like the parsonage I am living in as pastor of this church since I was in High School. In that intervening time I lived in 8 different apartments (not counting college dorm situations) from North Carolina to Texas to Colorado! And moving that many times creates some habits: one of them being saving your moving boxes.
Becky and I have saved almost all of the moving boxes we used to move into the parsonage, alongside the boxes to the large appliances we have. And, friends. Some of these boxes are not in the best shape.
Most likely when the time comes that we might move again (hopefully far, far into the distant future!), we will have to discern if some of the boxes we have saved are up to the task of helping us transport our possessions from one place to another. Now, don't get me wrong--these boxes were outstanding when we first used them. Perfectly box-like they fit neatly into stacks inside of the moving truck. They were sturdy and handled weight being placed on top of them well.
But with time, cardboard becomes less rigid as it is used more and more. It becomes more pliable and less sturdy. More likely to be crushed under weight or to not contain the freight placed inside of it.
Containers like boxes or the wineskins used in the time of Jesus were not meant to be used over and over. In the case of wineskins, it's important to know a bit about the biology in fermentation. Jesus says that new wine in old wineskins will actually burst the old skins apart and this is not surprising! When yeast feasts, it creates gases. But old wineskins can also be a breeding ground for things beside yeast like acetic bacteria--bacteria that will pick up where yeast left off, fermenting something like wine further into vinegar. So, literally, it is possible for new wine to cause old wineskins to burst! So before old wineskins turn our tasty new wine into vinegar, we need to recognize that the time has come for that wineskin to be put aside for a new one.
What things are we clinging to in our own lives that aren't quite up to the task that they used to be? Are we hanging on to furniture that is falling apart or other items that have sentimental value but not any other value? Are we afraid of scarcity and so cling to any physical possession that can fit in our home? Are we staying in toxic or abusive relationships? Perhaps we are still clinging to old narratives of how the world is supposed to work while the narrative of humanity continues on without us. Jesus' parable about wineskins all apply here. New wine needs new wineskins. And the new life God is inviting us to live requires the courage to step forward into new relationships, new places, and new narratives.
In our parsonage when we arrrived, the dishwasher was definitely more than 20 years old. And we noticed that it had been used so often that the metal tines that hold dishes up in the dishwasher itself had worn down to the point of breaking from the tray. It was time for a new dishwasher. If there is one thing I am taking away from Jesus' parable it is this: nothing lasts forever except the love of Christ and the providence of God on this side of the grave AND the other.
And if we joyfully embrace that I think our lives would be far less burdened by the things we are clinging to, AND our lives would be full of the newness that comes when we have new wineskins for the new wine God is offering us. I look forward to exploring what this means for our church more deeply with you this Sunday!
