New Wineskins

I am joyful today because Matthieu and I are fasting. The details are between us and God, and really I shouldn’t be telling you this at all because Matthieu 6:16-18 says:

‘But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.’

But we are fasting. We don’t follow any set days for doing this – no set time periods. Sometimes we fast with liquids only. Sometimes “liquids” includes smoothies and soup purées. Sometimes we fast things we like – bread and cheese, sugar, caffeine. Sometimes it’s the quantity we limit or we do a combination of all these things. Occasionally we fast because we want to urge God to act in something.

But most of the time we fast because we miss God. We miss his presence. We’re so caught up in the noise of the world, we just want to be quiet in his Word and in his presence. We’re feeling empty, and we just want to be filled.

It’s ironic, isn’t it? That eating can make you feel empty, and fasting can make you feel full? But having this epiphany this morning, coupled with my fast, helped bring a Scripture to life whose meaning was previously hidden:

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)

The old garment and the old wineskin are the old way of doing things – earning salvation by following the rules. Jesus came to say that his way was to worship God in spirit and truth. His way was to follow the spirit of the law, without neglecting the letter of the law. His way was to tap into the vine which flowed abundantly – and that we should tap into him and not thirst.

I never understood why this parable followed a question about fasting. On the surface, it makes sense that fasting just because everyone else is fasting is no longer something God requires in order to honour him.

But I think there’s more to it than that. When I get swept up in my busy life – too distracted to get nourished properly from the Word, too intent on achieving my goal, even if it means I get lost in the process – I become an old wineskin. I become that crinkled and cracked thing that can no longer hold new wine (new words, new ideas, new life) without spilling it all over the floor and wasting it.

And when I fast, I empty myself of the old wine – the old ways, my old self. I shed a skin which can no longer perform its function of holding the new wine, and I take on the new skin that has been given to me. I don’t patch up what is old and broken and try to make do with it. I exchange it for something soft and supple – something capable of holding new wine and all that is good.

This is what I’m doing when I fast.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Image credit: smileus / 123RF Banque d’images

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