"New Wine, Take a Sip!"
- Rita Larson
- Sep 30, 2023
- 3 min read
In Luke 5:36-39, Jesus presents a powerful parable that speaks directly to our hearts and speaks of the transformation that comes with accepting Jesus into our lives. To understand this parable, it is important to look at the context of the time. In Jesus' day, wine was stored in goatskins that had been sewn together. These goatskins were flexible and pliable, allowing the wine to expand as it aged without bursting the wineskin. However, if the wineskin was old and rigid, it would burst when the new wine was added. In the parable, Jesus is using this image to explain how He is new wine that must be put into new wineskins. The old wineskins represent the Pharisees and their rigid traditions and rules. These traditions and rules are too rigid to accept Jesus, so new wineskins must be created.
In the parable, Jesus explains, that the old wineskins are like us before we accept Him – rigid and unable to contain the new wine that comes with accepting Him. The old wineskins can’t handle the new wine, so they burst and spill the wine. Similarly, our hearts can become so rigid that it prevents us from fully accepting all that comes with accepting Jesus.
Jesus wants us to open our hearts to Him and to become a new creation when we accept Him. He says in Luke 5:37-38, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Jesus is telling us that we can’t remain the same and accept Him. Just as old wineskins become too rigid to accept new wine, so too can our hearts become so inflexible that we are unable to accept Jesus. We must become new creations and new wineskins in order to receive ALL that comes with accepting Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.
When we accept Jesus, we are not just accepting Him into our lives – we are also receiving the Holy Spirit and all of the power and gifts that come with Him. We become filled with the Holy Spirit and can experience freedom and joy in a way that we wouldn’t have been able to before. We can experience a new kind of love, peace, and grace that can only be found in accepting Jesus.
When we accept Jesus, we experience life-changing transformation. We see the power of this transformation echoed in Jesus’s words in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things become new.” We become new creations in Christ, forgiven of all of our sins and welcomed into the Kingdom of God with a promise of eternity with Him. We experience a life-changing freedom that comes only with accepting Him as our personal Savior. The Bible reminds us in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “But as it is written, ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’” With God, all things are possible!
The parable of the old and new wineskins is a powerful reminder of the transformation that takes place when we accept Jesus as our personal Savior. We become new creations in Christ, endowed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and empowered to show Jesus to the world. How pliable is your Heart? Are you open to receiving all that God has to offer? Take a sip of the New Wine! ©Rita Larson 9/30/2023
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