Re:Verse passage – Luke 5:33-39 (day three)
“No one puts new wine into old wineskins.”
Much has (rightly) been made of this parable – or more correctly, collection of parables. Is the gospel “new wine?” Is Jesus’s way of practicing faith a “new wineskin?” Is the old wineskin the establishment Pharisees? Maybe. Varying interpretations abound. So what’s one more? Here it is: What if Jesus is simply saying that life with him is a life of learning to pay attention to what fits the moment you’ve been given? Jesus says in essence, “Just as everybody has learned that new wine requires new wineskins, so my disciples are learning what is required by the circumstances in which they find themselves.” Feeling overwhelmed by the moment is a point of great pain for you. Jesus can teach you to understand what is most needed in that moment. What a joy.
Our Lord has been teaching me that principle lately. When I find myself in a situation I’d rather not be in, He is teaching me to set aside my own discomfort or impatience and instead look around and see if there is someone I can bless in that moment.