Tag Archives: New Wine

Matthew 9:17
17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
Mark 2:22
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”
Luke 5:37-38
37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 

— When I began to study for this parable it seemed like it was only a short add-on to the more important idea from last Wednesday’s parable, the Wedding Guest.  Many were looking for a long expected savior.  Jesus spoke this parable to identify Himself as something new God was doing. There were “old” expectations way back in Genesis 49:11 and Deuteronomy 32:14, describing the coming of one who’s investment would be in “the blood of grapes.” 

Those were old words made new by Jesus identifying Himself as this “new” way God was going redeem and preserve His people…IF they could accept what He was doing and that this “new wine” could not be contained in old expectations and regulations.  There was an odd word in the ESV version of Deuteronomy 32 that described the wine as “foaming.”  The ancient process of wine making seemed like it’s own verification of this parable to me. There was a personal involvement in making new wine.  It took the whole body’s weight for the feet to press the grapes by gently breaking their skins but not destroying the seeds.  Those seeds were a vital part of the flavor of the resulting juice as the process continued foaming and fermenting to finally become the “new wine” that makes those old words from Deuteronomy the reality that today it’s Jesus that “nourishes and sustains its branches while they[we] develop their[our] fruit.”