And no one ever puts new wine into old wine-skins; if they do, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are lost. But new wine is put into fresh skins.”
new wineskins for new wine
a rallying cry in every generationthe uniquenesses I bring
need a larger better contextwhile always true it doesn’t ask
whether the wine is brand new or branded newhow many new cereals and detergents
have come only to be replaced in turnnewness of wineskin doesn’t correlate
with appreciable difference in qualityif new wine is a fishing lure
what needs flexing in wineskins caughtlose old baggage
yoga-ize old sinewsin a journey through one wild life
start a new birthday in honor of an old anniversary
Is this a contrast of fasting styles—that of John’s disciples or those of Pharisee followers?
With these being more similar than not, Jesus’ guidelines may be setting off a different comparison.
We are not only recognizing that there are sufficient differences between these two groups and Jesus, but we are returned to an announcement of good news. While no one else would pour new wine into old skins, Jesus does with healings/exorcisms and teachings that Saul Alinsky would appreciate, purposely pouring new wine into old skins until they break open.
One way this works is to be new wine poured into many old wineskins. They burst, spilling out this new wine all over the place—Evangelistic IEDs, as it were. This is also a way to think about John’s baptizing—sending repentive, converted, metamorphosed individuals from his symbolic wilderness back from the Jordan into the communities of Israel to work at changing the ethos of the people through fresh relationships with G*D and one another, as well as raising new resistance to an occupying Empire.