Yesterday’s quote was a short parable about new wine and old wineskins.
It’s culturally unfamiliar to us because we don’t typically put wine in wineskins. But to Jesus’ audience, it would have made perfect sense.
And anyway, it wasn’t really about wine or wineskins.
Jesus wanted us to open their minds to the new thing he was bringing, this idea of a kingdom here and not yet. A kingdom in which they were fully members. A kingdom with radical values like sacrificial service and forgiveness.
A kingdom based on love for and acceptance of our neighbors.
Like Jesus’ audience, we tend to cling to cherished ways of thinking, and to attempt to stuff his teaching into that box.
In the wineskins parable, he tells us it won’t work. Jesus’ proclamations about the world were radical, and they simply won’t fit into old patterns of thought.
I’ve told you before how people sometimes bristle at the discussion of human trafficking. It just doesn’t fit.
Prostitution is a choice.
Why don’t the women just leave?
Why would a family sell a child into slavery?
Teenagers who decide to run away from home could just as easily choose to return. If they’re vulnerable, it’s their fault.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
I’ve learned not to argue. These folks are, for now, unable to absorb a radical new idea into a safe, comfortable mindset. Convincing them isn’t my job.
How do I know? Because I was one of them, until Jesus touched my heart and opened my mind to a new way of thinking.
I suspect we’re all “Pharisees” on some subject or other, convinced we’re right no matter what.
Where are you and I trying to fit Jesus’ new teaching into our comfortable ways of thinking?
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Freedom Tour Classic 4 cycling routes for all abilities + 5K walk.
And remember, Northern Colorado is a pretty great destination for a weekend cycling adventure!
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