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Luke 5:33-39

Devotions for Monday 8th March

In this reading today, Jesus makes three different comments about Christian disciples, and when we read the passage, it is easy for us to separate out the different parts to what He says. The first is about fasting; Jesus was challenged about why His disciples did not pray and fast as others did (5:33), and His reply suggests that He thought fasting was not relevant during His earthly ministry, only later. The next two sayings complement each other and are about the ‘old’ and the ‘new’. Jesus offers two common sense allegories about cloth and wine suggesting that it is not wise to mix the two.

The passage about fasting is hard to interpret, but it suggests that although Jesus did not require fasting of His disciples during His life, it is appropriate for Christians now that he has, as He said Himself, ‘been taken away ...’ (5:35). After this, Jesus’ sayings about the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ are so clear, people use them to justify the idea that any new venture must break away from its roots and ignore the past. However, if we follow these interpretations, then we will have unfortunately misunderstood Jesus’ words. These sayings are not abstract comments, they are specific sayings that would have been very clear to those who first heard Jesus and read the Gospel. In the passage of time, we have lost track of the attitudes and feelings about God and His Messiah that connect these sayings, so we tend not to interpret them well.

Jesus had just healed the paralytic (5:17-26) and called Levi, the tax-collector (5:27-32). This had clearly raised questions in people’s minds; for they could see Jesus doing things their teachers said would be done by the Messiah. They believed that the coming Messiah would indeed forgive sins and heal the sick, and also, that he would establish a new Kingdom by having a great banquet!

Because of this, they were confused when Jesus ate with Levi and his friends, and they asked why it was that Jesus’ disciples were not observed to be ‘religious’ (5:33). From their point of view, they saw the disciples of the Pharisees and of John fasting and praying regularly, but Jesus and His disciples did not. Now, Luke tells us that Jesus prayed a great deal but usually in private, but this was not known by people of the day. His reply, as usual, went straight to the heart of the matter. He said that those who were fasting were obviously waiting to eat and have a banquet when God eventually sent His Messiah. However, His reply to the people cheekily suggests that they believe He is the Messiah (the Bridegroom) and it is quite inappropriate to fast in His presence! The reply would have shocked those who heard it. Jesus all but said He was the Messiah and the Kingdom had come!

Jesus’ next two sayings follow His comment about fasting in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark as well as Luke, so there is strong evidence that Jesus spoke about the incompatibility of ‘old’ and ‘new’ for a reason. Having challenged those who heard Him to believe that God was active in their midst, he went on to use a double and therefore emphatic allegory to tell them that God’s new Kingdom could not be mixed with the old. His words were revolutionary; Jesus was speaking to those around Him in a language they could understand to say that what He was doing in their midst was a work of God, and it was not to be compared with the old Jewish covenant!

You might feel that this interpretation is built on presumptions about the beliefs of people in the first century, and it is. There is ample evidence that early Christians understood Jesus as saying precisely this. His words are reflected, for example, in Paul’s comments about the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ when he argues that the circumcision of the old Jewish covenant has no place in the Christian church (Galatians 5:2f.). Today, we must remember what these words were meant to convey by its author before we try and make them into generalisations that fits our own circumstances!

Going Deeper

The Bible study goes deeper to look at these issues:

Why did Jesus use the illustration of the wedding banquet and what does it mean for us?
What more can we find within the illustrations of the cloth and the wine?
What does verse 39 mean, and why does it seem to contradict everything else?

33 Then they said to Him, ‘John's disciples often fast and pray, just like the disciples of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink!’ 34 Jesus said to them, ‘Should you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.’

36 So He told them a parable: ‘No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and sews it on an old one; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will be lost and the skins destroyed. 38 But new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. 39 No one wants the new wine after drinking the old, for he says, “The old is good.”’

Holy Spirit of God, surround my day with Your peace, steer me through the day with Your power, touch my mind with Your wisdom, and comfort my heart with Your love. May I live to the Glory of God as long as I have breath to proclaim it and time to live it, and may I always witness to the truth of God found in Jesus Christ my Saviour. Alleluia; AMEN

Almighty God, You transform people,

You change everything for the better:

You call a sinner and create a saint;

You call a failure and make a success;

You call a girl and reveal a woman;

You call a boy and uncover a man;

You call a servant and anoint a leader;

You call a stranger and create a friend

You call a loner and arouse a colleague;

You call a pauper and inspire a giver

You call a loser and motivate a winner;

You call a rebel and rouse a companion;

You call us all to aim for higher things

In Your Kingdom, both now and forever.

Prayer ideas

Look at where you sit or work during the day. What does this reveal? Give this to God and pray about it.

On-going prayers

Pray for the people you know Pray firstly for the people you love, and for those with whom you spend most of your time
Praise God for the way he has guided his people in past times
Pray for Iraq. Pray for peace and the cessation of violence

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