The New Disrupts the Old

A beautiful piece of fabric given to me from my friend from Kabul, Afghanistan. 

Scripture:

Mark 2:18   Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

Mark 2:21   “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

Observation:

Both John the Baptist and the Pharisees were living under the old system of the law. John’s activity was a call for repentance in preparation for something new that would come. What the people did not realize was the the new had already come in the form of Jesus and his work in ushering in the new kingdom. This was not just something to be added to the old, but it was a radically new day. The Messiah had come to restore the relationship of humankind with their Creator and Father, and therefore it was analogous to a wedding feast. 

The people who were stuck in the old system could not see that the bridegroom had arrived, and therefore they fasted and waited. The disciples, on the other hand, were celebrating the consummation of a new day in Christ, and a whole new relationship. They were already living in the new kingdom with Christ and therefore, there was no need for them to be mournful and fast. It would have been just as ridiculous for them to fast as it would be for people to refuse to eat and be sad at a wedding. 

Jesus’ remarks about the fabric and the wine is a reminder that the new kingdom is not just something to be added onto an old garment or mixed into old wineskins. In both of these circumstances the original object would be torn by the new. Instead there had to be preshrunk fabric, and new wineskins for this would be life in the kingdom. The new which Christ is ushering in disrupts the old. 

Application:

Chrysostom suggests that the old is somehow a garment of self-indulgence and that the concept of servanthood is not understood in the old system. Jesus’ kingdom turns things upside down and especially those who found themselves in positions of leadership. Jesus’ kingdom work was not to simply put a patch on an old system, but to usher in a new era where old God’s holy love would transform from the inside out. The new would entirely disrupt the old and God’s people would be stretched into participation in a relationship with the Triune God. 

When we are participants with God, then everything begins to change. I think that we are constantly tempted to fall back into the old system. There’s something about living with strict boundaries that can be comforting, but also restricting. That’s what was going on with the old system and Jesus came to change it all. We have all been born in the era of the new, and yet, we find the old enticing. Why is that? Because the new requires a deeply personal relationship with God through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Yesterday we had the privilege of hearing Dr. David Wesley preach at Shawnee Nazarene in Kansas. At one point he talked about meeting with a mentor who asked him to tell about his relationship with Jesus. There was a lot that could be said because Dr. Wesley is a professor of missiology at Nazarene Theological Seminary and has served as a missionary for many years in South America. He’s written books, traveled the world, and served God and the church. Then the mentor took his face in his hands and looked him deep in the eyes and said, “I didn’t ask what all you’ve done for Jesus, I asked if you really know Jesus.” You see, that is the possibility that is found in new wineskins…the beauty of knowing Jesus intimately. Our spiritual lives are not defined by fasting, or being a missionary, or writing books, or having a particular position in the church, but by life in the new kingdom which is motivated by our relationship with Christ. 

Over and over again the new will disrupt the old because we will have the tendency to go back to the old ways. The more that we engage with Christ the greater the tension between the old and the new. Jesus is ever drawing us into the new as we have in us the same mind that is in Christ. We participate in servant leadership together with Christ. We are, therefore, transformed. No patches from the past, but beautiful, new, and disruptive creation. 

Prayer:

Lord, may I live into this new life every day by knowing you. Amen.