January 17 - New vs. Old

January 17 – New vs. Old

“He also told them a parable: ‘No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old.” (Luke 5:36)

This is part of the passage in which Jesus also talks about putting new wine into old wineskins.  He points out that the ‘new’ must be given its own space to do its thing.  The Pharisees had been poking and poking at him, complaining about the new way of doing things that he encouraged – especially with his own disciples.  They didn’t particularly approve of the fact that he chose to eat with Matthew – a tax collector and obviously a sinner.  They didn’t approve of the fact that his disciples were living their lives – eating and drinking, while John’s disciples fasted.  They just plain didn’t approve. 

With their vocal disapproval, Jesus told a parable or two, to emphasize that they weren’t very flexible when it came to new things.  The old is fine – as long as it doesn’t get in the way of the new.  And no one should expect that the new can patch up the old … the patch will tear away and both will be destroyed.

I drove into a small community the other day and was struck by the changes that have occurred there.  Ten years or so ago, Max and I spent time in this little town as it was just on the cusp of thriving.  A group of people had attempted to turn the town into an artist’s community and brought in many different types of artisans who opened up the shops along the main street, filling them with activity.

But, the community wasn’t really ready to do much more than simply exist, so there wasn’t much support.  Year by year, the artisans moved on, the shops were boarded up again and the downtown area died one more time.  Now, there is a desperate desire to ‘renew’ the community, but the people who want to do it are more intent on holding on to their power and the structure that they’re comfortable with, so what is left is a small grocery store, a little café, a couple of antique / thrift shops and a whole lot of empty buildings.

The old prevailed, the new moved on and the community will probably never make anything more of itself than what it is right now.

Jesus came to change all of that for His people.  He came to release the Jews from the stranglehold that the ‘old’ had on them.  The thing of it is – they really didn’t want anything to do with that.  They wanted everything to stay just as it always had.  They complained about the way things were, but they didn’t want the new to transform them … so, it didn’t. 

They were to be a light to the world, bringing transformation, but they couldn’t move past their own small-minded selves.  Jesus death on the cross brought the transformation that God wanted for the world … to the world.  It was no longer just for the Jews … the old.  It was for everyone … it moved from the old to the new.