Fill me with THIS wine!

Reflecting on Luke 5:33-39

"No one pours new wine into old wineskins." (Luke 5:37)

The religious leaders ask Jesus about fasting and prayer.
These religious practices were considered signs of devotion and holiness.
Even the followers of other religions performed these practices.
The intensity of prayer and fasting proved that they were religious.
But Jesus and His disciples did not perform these traditional practices.
They were not being religious enough.

Jesus challenges them to reconsider the meaning of these practices.
They are not the point, but point to something beyond themselves.
Like a wedding banquet, it is meant to be eaten when the bride and groom arrive.
Before their coming, you do not eat or drink the feast; when they come, you do.
The religious practices were how people prepared for the coming of the bridegroom.
(This was a specific cultural practice of the time, waiting for the groom).
Religious practices are not the point; they point to something beyond themselves.

Jesus is the point, the reality of God with us that these practices point to.
He is the content – God – of religious, not the container (religion).
The Moses Law, temple practices, festivals and sacrifices were not the point.
They were old wineskins that served a purpose for a time… but not anymore.

“Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.” (Galatians 3:23-25)

A relationship with Jesus surpasses being religious, doing religious things.
Receiving God’s love in Jesus, loving God and Jesus, loving others – this is the point.
This is what we look for in Jesus, and what we seek for and from others.
We do not measure someone’s piety by how often they go to church.
More prayer and fasting do not mean a person is more devoted or holy.
These are hollow containers, and mean nothing if they are not filled with love.
Love is the new wine, and, which is really OLD wine, from the beginning.
It is a new command, which is really an old command – the original command.

“Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.” (1 John 2:7-8)

The command to love has always been there, we see it anew in Jesus.

As Christians, we need to stop measuring people by their religious practices.
How they worship, how they follow Jesus, how they express their faith.
These are all different shaped containers, neither bad or good in themselves.
As long as they work, we can use them.
But to work they need to make us more open to receiving and giving love.
Love, not religion, is what matters.

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5:6)

This is the new wine; this is the new wineskin.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, fill me up with God-like love, and let me be drunk on it!
May my religious practices burst, and God's love pour out from me.