Within our text Jesus seems to take a radical shift in the conversation between himself and those questioning him. First, he mentions a bridegroom. Then he offers a parable which seems totally irrelevant about wine and the containers for them. How does a wedding and drinking wine relate to each other? What point is Jesus trying to drive home?
He was fully aware that the gospel he was preaching was new to his hearers. He wanted to confirm how the spiritual life of the believer related to him in all areas of faith. He was not trying to redirect the discussion from the wedding to the containers of wine. They both very much have a common thought.
The Jews by historical preference resisted change. They often referred to Abraham and Moses for the justification of how they lived. To them the appearance of the Messiah needed to fit into their mental mold of what he should be like and how he should behave. To the contrary, Jesus had no intention of conforming to their expectations.
He reasoned that there was no need for compliance they held up before him because he as the bridegroom, was still present in their midst. Likewise, it was not logical to put new wine into old skins or vice versa because the containers would burst from fermentation that would occur.
The true theme that Jesus was presenting was a contrast between the old Jewish way of thinking and what Jesus wanted them to realize. To fast at a wedding was inconsistent with the wedding procedures. To put new wine in old bottles was inconsistent with the method of how to preserve the wine. They needed to shift their paradigm from the standard way of expectations to what he represented.
At a wedding, the attendees celebrated but did not fast. While storing wine, it must be placed in new containers. The Jews stood for the old ways while Jesus stood for the new way. They expected his followers to fast. Jesus countered their expectations in the same way he would object to putting new wine, his gospel, in old containers. The presentation of himself as the soon to be crucified Messiah did not fit the thinking of most Jews.
The expectation of the Messiah who would conquer the Romans was not compatible with the divine purpose of Jesus. The expectation of fasting at a wedding was not consistent with the celebration. The expectation of new wine in old bottles was frivolous because the bottle would likely burst and waste the wine.
Jesus wanted to Jews to reconsider their ideas. By his coming, the old man-made purpose of the Messiah had to be embraced by the better, the truer, the divine plan of God. Our idea of how God operates in todayās world must submit to the new leading of the Holy Spirit.
Christian Writer 