Sunday, June 28, 2020

The writings of Luke the physician starting with his version of the gospel - Luke 5:27-39 comments: old wine




Luke 5:27 ¶  And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. 28  And he left all, rose up, and followed him. 29  And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. 30  But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 31  And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32  I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 33  And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? 34  And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? 35  But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. 36  And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. 37  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. 38  But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. 39  No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

Levi is understood to be the same person as Matthew based on the context in each of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. He is a tax collector and therefore hated among the Jewish people with tax collectors or publicans being considered great sinners.

It is impossible to save people who don’t think they need to be saved. The self-righteous person, like the Pharisee, believes they are inherently good and God, basically, is lucky to have them on His side. The Pharisees fasted often but while Christ was with them His disciples were not expected to live such a stringent lifestyle as God’s very presence in the flesh should merit a time of rejoicing as at a joyous wedding feast.

Isaiah had written about solemn religious fasting that can be hypocrisy;

Isaiah 58:3 ¶  Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 4  Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist
of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 5  Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? 6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 7  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

Then Zechariah wrote when Israel was in captivity.

Zechariah 7:4  Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, 5  Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? 6  And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

There are a great deal of comparisons to a wedding feast in the Bible. First, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, will have a feast with His people when the Church is translated at the end of this age.

Revelation 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

The Church, which is the body of Christ on earth acting on His behalf in the world…

Colossians 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence…24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

…made righteous by Christ not by any merit of our own,…

Romans 5:18  Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

Is the bride of Christ...

2Corinthians 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Even the New Jerusalem, where His people will dwell in eternity, comes down out of Heaven adorned as a bride for her husband in a figure of speech called a simile where something is likened to something else which it is not by the use of as or like….

Revelation 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Jesus states that He is the bridegroom here and in another context John the Baptist, whose disciples still follow Jewish tradition in fastings and ritual, calls himself the friend of the bridegroom (the ‘best man,’ perhaps?)

John 3:28  Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 29  He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

There are many more things to be said about the wedding and marriage analogies, but we’ll move on for now.

Before we look at the parable Jesus relates it is important to understand that at the time the King James Bible was translated a bottle did not have to be just glass, as it is today, but any container that carried a liquid, such as a leather bag. This can be confirmed by going to Lexicons of Early Modern English online and doing a search by which you will find Thomas Cooper’s 1578 Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae and Thomas Thomas’ 1587 Dictionarium Linguae Latinae et Anglicanae and several other sources that refer to a bottle as simply a vessel of some sort with glass bottle being used for that specific container material.[1]

 

 In the following a bottle can be rent or torn so common sense tells you these wily Canaanites were not just carrying around shards of broken glass.

Joshua 9:4  They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;

The traditional interpretation of the parable that follows beginning in verse 36 is that the old garment and bottles represent Law and the Hebrew religion while the new represent Grace and Christianity.

There are problems with this interpretation as we know that Jesus did not come to overthrow the Law but to fulfill it.

Matthew 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

…and Christian doctrine is that the Law was fulfilled and is fulfilled in Him…

Romans 10:4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Notice verse 39 as well, with the preference for the old wine. Since the context in these chapters is about Christ’s ministry and His choosing of disciples to spread His message and the Pharisee’s objection to the way they handle religion it is also likely that this is a reference to something else. The institutionalized and strictly dogmatic religion of the Pharisees and their religious counterparts is to be replaced by common, uneducated men and women who will live for God rather than just go through the motions of ritual observance with no true friendship with God. Like a modern fundamentalist who has more faith in his faith than he does in God the religious elite of Jesus’ day put their faith in their rules and regulations they made up over years of tradition than on obedience to God.

Jesus in places condemns much of the whole body of religious teaching of that day as not of God.

Mark 7:1 ¶  Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. 2  And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. 3  For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. 4  And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. 5  Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? 6  He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 8  For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. 9  And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. 10  For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: 11  But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. 12  And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; 13  Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. 14  And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: 15  There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. 16  If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. 17  And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. 18  And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; 19  Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? 20  And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22  Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Jesus will send His disciples out to restore the Israelites who’ve been taught these layers and layers of man-made rules and regulations as opposed to what God really wants from them.

Matthew 10:5 ¶  These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6  But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7  And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. 9  Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, 10  Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. 11  And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. 12  And when ye come into an house, salute it. 13  And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14  And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. 15  Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

Jesus is not overthrowing the commandments of God. He is restoring the right worship of God, the Old Paths, the old wine.

Leviticus 19:18  Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Deuteronomy 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Micah 6:8  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Matthew 22:34 ¶  But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38  This is the first and great commandment. 39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.


[1] Lexicons of Early Modern English, University of Toronto,  https://leme.library.utoronto.ca/search/quick


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