On Line Bible Study -- For the week April 19-25, 2010

Lesson 436

Luke 5: ³³They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking." ³⁴Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? ³⁵But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."³⁶He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' "

This section of Luke's gospel (5:33-6:11) presents us with three situations and two controversies. The first controversy is about fasting and prayer and concludes with Jesus using the imagery of new wine, with its requisite requirement of new wineskins. The next controversy occurs in two different situations - Jesus' reverence for the Sabbath. Sometimes it is difficult to determine how much detail to go into in these studies! Our texts are so rich with so many layers of meaning.

For the sake of simplicity, let's focus on two factors.

First, this section presents Jesus as moving away from strict religious practice and toward greater concentration on people and their needs. If you recall the stories just preceding, Jesus has been faulted for his declaration that sin has been forgiven; then he is chastised for eating with sinners. In the text above he is challenged because his disciples, unlike those of John (the baptist), don't fast and pray.

We know that fasting was practiced in the early church, and we know that Jesus also fasted. But there is a time for fasting, and this is not one of them. In fact, Jesus suggests that something very new is taking place. He lets it be known that he is aware those who are accustomed to the old are always going to prefer it to the new. Is there evidence here of the church distancing itself from its formal Jewish moorings?

As the controversy moves forward - from fasting to Sabbath observance, we encounter the second factor for our attention: the religious leaders are moving from frustration with Jesus toward a determination that he must be stopped. We read in Luke 6: ¹¹But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. So easily do we recognize their shortsightedness and so easily do we miss our own - the proverbial splinter in the eyes of others gets more attention than the plank in our own. What is more important in our own time with regard to organized Christianity - the perpetuation of our religious systems, or the propagation of the truth about Jesus?

So Luke challenges us: will we develop an appetite for what Jesus is doing? Are there times in our lives when we actually (even if unwittingly) attempt to thwart the move of the Holy Spirit?