Luke 5:33-6:11

33 They 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."
34 Jesus answered, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."
36 He told them this parable: "No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. If they do, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And people do not pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And none of you, after drinking old wine, wants the new, for you say, 'The old is better.' "
6:1 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. 2 Some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"
3 Jesus answered them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions." 5 Then Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
6 On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. 7 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. 8 But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." So he got up and stood there.
9 Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?"
10 He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored. 11 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Points of Interest:

• ‘disciples’—disciple means, ‘follower.’ It’s the term used for the students or trainees of a teacher.

• often fast and pray’—the law of Moses only called for fasting once a year, but the Pharisees, figuring more is better, would fast twice a week.

• ‘Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?’—It would be inappropriate, insulting even, to fast at a wedding; when a bride and groom invite you to celebrate with them, go through all the trouble of planning their reception, and spend $50 a plate, you don’t tell them, ‘None for me, thanks; I’m saving my appetite for later.’ Similarly, it is out of place for Jesus’ disciples to fast. It makes sense that the Pharisees and John’s disciples would fast. Fasting is an expression of a strong, unsatisfied desire. The Pharisees and John’s followers fast because they are waiting for something to happen. That’s not true for Jesus’ followers; rather than waiting for something to come, they’re celebrating someone who has. It would be silly for them to fast to express their longing for a savior, when they can just eat with the savior instead.

• ‘people do not pour new wine into old wineskins’—new wine expands in volume as it ferments, but old skins have already been stretched to their limits. So, if new wine is put into old skins, the skin breaks and the wine spills. Jesus is saying that he is new and different, and to try to fit him into the old categories just doesn’t work.

Jesus is primarily using the example of wine here because it serves as a good illustration of poor mixing between new and old, but I believe he also intends to draw on our associations with wine to describe the message he is bringing. Wine is a symbol of celebration, of fun, of abundance. In the Old Testament, it is often used as a sign of God’s blessing on and abundant provision for his people (Dictionary of Biblical Imagery 951-952. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998). So, by calling himself new wine, Jesus is saying that he is a gift from God of abundance and celebration.

• ‘The old is better’—Jesus doesn’t see much hope that the Pharisees will ever accept him. It’s not just that they’re making the honest mistake of putting new wine into old skins; they’re trying to force new wine to be old wine, because the very idea of new wine is distasteful to them.
At one time, the Pharisees were actually the bringers of new wine. When the people of God had completely forgotten about God’s law, the Pharisees were an exciting new reform movement, drawing people back to the law as a source of blessing. Over time, though, they’ve become rigid, like an old wineskin, unable to accept anything new. The problem with drinking only old wine is that, eventually, you run out. If you want to keep having wine, at some point you’ve got to drink new wine. The Pharisees’ insistence on old wine leaves them in the place of eventually having no wine at all.

• ‘what is unlawful on the Sabbath’—as I mentioned yesterday, the Pharisees are known for scrupulous, detailed observance of the law. They formed exact definitions of how to obey the laws laid down by Moses (Illustrated Bible Dictionary 1210). Their aim was absolute certainty as to what it meant to obey any particular law. The Sabbath was one of their particular areas of expertise. The Sabbath is the one day a week when God’s people were to make sure that they rest from their work. For the Pharisees, the big question regarding the Sabbath was, ‘What exactly constitutes work?’ They developed quite a detailed scheme for answering that question. In this particular situation, they determine that Jesus’ followers are breaking the Sabbath through a series of logic that goes something like this: work is prohibited on the Sabbath; harvesting a field is work; harvesting involves collecting the edible parts of plants; since Jesus’ followers are picking heads of grain, they are harvesting, and therefore working.

• ‘Have you never read what David did’—Jesus could reasonably argue with the Pharisees’ definition of work here, perhaps by suggesting that a certain number of heads of grain would have to be picked before it constituted harvesting. The Pharisees may even have responded enthusiastically to such a response: having debates, among themselves and with people from other schools, is just how the Pharisees would go about honing their definitions. However, Jesus doesn’t take that tack at all. Rather than accepting their methods but arguing with their conclusions, Jesus calls into question their entire approach to the law. He brings up an example when the great Jewish hero David clearly and blatantly broke the law, without being corrected or punished by God (The story is found in 1 Samuel 21: 1-6). This example shows that interpreting what is permissible is more complicated than the Pharisees’ system allows for. David’s story demonstrates one of two things (or, even more likely, both of them):

1. sometimes, strict obedience to a specific law can be trumped by the larger purpose of that law, or even by some other higher priority;

2. God gives some people the authority to re-interpret the law.

• ‘The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath’—it would be audacious enough for Jesus to claim the same privilege as David, the privilege to re-interpret the law in light of particular circumstances. But Jesus goes significantly beyond that, essentially saying that the Sabbath belongs to him, and he can do with it what he likes. Since the Sabbath was also known as ‘the Lord’s day,’ Jesus is pretty much saying he is God—or close enough to God that he would be given vast authority over the things of God.

In fact, this is the second time recently that Jesus has used a ‘Son of Man’ statement to claim divine authority: in yesterday’s passage, Jesus says, ‘the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’ which God alone can do, and here he is ‘Lord of the Sabbath.’ Jesus is very much making clear that he is new, and different, and his arrival is something special.

• ‘to see if he would heal on the Sabbath’—they would consider healing, like harvesting, as work which was prohibited on the Sabbath. One could make the claim that the Pharisees are actually working harder than Jesus or the man with the withered hand. Speaking a few words and stretching out your hand aren’t all that hard, and wouldn’t normally be considered work. Meanwhile, the Pharisees and teachers are working pretty hard at spying on Jesus and building a case against him. However, according to their precise definitions, Jesus is breaking the Sabbath and they are not.

• ‘But Jesus knew what they were thinking’—Jesus knows that they are hoping to get some dirt on him; but rather than avoid their trap, he consciously steps right into it. In this passage, Jesus seems to welcome any chance to distinguish himself from the Pharisees and the teachers.

• ‘do good or to do evil’—to the Pharisees and the teachers, the Sabbath is more or less about not doing much at all. To Jesus, the more important question is whether you are doing something helpful or harmful. Jesus is doing something helpful on the Sabbath, by healing the man’s hand. Meanwhile, the Pharisees and teachers are planning harm to Jesus. The lack of compassion and the amount of pure hatred the Pharisees show here is pretty astounding. They see someone with a withered hand, and they think, ‘Oh, good. This is a perfect opportunity for us to catch Jesus doing something wrong.’ They are glad the man is healed, but only because it gives them the excuse they need to work against Jesus.

Taking it home:

• For you and your family: Following God’s rules can be a tricky thing. On the one hand, it’s easy to apply them legalistically like the Pharisees do, and miss the whole point of them. On the other hand, we seem to need some rules; we don’t naturally do what’s best for us without some guidance. Jesus’ disciples seem to discover the key to getting the most out of God’s law: they stick close to Jesus, trusting him to help them best interpret the law for their situation. Why don’t you ask Jesus if he has any guidance for you from God’s law today?

• For your friends: It takes a new wineskin to hold new wine. Ask God to give your friends the containers they need for the blessings he has for them. Pray that they would be open to new things from God.

• For our city: Pray that the people of our entire city would be able to see Jesus for who he is, rather than try to force him into whatever categories we already have for him.