The Old is Good? (Luke 5:39)

 


Saturday, February 15, 2025


Psalm 104:1-25

Genesis 26:18-33

Luke 5:27-39


The Old is Good? (Luke 5:39)


As a qualified church curmudgeon, I feel obligated to say straight out of the gate that: no, you may not use this verse to argue against singing the classic hymns in church. Nor is it to be used by wine snobs, in either direction.


What our Lord is teaching us is that our faith is to be a living faith. The way we live as Christians is to be relevant to the circumstances before us. How so? Well, take Jesus’ illustration of the wedding party to start with. Jesus is feasting with repentant sinners. This is no cause for fasting and misery; and earlier this week (in the episode with Simon and the fish) we saw how Jesus does not dwell on sins forgiven, but treats them as a critical turning point from which to move on to the joy of forgiveness. This day is holy to the Lord: do not mourn or weep. (Nehemiah 8:9)


There will be time for fasting: the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them. For three miserable days the universe will pause as the eternal Son rests from his work on the cross.


The times after the resurrection are the times of which Jesus speaks when he refers to clothes and wineskins. The old garment, of temple sacrifice, and all that that system entailed, is the old. But the new garment are the clothes of righteousness Christ gives to all his sheep, who trust in him alone for their right standing with God. Christ’s atoning work on the cross has wiped away the need for continual animal sacrifices in the temple; in his own words, “it is finished”. Why take a piece from that old system and try and stitch it onto the new system of faith alone?


Some love old rituals. When it comes to liturgy, I am one of them. But our traditional patterns of worship mean nothing if they are not done in the spirit of faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross, his resurrection and exaltation, and his promise of everlasting life of those who bring nothing to him but their hearts. Our traditions are a gift to us from our forefathers in the faith, and we can only truly appreciate their gift if they are followed in the same faith they had, in the new wine of the new covenant of Christ’s blood for the forgiveness of sins.


Today is the day before the Lord’s Day. How will you spend it, preparing your heart to join in the Bridegroom’s Feast tomorrow? What of the old is holding you back from celebrating the joyous freedom in the new that Christ has given us?


Christ, you promise us that by keeping faith in you, you will bring us to the joy of the new creation: keep us from slipping into the dry ritualism of the old, so that we may always know what it means to be your disciple.

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