27.September.2026
The wineskin metaphor did not show up out of nowhere. It came as a direct answer to a direct challenge. John’s disciples came to Jesus asking why His own disciples did not fast the way everyone expected a devout follower to fast.
Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? Matthew 9:14
Jesus was being measured against an existing religious practice, and His answer was not to defend Himself inside their categories. It was to explain why the categories themselves could not exist within what the Father instructed Him to do and therefore He was doing.
“No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Matthew 9:16-17
An old wineskin has already stretched and hardened around whatever it once held. New wine still ferments, and expands, needing room to move. Pour it into something rigid and the container cannot survive the pressure, and neither can the wine be preserved once it spills out. Jesus was not saying the old was worthless, He was saying it was the wrong shape for what He was bringing, and trying to force it the new into it would destroy them both.
“And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ Luke 5:39
That line identifies the real challenge. It is not that people cannot recognize new wine, it is that the old has already satisfied them, and satisfaction breeds resistance to anything that seeks to change the old way. But God’s own pattern has never been to stay confined to what had been established.
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?
Isaiah 43:18-19
A new thing was never God’s exception. It was God’s habit, long before Jesus stood in front of the men who were measuring Him by an old wineskin’s shape. The question was never whether God would move. Rather, it was whether the container in front of Him could survive the movement.
Where has “the old is better” become my position toward what God is doing now?
If you have never given your life to Jesus Christ, you can do that right now. Pray this with me:
Dear Heavenly Father,
I confess that I have sinned, and I believe Jesus died for my sins and rose again on the third day. I ask Jesus, come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. Thank You for saving me.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Make today count and see you tomorrow.
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