New Wine

New wine

“Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 
Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. 
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.  
Neither do men pour new wine into old wine skins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wine skins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wine skins, and both are preserved.” 
                                                                 Matthew 9:14-17.
Here’s a quick explanation of this passage based on several commentaries I’ve read.
Basically here Jesus is comparing himself to the bride groom and he makes it clear that the guests of the bride groom, his disciples, do not fast while the bride groom is with them. They rejoice.
He goes on to note that  “Neither do men pour new wine into old wine skins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wine skins will be ruined.”
He’s comparing his ministry to new wine.
In the time of Jesus wine was kept in goat skins. Old skins were already stretched to the maximum putting grape juice, new wine into them would expand as the grape juice expanded and would cause the old skin to rupture spilling the wine.
Jesus is saying his ministry is a new ministry that can no longer be contained in the structure of Judaism.
His ministry is for the whole world. Not just Israel.
Up until this point in time while there were converts to Judaism, Judaism itself was not a religion that evangelized.
Now Jesus was changing all of that by taking the belief in the one true God to the whole world.
This is why Jesus came to take the salvation message. The Love of God to all the nations of the world.
Think about it.