Wine & Wine skins and the Calling of Matthew

In church this weekend we looked at the story in Luke 5 where Jesus calls Matthew to follow Him. As I looked at the parallel stories in Matthew and Mark, I noticed that each author follows that story with a parable that Jesus tells about wine and wine skins. The gist of the parable is that you can't put new wine in old wine skins. The point is that the old ways of the Israelite people no longer work in the new Kingdom of God that Jesus is bringing. The question I was asking was, "Is there a connection between the idea of new wine and old wine skins and the calling of Matthew?" As I looked at the story it seems to me that there are parts of Matthew's call that show the new wine that Jesus' kingdom is bringing to those who will receive it.

Here's what I saw...

Verses	Old Wine skins	New Wine
27	You Come to the Rabbi.	The Rabbi comes to you.
30	You Honor God by Fasting.	You Honor God by Feasting.
32	Your Righteousness is determined by your Isolation from the world.	Your righteousness is determined by your Influence in the world.

Verse 27 - Old Wineskin: You come to the Rabbi. / New Wine: The Rabbi comes to you.

In the old way of thinking, you sought after God. You sacrificed, you served, you worshipped in the hope that something you did would draw God to you and cause Him to be pleased with you. But Jesus is bringing a Kingdom in which the Rabbi comes to you. Jesus calls Matthew from his life of betrayal and embezzlement. Jesus doesn't go the temple to find the most righteous people to follow Him. He seeks out those who are lost. Jesus approaches the most rejected sinner in His culture and calls him to follow. In the Kingdom of Heaven, God loves us...God accepts us...God forgives us...God gives Himself for us...God calls out to us....God welcomes us...and then we come to to Him. This new wine won't fit in the old wineskin of desperately seeking God's approval. In the new Kingdom, God takes the initiative and all we have to do is accept His invitation.

Verse 30 - Old Wineskin: You honor God by fasting. / New Wine: You honor God by feasting.

In the old way of thinking, God was most pleased by our misery. God took the greatest joy when we were the most unhappy. The way of that Kingdom was of unsatisfied hungers, unrequited passions, unfulfilled desires and aching want. But in the Kingdom that Jesus brings, God takes delight in our pleasure. He joins us at the feast table and receives our pleasure as an honor to His provision. God's ultimate goal is not for us to live bland lives of denial and abstinence. He desires that we harness every pleasure as a conduit of His praise. This wine will not fit in the old wineskin that views self-denial as the highest act of worship. In the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus brings each bite of cheesecake...each smell of freshly cut grass...each sound of baby's laughter...each lover's touch...every sensation of pleasure honors God.

Verse 32 - Old Wineskin: Your righteousness is determined by your isolation from the world. / New Wineskin: Your righteousness is determined by your influence in the world.

In the old way of thinking, we honored God most to the extent that we withdrew from the lost of the world. The idea was to avoid any and all contact with lost people. You would never find "good people" in the homes, or sharing a meal with "sinners." But the Kingdom that Jesus brings is one of engagement. We are called to maintain our own purity while reaching out into the darkness of our lost world. God is not ultimately honored by cloistered communities of snobby self-righteousness. This wine will not fit in that old wineskin. God is most honored when His Kingdom advances to bring hope into a lost world.

It seems like the gospel writers are all trying to make the same point here.

Be willing to rethink everything you thought you knew about God and His Kingdom. Because a new Kingdom is coming and it changes everything.