- No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.
- And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
- And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, “The old is better.” (Luke 5:36–39)
“In almost unanimous consent, interpreters and commentators have agreed that the old wine, old wineskins and the old coat are all symbols of Judaism and Law whereas the new wine and the new coat are symbols of Christianity and Grace.”
The problem with the interpretation is the closing line of Luke 5:39, “No one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good’” (or “the old is better”). This troublesome verse is found only in Luke’s version of the double parable, and even then the Western version of the text omits it. It creates a serious problem for the interpretation because it seems to reverse the value assigned to the new wine. If the gospel is represented by the new wine, then the statement and even the entire metaphor is ridiculous in Yeshua’s mouth. It is “as if Yeshua was comparing Judaism to good claret and the gospel to cheap plonk”
Recognizing that the interpretation is flawed, several scholars have made valiant attempts to reinterpret the double parable in a manner consistent with the rest of the Gospels. R.S. Good (1983) and David Flusser (1979), for example, both explain the words “the old is better” by reversing the direction of the entire double parable in Luke. According to R. S. Good, Luke intentionally reinterpreted the two parables to mean that the old is better because it is the old Israel that Yeshua has come to save.
I am excited about this interpretation, the Pharisees were adding to the Law with all of their “traditions of man”, adding their new yoke to what God had told Moses. They were adding their patchwork to the old coat!
Jesus is telling the parables to judgemental Pharisees:
The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.”
(Luk 5:30-33 NASB)
Therefore it seems, it was the Pharisees that had invented a “new” covenant and a “new” religion, with their fasts and other “customs”, and Jesus had come to set things back on the original “old” course.
The 3 quotes above were paraphrased from an article on the topic that I enjoyed, but didn’t agree with the conclusion.
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