Jesus’ teaching stretched the old law. He stretched it, but did not nullify it. He once said that he came, not to abolish the old law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). And, in order to fulfill the law, he would need to stretch it. This caused tension between the Jewish tradition and the Christian practice. With Jesus, the salvation of the world extended to all people; with Jesus all of humanity makes up the “Chosen people,” because all people are made in the image and likeness of almighty God.
Jesus stretched the understanding of mercy and forgiveness to a scandalous length. He dined with sinners, pardoned a prostitute, and worked on the Sabbath to heal people who were crippled. Jesus’ metaphor of the wineskins paints a clear picture for his teaching. His listeners would have understood the message. Old wineskins cannot hold new wine – they burst.
We have heard how Jesus astounded many Israelites at the way he spoke with such authority. This was unlike the way that the scribes and Pharisees spoke to the people, as they would carefully cite Torah passages and popular rabbis. Jesus warned of pouring the new wine of his teaching into old receptacles of the law.
It raises the question: Do we try to fit the Lord’s teaching into our tried and true containers which provide comfortable and convenient vessels for our understanding? But God’s vision will stretch them in order to embrace the divine will.