Tag Archives: John’s disciples

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – NEW CLOTH, NEW WINE

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NEW CLOTH, NEW WINE

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”

19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wine-skins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wine-skins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wine-skins.” Mark 2:18-22

The people who came to Jesus with their question about fasting are unspecified: perhaps observant, perhaps curious, perhaps interested, or perhaps critical; who knows? They were looking in on a situation of religious observance from the outside. Perhaps they were more impressed by the discipline of the disciples of John and the Pharisees than by the happy-go-lucky attitude of Jesus and His disciples. These were frivolous compared with the religious austerity of the other men.

Jesus’ reply is surprising, exactly reflecting the scenario these people were questioning. What was He saying? “Haven’t you people got it yet? Don’t you recognise that it’s party time? The bridegroom is here and He has come to claim His bride. This is not time for austerity. It’s time to enter into the celebration.”

He adds two earthy but cryptic observations – new cloth, new wine; old garment, old wine-skins. This should have alerted the listeners that something big is going on here; a big upheaval in their thinking and in their system is happening. New cloth and new wine are not yet in a static and inflexible state. They have to be connected to something that will move with them.

The old system, represented by statutory fasting and all the other disciplines attached to it, has lost its heart. It is no longer flexible, elastic and living, able to move and grow. It cannot hold the new wine of the Spirit, the dynamic, mysterious life of God, without being ruptured by its power. God’s life cannot flourish in a rigid form. Jesus said that the life of the Spirit is like the wind, invisible, unpredictable but dynamic in its outcome. If we try to pour it into a rigid system of rules and ritual, it will explode the system and dissipate.

Like every other aspect of life in the Spirit, fasting must be of the heart, motivated by love and obedience and directed towards a higher purpose – seeking fellowship and oneness with the Father, flowing in harmony with the unpredictable life of the Spirit.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – YES OR NO?

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YES OR NO?

“John’s disciples reported back to him the news of all these events taking place. He sent two of them to the Master to ask the question, ‘Are you the One we’re expecting or are we still waiting?’ The men showed up before Jesus and said, ‘John the Baptist sent us to ask you, “Are you the one we’re expecting or are we still waiting?”‘ 

“In the next two or three hours Jesus healed many from disease, distress and evil spirits. To many of the blind He gave the gift of sight. Then He gave His answer: ‘Go back and tell John what you have just seen and heard: The blind see; the lame walk; lepers are cleansed; the deaf hear; the dead are raised; the wretched of the earth have God’s salvation hospitality extended to them. Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourself fortunate!'” Luke 7:18-23.

Poor John!

He was sitting in a dungeon at King Herod’s good pleasure. Would it not have been reasonable for him to expect Jesus to do something about him? After all, He was family and he, John, had paved the way for Him! And besides, didn’t the Scriptures prophesy that He would set captives free?

What did John expect? Perhaps, at the very least, Jesus could have gone to Herod and put in a good word for him. Day after day he sat in his prison, waiting and hoping for release, only to be disappointed. He began to doubt that Jesus was the Messiah, after all. Perhaps He was a hoax. The longer he sat there, the more the doubts plagued him.

He had to find out. At least he would know whether there was any hope of being rescued before Herod got it into his head to execute him. He couldn’t go himself, so he sent for a few of his disciples to go for him. ‘Master,’ they asked Jesus, ‘John wants to know whether you are really the Messiah, or do we have to keep waiting for someone else to come?’

Jesus gave them no direct answer. All He said was, ‘Watch and listen.’ So they followed Him around, watching and listening. After some hours He asked them, ‘So? What have you just seen and heard? Now go and tell John all about it.’ He gave them a resume’ of the miracles He had done over the last while. ‘Ask him if this is what he was expecting? If it was, then he is truly blessed.’

What was going on here? John’s circumstances were getting to him. No one can blame him. Who can endure incarceration like that and not give in to self-pity. He had preached that the kingdom of God was a realm of generosity and unselfish service but, in his own suffering, he had begun to turn inward. Hoping that Jesus would mount a rescue, he could not understand why nothing had happened. Perhaps he had been mistaken after all.

His disciples returned with an answer he had not quite expected. A straight ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ would have been better. Instead, in typical “Jesus” fashion, He invited John to weigh up the evidence and decide for himself. That was His way of convincing him who He was according to the evidence and the Scriptures.

John was a rabbi and, of course he had memorised the entire Hebrew Scriptures. He would have immediately caught on to what Jesus was saying. ‘John, don’t take my word for it. Take another look at what the Scriptures say about me and then decide for yourself.’ The Messianic fingerprint was clearly visible in the Old Testament prophecies. All John had to do was to match it up with what Jesus was doing.

Whether or not Jesus got him released was irrelevant. Overshadowing Herod was God’s hand and he had to rest in that. His story was being written into God’s bigger story and Jesus was writing the meaning of that story into the lives of sick, maimed and side-lined people. It was up to John to answer his own question.

We all have to decide whether Jesus is the Messiah or not. Weigh up the evidence. Is He? Then follow Him!

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – THE BRIDEGROOM IS HERE!

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THE BRIDEGROOM IS HERE!

“They asked Him, ‘John’s disciples are well-known for keeping fasts and saying prayers. Also the Pharisees. But you seem to spend most of your time at parties. Why?’ Jesus said, ‘When you are celebrating a wedding, you don’t skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to pull in your belt, but this isn’t the time. As long as the bride and groom are with you, you have a good time. When the groom is gone, the fasting can begin. No one throws water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come.

‘No one cuts up a fine silk scarf to patch old work clothes; you want fabrics that match. And you don’t put wine in old cracked bottles, you get strong, clean bottles for your fresh vintage wine. And no one who has ever tasted fine aged wine prefers unaged wine.'” Luke 5:32-39.

What was that all about? Weddings; wine; mending old clothes? How did that answer their question about fasting and prayer?

John was the last of the Old Testament prophets, who had faithfully practised and taught his disciples the requirements of the religious system he represented. Part of the ritual was the daily prayers and the required fasting which he and his disciples had engaged in while he was alive. He had not been a disciple of Jesus in the sense of following Him as the Twelve were doing.

Although Luke did not record the circumstances of John’s death, we can assume that by this time Herod had killed him, and that his disciples were continuing where he left off.

Those who questioned Jesus had noticed the difference between John’s and Jesus’ disciples. While John’s followers were practicing their religion, Jesus and His disciples seemed to be a happy-go-lucky lot, going to banquets and feasting instead of fasting.

Jesus answered, using the imagery of the Old Testament Scriptures. Wine and weddings were familiar pictures of Israel and her relationship with God. At Sinai after their deliverance from Egypt, God invited His people into a marriage relationship with Himself, using wedding talk to engage their understanding of how He viewed the union He desired to have with them.

The life He offered them to return to, in spite of their persistent waywardness and spiritual adultery, was like spicing up their lives with wine. “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” Isaiah 55:1 (NIV).

On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came, the followers of Jesus were accused of being drunk, and they were — on the new wine of the Holy Spirit! Jesus had not come to patch up an old, worn-out religious system with “a silk scarf”. He had come to bring something altogether new, so radical in its newness that it could never be poured into the old wineskins of rules and ritual, which is what Judaism had become, another “ism” of performance which most of them could not keep up.

The kingdom of God is a kingdom of joy and celebration. They had to learn that their God is a joyful, glad God, not a mad or sad God. This was all about a wedding and at a wedding no one fasts! When Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding, He made enough of the best quality wine to keep the celebration going for many days.

Jesus had lit a fire because the kingdom of God had arrived, and He wanted no one to put it out by dousing it with old rigid practices that extinguished its joy. The wedding feast had begun, the new wine was flowing, hearts were being set ablaze because the Bridegroom had finally come!

Where do you fit in? Are you still clinging to the old stuff that makes you want to abstain? Come, join the party because the Bridegroom is here.

CHAPTER SIX