The Gospel of Luke 5:39 When God Says...I Say, AMEN!

When God Says …

“No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.” (Luke 5:39 KJV).

Luke finishes his account of the Lord Jesus' metaphors of the wine and wineskin with a statement of man’s natural tendency. Man’s addictive tendency by force of habit desires the literal aged-wine better. That’s the state of those who had been duped for so long by the old covenant defiled by doctrines carved out by religion. In earlier passages, the Lord Jesus explains that the freedom He offers cannot coexist with the stiff religious requirements of the Pharisees. He eats with sinners, celebrates instead of mourns, and treats the Sabbath as a blessing, not as a burden filled with corrupted and corruptive regulations (Luke 5:29–35).

This parable seems familiar, yet it's easy to miss its intended symbolism. Old wine is, indeed, preferred to new in the natural human desire because it is aged and better. The same comparison can't be made with the old traditions of the Pharisees. What matters here is not much on the wine but on the drinker. That is, those who are used to the old traditions will find Jesus' new ways very difficult to accept. That was certainly the case in the early church as the Jewish believers had difficulty associating with the Gentiles who followed Christ but were not bound by the Old Testament laws (Acts 15:1-35).

The passage is also worth reflecting that literal wine eventually spoils. "Bad wine" goes bad faster especially defiled by contaminants, like oxidation and improper storage. The religious doctrines and traditions of the Pharisees are bad additives to the old covenant/"wine", but the "drinkers" are used to it and have grown accustomed to the taste. Besides, the fine wine of the Mosaic covenant of the law had an expiration date (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

The old wine representing the old covenant of the law was temporary. It was given as a guardian to manage the unruly behaviors of the Jews (Galatians 3:24-25). They rebelled against God’s direct rule by grace from Egypt to Mount Sinai. They said "we will do everything the Lord has said” (Exodus 19:8). They boasted doing by themselves without God’s hand directly guiding them. Hence, God gave them the law to make them realize they needed the saving grace of God. The law was to manage them until Grace in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is come. Hence, the Lord Jesus now is offering the new wine of the gospel of grace which they and us all need that will never go bad.

Scriptures reveal: “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:13 ESV).

And I say, AMEN!

Daily reflections by:
F. A. Frias
PFC Ministries

When God says... I say, AMEN! is a provocative reflection of the Lord's holy Word. It intends to challenge every seeker of truth to dig deep into the core of the Word of Life to point every being to Christ Jesus - the author and finisher of our faith, and to draw revelations for change, for nourishment and for strength of every soul.

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