I have never really understood what Jesus was talking about when he gave the parable about not putting a piece of new cloth on an old garment. All four of the gospels record this parable, so the meaning must be important for us to understand.
The text of Matthew 9:16-17 says,
“No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment; for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.”
Jesus made this statement just after the Pharisees came and asked him a question about fasting. They wanted to know why the disciples of John the Baptist fasted, but the disciples of Jesus did not. Jesus explained to them that the disciples of John fasted because John was dead. However, His disciples didn’t need to fast because He was still on earth with them. He then goes into the parable.
After studying this parable I came to the conclusion that the old garment and old bottle symbolize the old religious system under the Pharisees. It was the system of a High Priest making atonement for the sins of the people through blood sacrifices. The new cloth and new wine symbolize Christ and the new religious system He is putting into place by his death on the cross.
He did not come to simply “patch up” the old system, or to tweak it by adding his death to it. No, he came to completely replace and abolish the old system. Furthermore even as the “rent is made worse”, Christ’s new system of redemption through His sacrifice for mankind will tear apart the old system of a mediator High Priest and animal sacrifices.
Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ became our High Priest and that He is even now at the right hand of God interceding for us. Thank God that we don’t have to go to a priest to make sacrifices for our sin to appease God. Jesus has been offered once and for all and now we can go directly to God in prayer through Jesus’ name!
For more articles by this blogger, please see:
Leading a Child to Christ in 4 Steps
How to Handle Those Crazy Sunday Mornings