St. John's Lutheran
As Jesus Poured His Blood on the Cross...You Receive His Grace & Mercy in Forgiveness of YOUR Sins!
Luke 5:33-39 New International Version
Jesus Questioned About Fasting 33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” 34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.” 36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’"
Wednesday - February 16
Does Martin Luther’s distinction between the Law and the Gospel help you understand these two parables from Jesus? Jesus is the Gospel! The “new wine” mercy and forgiveness cannot “fit” into the “old skins” of the Law. New wine ferments and creates gas. It needs new skins that will stretch and allow the wine and gas to expand. The Gospel is not the Law. But those who love the “old wine” of the Law, like the Pharisees, have a hard time drinking the “new wine” of God’s unmerited favor. It does not fit into their “old skins” so they reject it and continue to drink the old wine of the Law. Jesus came to pour out the “new wine” of his blood on the cross. His mercy and grace comes pouring out bursting through and forgiving sins forever! Even yours!