And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins--and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins. – Mark 2:22 (ESV)
The Pharisees’ disciples fast, but Jesus’ disciples didn’t. The Pharisees said “no” to people grazing on the Sabbath, but Jesus says, “It’s OK.” We often think, “Those silly Pharisees – won’t they ever get it right?” And, by the grace of God, we sometimes recognize how we are like the Pharisees. While, yes, we know that Pharisees did not get along with Jesus and that, yes, Jesus had some sharp words with them, we still think that there are things that are much worse for us to do. But the theology of the Pharisees and the theology of Jesus are incompatible. Their traditions will be destroyed by the very God they are attempting to honor. When we become the Pharisee, we are in a very precarious place indeed.
