Rev Gav

Change

Luke 5:39

³⁹ But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”

Reflect

Jesus explained how he was doing a new thing — that you got close to God through relationship and not by following a set of rules, regulations, or laws, and he finished with this proverb about wine. A ‘Vintage Cru’ is the best old wine, so what did it mean that people, after tasting the old wine, didn’t want the new?

Jesus was using a saying or proverb of the day to explain that some people who enjoyed the old way of thinking (namely the Pharisees) wouldn’t want to accept Jesus’ new way of thinking. They wouldn’t be able to accept that God was doing a new thing in the world through the person of Jesus, and they wouldn’t be able to accept that you got close to God through relationship rather than by following rules.

People are the same today. Lots of people don’t like change, and this is as true in the church as it is anywhere else. Leaders, business managers and even church ministers sometimes get trained in ‘change management’ to help people make the transition from old ways of thinking to new ways of thinking. But here’s a thing. As soon as we think that everyone else should be doing something our way, then we’ve locked things down and we’re the ones who aren’t open to change!

The story of Christianity in the world is the story of a relationship between people and God. The methods, systems, and the style are constantly adapting, but the relationship is the same. The Holy Spirit is constantly at work in the world, as culture changes, helping us creatively express our relationship with God.

Do

How do you express your relationship with God, and how is it different to someone in a different generation — perhaps older or younger? Today, allow the Spirit to move you into new ways of thinking. Commit to being open to change.

Pray

Holy God
Help me embrace change;
to be ready for you to do a new thing
in my life and in the lives of those around me.
Help me see where your Spirit is at work,
that I might join in with what you’re doing;
and be an agent for good
and a light in the darkness.
This day and for ever.
Amen.

Think

Does this teaching of Jesus mean that everything from the old way of thinking — from Judaism — is now invalid?