Mark 2:18-22 ~ new wine

Mark 2:18-22 ~

(Today's New International Version)

18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?"

19 Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

21 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If they do, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And people do not pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins."


Charles Spurgeon loved this passage Isaiah 45:22, as his favorite.

This fits in so well with today's reading, we are going to pull from the 25 verses of Isaiah 45:

Isaiah 45:
5 I am the LORD, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
though you have not acknowledged me,
6 so that from the rising of the sun
to the place of its setting
men may know there is none besides me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other.

9 "Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker,
to him who is but a potsherd
among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
'What are you making?'
Does your work say, 'He has no hands'?


22 "Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth; for I am God,
and there is no other.


New wine - being changed by Jesus, seeing our lives as a gift from God and for God, not just another salmon swimming upstream without hope and going through the daily work.

Old wine - what is valued, mellowed, cherished.

What is Jesus telling us? We cannot change, cannot save ourselves. We cannot do it ourselves. With God all things are possible. Every day, we take our old wine - the things we value, the things the world expects, old hurts, the things that concern us. And we put them before God - the new wine of the Holy Spirit. Then we see the blessings and we thank Him.

Blessed be God, who creates light out of darkness.

We are new creatures in Christ Jesus, not controlled by the old values, but placing ourselves in front of Father God as His children.

Isaiah 45:
19 I have not spoken in secret,
from somewhere in a land of darkness;
I have not said to Jacob's descendants,
'Seek me in vain.'
I, the LORD, speak the truth;
I declare what is right.
20 "Gather together and come;
assemble, you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood,
who pray to gods that cannot save.
21 Declare what is to be, present it—
let them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago,
who declared it from the distant past?
Was it not I, the LORD ?
And there is no God apart from me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none but me.

22 "Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.

23 By myself I have sworn,
my mouth has uttered in all integrity
a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.
24 They will say of me, 'In the LORD alone
are righteousness and strength.' "
All who have raged against him
will come to him and be put to shame.
25 But in the LORD all the descendants of Israel
will be found righteous and will exult.





Father God,

In all situations, in Joy, in upset, in anger (Your Word tells us anger is not wrong but stay in self-control) in seeking Blessing of Yours - we need Gratitude.

Sometimes we need to think of our favorite Jesus moment in life or in the Word of God. Thinking of Jesus reaching down to make sure Peter is fine, plucking him out of the water. I was thinking in prayer of being on the boat and Proclaiming Christ the Lord when the wind and the waves are calmed by the Word of God.

We pray more gratitude. We pray more comfort of the Holy Spirit.

We pray Healing. We pray Loved One Covered.

We pray Jesus on the Nation. We pray Jesus on the Media and Hollywood. We pray Jesus all over this world. On the believers of today and the Children of God tomorrow.

We say Amen for all this Prayer with Jesus Christ, Son of God. Amen.