Morning Devotion for Tuesday the 17th
New Wineskins
Joanne Hansen
Today we are spending time at two very different places. This morning we will hear the story of the Jewish people suffering under evil oppression at the Yad Vashem holocaust museum and this afternoon we will visit the national museum and see the remains of thousands of years of history in the Holy Land. As we use this time to put things in perspective we need to challenge ourselves with sharing this Land, This People, This Word with others. What does it mean to be modern day disciples of the Rabbi Jesus and what do we do with His command to share this story with the world.
In Mark 2:22 we read:
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins."
Howard Snyder writes:
Every age knows the temptations to forget that the gospel is ever new. We try to contain the new wine of the gospel in old wineskins—outmoded traditions, obsolete philosophies, creaking traditions, old habits. But with time the old wineskins begin to bind the gospel. Then they must burst; and the power of the gospel pour forth once more. Many times this has happened in the history of the church. Human nature wants to conserve, but the divine nature is to renew. It seems almost a law that things initially created to aid the gospel eventually become obstacles—old wineskins. Then God has to destroy or abandon them so that the gospel wine can renew man's world once again. The gospel is new in our day. It is still "the power of God." It is still bursting old wineskins and flowing forth into the world.... But there is something else this parable teaches us—the necessity of new wineskins. Wineskins are not eternal. As time passes they must be replaced—not because the gospel changes, but because the gospel itself demands and produces change! New wine must be put into new wineskins—not once-for-all, but repeatedly, periodically.
New Wineskins
Joanne Hansen
Today we are spending time at two very different places. This morning we will hear the story of the Jewish people suffering under evil oppression at the Yad Vashem holocaust museum and this afternoon we will visit the national museum and see the remains of thousands of years of history in the Holy Land. As we use this time to put things in perspective we need to challenge ourselves with sharing this Land, This People, This Word with others. What does it mean to be modern day disciples of the Rabbi Jesus and what do we do with His command to share this story with the world.
In Mark 2:22 we read:
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins."
Howard Snyder writes:
Every age knows the temptations to forget that the gospel is ever new. We try to contain the new wine of the gospel in old wineskins—outmoded traditions, obsolete philosophies, creaking traditions, old habits. But with time the old wineskins begin to bind the gospel. Then they must burst; and the power of the gospel pour forth once more. Many times this has happened in the history of the church. Human nature wants to conserve, but the divine nature is to renew. It seems almost a law that things initially created to aid the gospel eventually become obstacles—old wineskins. Then God has to destroy or abandon them so that the gospel wine can renew man's world once again. The gospel is new in our day. It is still "the power of God." It is still bursting old wineskins and flowing forth into the world.... But there is something else this parable teaches us—the necessity of new wineskins. Wineskins are not eternal. As time passes they must be replaced—not because the gospel changes, but because the gospel itself demands and produces change! New wine must be put into new wineskins—not once-for-all, but repeatedly, periodically.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone
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