Matthew 9:16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

New cloth (not yet shrunken by washing) and old cloth should not be sewn together. New wine (unfermented grape juice) should not be put into old, inflexible containers. 

Understanding conditions is important. Being flexible and willing to change and adapt throughout life is also important.  The cloths represented conditions and the new wine/wineskins represented change and flexibility or inflexibility. 

The science and logic behind what Jesus said is easy to understand. What is more difficult is to pay attention to the changing conditions and dynamics of our lives and activities. In context, Jesus talked about conditions in His day in which religious leaders, like the Pharisees resisted Christ and the emerging Kingdom of God. Like old stiff wineskin containers, their inflexibility to the expanding “new wine” of God’s purpose was unacceptable. 

Today, we must evaluate our conditions, and our hearts, to determine what things, if any, may prevent us from being containers of “new wine” –– in whatever ways this may be applicable to our lives. 

Reflection Question: Is there anything old and “stiff” that cannot accept the new thing God is doing in your life?