What is the Parable of Cloth and Wineskins Really About?

Using an old way of thinking to do something that’s never been done before doesn’t always work. In fact, the two can be downright incompatible and doomed for failure.

Any system that doesn’t allow for growth will not stand the test of time.

Jesus tried to teach this lesson to the Pharisees using two illustrations in a parable: patching old garments with new material and putting new wine into old wineskins.

This short parable appears in three places in the New Testament: Matthew 9:14-17, Mark 2:18-22, and Luke 5:33-39. And as we study these analogies, we can find timeless lessons.

We’ll look at:

• Why the Pharisees questioned Jesus
• Unshrunk cloth on a new garment
• New wine in old wineskins
• How we can apply these lessons to our lives today

Let’s begin by looking at the context—the events that led Jesus to tell this parable in the first place.

Why the Pharisees questioned Jesus

The confrontation that prompted the garment and wineskins analogies was not a random happenstance. The Pharisees had taken notice of Jesus from early on in His public ministry.

But it wasn’t because they thought He was the Messiah. It was because they felt like He was dishonoring their traditions and breaking the religious laws they followed so closely.

Photo by Tanner Mardis on Unsplash

He was also gaining a devout following, causing them to become concerned that His actions and influence would threaten their power and position among the Jews.

For a long time, Pharisees were generally well respected. They were known for following Old Testament laws completely and literally. These laws went beyond the ten commandments (Exodus 20)—they included the mosaic laws (found in the first five books of the Bible) and other religious laws, often called “ceremonial laws” (found throughout the rest of the Old Testament).

In other words, Pharisees tried to seek internal holiness and purity through external means—by dedicating their lives to the strict application of the rules and rituals in the Old Testament, which were laid out for Israel after they were liberated from Egyptian slavery.

Jesus, however, was more concerned with restoring relationships with God and demonstrating what love looked like. It was time for Israel to mature spiritually.

So He healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons, preached new meaning into Scripture, reached out to “Gentiles,” and even “broke” the Sabbath…or the Pharisees’ understanding of the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-24).
Jesus’ ways didn’t fit within the Pharisees’ religious framework. From their point of view, as Pastor John Nixon II, MDiv, explains, He was “in violation of the well-known laws and religious rituals that all God-fearing Jews would have kept even from their youth.”¹

That, as you can imagine, directly conflicted with their efforts to enforce strict obedience among the Jews. New Testament professor Craig Bloomberg, PhD, points out that the Pharisees primarily “wanted to help people know where the boundaries of obedience and disobedience were…to make obedience possible in every area of life.²

And by doing so, they elevated themselves as prestigious, powerful, and favored by God above others—all while criticizing those who didn’t measure up.

To keep things this way, they also added their own rituals and requirements and applied Old Testament laws in extreme ways.³

For example, it was common for Israelites to fast once on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:26-28) and then on an “as needed” basis, but Pharisees routinely fasted twice a week (Luke 18:11-12).

And while tithing 10% of earnings was one of the laws of Moses (Leviticus 27:30-32), Pharisees would take it a step further and even tithe on the herbs they grew (Matthew 23:23).

So the problem wasn’t that Pharisees kept religious laws…it was that they fixated on technicalities while failing to practice the principles behind the laws, like “justice and mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23, ESV).

As a result, following these laws to the letter became a nearly impossible load for the people to carry (Matthew 23:1-4, Luke 11:46) because collectively, the Pharisees lacked compassion and empathy.

Which is why Jesus said of them,

“They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger” (Matthew 23:4, ESV).

 

“So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:28, ESV)

This is also what Jesus meant when He said He came not to disregard or destroy the law, but to clarify its interpretation and practice through His ministry (Matthew 5:17). All biblical laws pointed to Him and His lifestyle, which were based on relational virtues like love, mercy, and sacrifice.⁴

But the Pharisees were preoccupied with their own agenda and their own perception of the Messiah—a military conqueror who would restore the Jews as a nation by defeating their Roman oppressors.

So, just a few verses before the parable, we see the results of all these things simmering in their minds. They start grumbling and questioning Jesus when they see Him carefree and socializing with tax collectors and other “sinners” (Mark 2:15-16).

Tax collectors worked for the Roman government, so Jewish tax collectors were not only considered traitors to their own people, but they also were known to take more money than required and keep the extra for themselves.⁵

Yet Jesus had called Matthew, a tax collector also known as Levi, to be one of His disciples. Matthew then invited Jesus and the other disciples to eat with him at his house (Luke 5:29).

So when Jesus hears some Pharisees asking about the company He keeps, Jesus says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mathew 9:12-13, ESV).

Then another question was posed, asking why Jesus’ disciples don’t fast like the disciples of the Pharisees or like the disciples of John the Baptist do (Luke 5:33).

Here is where Jesus sees the value of a parable to help the people understand the big picture. He uses the wineskins and garment illustrations to show that their rigid old ways of thinking are not compatible with the spiritual growth and maturity of Jesus’ ways, which are all about fulfilling the true intent behind the law.

Let’s take a closer look at both of these illustrations to get a clearer picture of what Jesus means.

Unshrunk cloth on a new garment

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Buying worn, faded jeans with holes isn’t unusual today. But in the days of Jesus, clothes with tears or holes were patched so they could remain functional.

Jesus appealed to this familiar concept when He pointed out that you don’t use a piece of new cloth to patch an old piece of clothing (Mark 2:21). The old garment is weak, worn, and already shrunk while the new cloth isn’t. The new cloth, then, would pull on the old cloth as it shrunk and would likely make a new tear.

The new cloth would just make the blemish on the original piece of clothing look more unsightly instead of making it look like one uniform piece of clothing. And if it creates a new tear, it becomes completely useless as a patch.

When the materials don’t match, they work against each other instead of together for the benefit of the whole.

In using this analogy, Jesus is saying to the Pharisees that:

1. Something that needs mending requires well-matched material, and
2. Jesus’ enlightened fulfillment of the law isn’t just a “patch” to be applied to the many laws and traditions the Pharisees follow.⁶

There needs to be a whole new system.

The Pharisees’ old system was spiritually immature because they couldn’t see beyond the rituals themselves. It didn’t match Jesus’ new approach to fulfilling the law and spreading the Gospel.

Jesus’ new system, later called “the Way” (John 14:6, Acts 24:14), was actually the beginning of early Christianity (Acts 11:26).

Want to learn more about how the Christian church started? Take a look at The Early Christian Church and Paul the Apostle: His Life and Role in Christianity.

New wine in old wineskins

After the cloth and patch illustration, Jesus included another helpful analogy.

Today, wine is aged in a variety of containers such as steel, cement, terracotta, or oak barrels.

But in the days of Jesus, people used animal skins, most often goat skins, to hold fluids.⁷

After fresh grape juice was put into these soft pouches, they would gradually stretch because of the gas produced from fermentation. That’s why wineskins were only useful for this fermentation process once.

Putting new wine in old skin that had already been stretched would make the skin burst.⁸

So new wine and old wineskins weren’t compatible because old wineskins lost their ability to expand.

New wine needed fresh wineskins that hadn’t been stretched yet and were still flexible.

Jesus uses this metaphor to show the Pharisees that their hardened hearts and old ways of thinking had lost the ability to grow. They became stiff and inflexible…like old wineskins.

Jesus’ new way required a new, deeper perspective of God’s plan of salvation and the whole intent behind it. His way required growth, adaptability, and flexibility…like new wineskins.

And that explains why the Pharisees didn’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah He really was. He didn’t fit into their assumptions and pharisaical system of thought. They poured so much of their self-worth into their own ways that they became stubborn and no longer teachable.

How these lessons apply to our lives today

When answering the Pharisees’ question about who He was spending time with, Jesus left them with a call to action—to “learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’” (Matthew 9:13, ESV).

This can be a valuable lesson for us to learn, as well.

The Pharisees were obsessed with sacrifice and ceremonial purity. But without mercy, this pursuit leads to isolation and prejudice…favoring one’s own group and culture over another, as the Pharisees demonstrated.

But Jesus’ ministry emphasized purity of heart, which is achieved through faith and dependence on God.

Coupling sacrifice with mercy, then, leads to building positive relationships with all kinds of people, as Jesus demonstrated.

Here are some ways to live out the spiritual lessons Jesus taught.

Use methods that fit the needs of the community and the Gospel mission, like Jesus did.

In this passage, Jesus isn’t saying that the older something is, the less useful it becomes.

He also isn’t saying that just because something is new, it’s automatically better.

Both have value, regardless of how old or new they are. This principle isn’t actually about age at all.

Something becomes useful in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ if it’s compatible with the mission of the Gospel.⁹

That’s the measure we should be using.

Keeping tradition for the sake of tradition doesn’t always meet the needs of the community it’s supposed to serve.

Similarly, just being “new” doesn’t automatically fix a problem. It might be flashy and sparkly, but it may not meet the needs of the community it’s supposed to serve, either.

The method must match the need.¹⁰

For example, fasting was a spiritual practice in Jesus’ day that was associated with mourning, and weddings were (and continue to be) a time to celebrate. Weddings were so joyous, in fact, that “many rabbis taught that weddings took priority over many religious obligations.”¹¹

That’s why, right before the cloth and wineskin illustrations, Jesus answered the Pharisees’ question about fasting by saying:

“Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days’” (Mark 2:19-20, NKJV).

Because Jesus was physically present with His disciples, there was no need for them to fast because they didn’t need to mourn. The “bridegroom” was with them.

The disciples would fast, though, once Jesus returned to heaven and was no longer physically present with them.

In this case, fasting (mourning) did not meet the needs of His disciples.

Jesus Himself met their needs.

Always be teachable

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The Christian life calls for strong faith, but also a healthy amount of humility.

We have to remain teachable.

Living a Christian lifestyle means we’re constantly growing and improving in Christ. When we think we know everything, it gets in the way of us learning anything new.

Here are some questions we can ask ourselves to help us remain teachable:

• “How do personal or cultural assumptions and biases influence my thinking?”
• “To what extent have I been conditioned to believe things that might not be true?”
• “How do the beliefs I have uncritically accepted keep me from seeing things as they are?”¹²
• “Are there any old ways of thinking that are getting in the way of spiritual truths being revealed to me?”

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (ESV).

The Pharisees’ assumptions about what the Messiah would do and how He would do it blinded them to the “new thing” that was right before their eyes in Jesus Christ.

It’s easy to keep doing things how they’ve always been done. And traditions can be healthy and meaningful. But we also need to be willing to ask ourselves why we continue our traditions and be willing to grow beyond our comfort zones.

It takes some real effort, but we can learn to recognize assumptions and biases within our thinking that could affect our relationships with others and with God.

Don’t put God in a box

When we remain flexible in our thinking, we give God infinite space to work in and through us in ways we can’t even imagine.

The principles Jesus demonstrated, like loving others, reconciliation, standing up for justice and mercy, having unwavering faith in God…these are principles that have not and will not change.

But times change and cultures continually shift, so the methods God encourages us to use to practice these principles may look different.

When the Israelites were in Egyptian captivity, God saved them by parting the Red Sea so the Israelites could walk on dry land to their freedom (Exodus 14).

Many generations later, the Israelites are in captivity again, but this time by the Babylonians.

And the Israelites are discouraged and despondent and waiting to hear from the Lord.

It’s during this bleak time that God encourages the Israelites by saying, “Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19, CSB).

He saved them before and He would take them out of captivity again—but not the same way He did it in the past.

Just because God used one method for one group at one time doesn’t mean He’ll use the same method at another time.

So if our thinking is rigid and inflexible, we might miss the blessing that’s right before us because it doesn’t look like we expect it to look.

Rigid thinking puts God in a box and limits what He can do in and through our lives.

He is a God of impossibilities (Matthew 17:20, Mark 9:23, Luke 18:27).

Ephesians 3:20-21 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever” (NKJV).

As we hold on to faith in Him, we can expect Him to do things in ways we’ve never seen before.

Accept your newness, too!

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God makes us new, too.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV).

When a person gives their life to Jesus, that means their heart, their thinking, and their lifestyle will slowly change as an expression of love to Him.

Their old way of thinking and living will no longer be compatible with their new life in Christ.

That’s why there can sometimes be tension in the life of a Christian….tension between the old and the new.

When Jesus taught the disciples how to pray (Matthew 6:9-13), He said to ask for God’s “kingdom [to] come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10, ESV).

Christians are called to continually pray for God’s will to be done in their lives and through His people.

And that will be revealed in the newness of our lives as we get to know Him more and more.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2 ESV).

While becoming transformed and applying all these lessons might feel overwhelming or even impossible…like it’s just too much for one person to do…we can remember that God sent the Holy Spirit to help us (John 14:26, 1 Corinthians 3:16).

All we have to do is ask (Matthew 21:22).

Want to learn about more illustrations Jesus used in parables?

1. Nixon II, John. “Old Wineskins,” Takoma Park Seventh-day Adventist Church, January 5, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDRFIEbtMoc. [↵]
2. Blomberg, Craig. “Religious Backgrounds (Part 2),” biblicaltraining.org, https://www.biblicaltraining.org/learn/institute/survey-gospels-acts-nt511/nt511-04-religious-backgrounds-2 [↵]
3. DelHousaye, John. “Jewish Groups at the Time of the New Testament,” in The ESV Study Bible, Crossway, 2008, p. 1800. [↵]
4. Wilkins, Michael J. “Notes on Matthew,” in The ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version, Crossway, 2008 p. 1828. [↵]
5. Ryan, Joel. “Why Exactly Were Tax Collectors So Hated?” https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/why-exactly-were-tax-collectors-so-hated.html [↵]
6. Bayer, Hans. “Mark,” in The ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version, Crossway, 2008, p. 1897. [↵]
7. Keener, Craig. “Mark,” in NIV Cultural Background Study Bible, edited by John H. Walton and Craig S. Keener, Zondervan, 2016, p. 1689. [↵]
8. “Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers,” Biblehub, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/9-17.htm. [↵]
9. Nixon II, John. “Old Wineskins,” Takoma Park Seventh-day Adventist Church, January 5, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDRFIEbtMoc. [↵]
10. Ibid. [↵]
11. Keener, Craig. “Mark,” in NIV Cultural Background Study Bible, edited by John H. Walton and Craig S. Keener, Zondervan, 2016, p. 1689. [↵]
12. Paul, Richard and Linda Elder. “Essential Intellectual Traits,” The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools 8th ed., Rowman & Littlefield, 2020. [↵]

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