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by Sandy Shaw
We come now to one of the trick questions with which the Pharisees and teachers of the law confronted Jesus.
In Luke Chapter 5 at verse 33, we see these religious leaders trying to set one group off against another. This is what I find difficult in the Bible – not the miracles – or the challenging teaching of Jesus – but the behaviour of the religious leadership at that time.
You would have thought the religious leaders might have been among His best friends, but they detested and hated Him, and within a short while they sought to kill Him, shaming Him publicly.
John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray, and so do our disciples, but Your disciples appear to go on eating and drinking.
Our group does this, and another group, not of our group, does that!
Jesus says that it is a time for joy and celebration. The days will come when it will be appropriate to fast and pray.
Verse 36. Jesus uses even this criticism for teaching.
There are certain things which don't mix. You cannot put new wine into old wineskins.
We read here of the folly of spoiling the new in an attempt to patch up the old. New wine, with all its liveliness and potential, must be put in new bottles.
There is also an indirect indication here that Jesus knew what it was to be raised in a home, where there was not a lot of money, and where patched clothes were part of His upbringing.
You cannot encapsulate and capture the life and power of the Holy Spirit within the old structures and rituals.
The majority are not always right. It was the majority who made the Golden Calf.
There are many lessons in Luke Chapter 5, but as I have been making my way through it yet again, I see how we are never to dismiss anyone. Some may dismiss themselves but that is a totally different matter.
Jesus was reaching out to those critics and Jesus continued to do this, and Jesus continues to reach out to His critics, and that is why we too must reach out to those who are critical and negative.
We are never to write off anyone as being hopeless.
Jesus Christ loves us just as we are, but He loves us far too much to leave us that way.
Keep in fellowship with Jesus. Keep returning to the manger and to Bethlehem – and to Gethsemane – and to Golgotha – to that ‘empty’ tomb – to the Upper Room – and keep in step with the Holy Spirit.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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