Why wineskins?

In New Testament era Israel wineskins were a common tool used in the process of winemaking. Wine was generally fermented grape juice commonly used because of the poor quality of water. The wineskins were most often whole goatskins sewn and treated to provide an appropriate vessel for a year’s current production. The skins were vented at one point to allow the gases produced in fermentation to escape. The process of fermentation is the reason new wineskins were required. Skins became brittle over time which rendered them risky as vessels of the current vintage.

For Jesus the wineskin was convenient tool to assist his audience to better reflect on his teaching and on their experience of his ministry. What he taught and how he lived both required his audience to make changes in their personal and religious lives. His parable of the wineskins sought to ease this process.

His audience had personal experience with wineskins that had failed. His analogy transfers that knowledge making it applicable to his point: the failure of current religious practice and belief to represent the revelation of God guiding the Jewish people. Equally the people need to change how they lived with each other. Their relationship to God and their relations with each other had been poorly served by the pharisaic turn in Judaism.

The parable was also a metaphor for the new teaching and new relationships needing new containers. Jesus taught that their faith must become more internal in motivation so that externally their actions demonstrated more devotion to God and more love for others. The difficulties of breaking these long-held habits required a new experience with God—the Holy Spirit.

The parable was not for first generation followers of Jesus alone. This parable, like all the words of Jesus, also provides meaning for each succeeding generation. My assumption is: the varietal faith remains consistent with each generation experiencing and producing a vintage that requires new wineskins. This process is under the Holy Spirit as Jesus promised. The new contexts which shape the lives of each generation require new applications of the varietal faith thus creating a vintage that needs to ferment within appropriate skins.

When a figure of speech is used to point out a routine practice, the speaker desires one outcome. We take the routine practice for granted, that’s what makes it routine. If the speaker is successful, we will become aware of even intentional about our use of that behavior in the future. I am convinced that this is the purpose for Jesus using this parable.

Jesus is providing us with a template for managing change. As his followers we have often viewed change as a failure to follow him. Wineskins indicate that we experience change. Wineskins can become a tool for us to more successfully follow Jesus. Our challenge becomes analyzing change, even anticipating it, and creating Kingdom building responses.