Subject: Change - Mark 1-2

Mark 2:20-22 (ESV Strong's)

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.
No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

Subject:  Change

When reading anyone of the four Gospels it is important to know that they were written AFTER the Church was established.  Mark, in this instance, was heavily influenced by Peter's epistles and was probably written in the 50s or early 60 A.D.   The Gospel were written to impact the Church and give the Church some context for the teachings of the Apostles, to new converts.   Mark was written to Gentile believers in particular.   They were coming to Christ and that upset the Jewish believer.  Galatians, Hebrews, Romans and many of the Epistles were written to address the tension between the Jew and the Gentile believer.  The above verses speak to this very thought.   Jesus' illustration is simply:  Jesus is new.  The Kingdom has come and that is new.  That means the "new" teaching will be disruptive to the "old" way of thinking.  Jesus is not telling the disciple to NOT sew a new piece of clothe on an old garment.  He is NOT teaching them to not put new wine in a new wine skin.  He is saying, normal thought process does NOT do those things.  But, the Kingdom coming is NOT a normal process.   The Kingdom and Kingdom teaching will be disruptive to the old ways, unless the mind is changed and renewed.  When a person comes to Christ, all things are made new and the teaching of Christ will be seen differently and less disruptive.  But, if you hold to the old (no change in the life of the person) than the new teachings are totally disruptive (and should be).   There is an irony to Christ's teaching (for the Church).  In that moment the disciples of Jesus were not fasting (like the Religious leaders of the day).   That was disruptive to their teaching.   Yet, Jesus is telling them that now that the Kingdom was there, there was no reason to fast.   He then tells them that His presence is going to be disruptive, like how a new clothe will tear away the old cloth when it is sewn on the old clothe and then washed and shrinks.   His teaching will be disruptive, like when new wine is put into old wineskins and expands.   It SHOULD be disruptive. That's the irony.  Yet, if we have a new life in Christ, it is not disruptive.   Change happens and is disruptive.  But, Change done correctly, preparing for the disruption, by looking at life in Christ, is disruptive in the right way: A changed life ... Different than the world.   (See Colossians 3)