Completion.

I heard the parable of the wine skins for the first time last night offline. My first reaction was “Tell me again!” I completely understood the first explanation given.  Coincidentally, I heard it twice more tonight - spontaneously. Yea 

I encountered the wineskin parable a fourth time by intentionally reading an article of someone’s view.  I liked how this writer’s viewpoint expanded my understanding of the explanation I first received:

Jesus was making a very specific point to John the Baptist. He was here to do something completely new. If John (or anyone else) tried to make sense of it through a lens of old expectations and regulations, they’d miss the amazing thing that was happening. Through Jesus, God was redeeming the world to Himself. And if people expected this to look familiar to what God had done before, they wouldn’t understand.

Modern Christians have the benefit of hindsight. We get to see the whole picture in a way that makes sense. Those who chose to follow Jesus in the first century struggled with a lot of confusion. Was this Messiah going to conquer their enemies? Why did Jesus behave so differently than other rabbis? Why was the religious establishment so angry with Him? Questions like these would have created a lot of unrest and anxiety in His Jewish audience.

Pay attention to the fruit

Jesus encouraged contemporaries to quit focusing on how His behavior fit in the current religious climate. Instead, He told them to focus on the fruit

July 8, 2023 https://youtu.be/ZholrU4u_aA