No one who has been drinking old wine wants new wine, because he says, ‘The old wine is good enough!’“
–Luke 5:39
In Jesus time, the Jewish religion was saturated with the Old Testament Bible teaching. “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’. But Jesus brought a new code of teaching. It brought a paradigm shift in the latter of the two main commandments. ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself’.
But the Jewish leaders could not digest this. The old teaching seemed to be good enough for them because the new teaching required an upside down change in their customs and systems.
In the Jewish class there were two categories; The oppressor and the oppressed.
The religious leaders were the oppressing class and the ordinary Jews were the oppressed. The Jewish religions was following the hierarchical system which was introduced into human history by Nimrod. All the religions, institutions in this world follow this system which divides the society into two categories. Jesus brought a revolutionary change in the by breaking this system.
He asked water from a low caste woman and when she refused Jesus made her understand who He was. The Samaritans of a whole village believed in Jesus and He stayed with them for two days. Through preaching the Good Samaritan parable, Jesus presented God having a soft corner for Samaritans, the less privileged class.
He favoured the tax collector Levi and went to his house for a dinner. In the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector, the latter was heard and went back righteous.
All those provoked the Pharisees. They preferred the “old wine” i.e. their system to continue. The less privileged heard the preaching of Jesus and valued it. But the oppressive class, with their political and religious power made them silent.
This Jesus is still alive and is still continuing the same work through generations.
Dearly beloved, you are called to bring Jesus’ Kingdom into this world. The political, religious, cultural system which exists in your surroundings, in your Constituency should be brought in direct alignment with the principles of Jesus Kingdom.
Identify the oppressed class of the society in your Constituency. Caste, Religion, Color, Education, tradition, money, muscle strength, anything can be the discriminating factor. Join the oppressed class. God is always with the poor and oppressed. When you make visits, enter into any house of the poor and needy, pray with them, seal them in the name of Jesus. They will taste the “New Wine” i.e. And say, ‘this is good’.
Taste and see that the LORD is good! How blessed is the person who trusts in him!
–Psalm 34:8
Once they taste, they will come to like the new wine! Make them taste it! That’s your challenge!
–Sr. Angelica AOJ