Day 145: New hope for the outcast – Luke 5 vs 27 – 32

27-28 After this Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. 29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31-32 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.”  34-35 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36-39 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wine-skins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wine-skins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” Luke 5:27-32 English Standard Version.

In yesterdays reading from Proverbs we saw that anyone searching for God's wisdom won't find it through hanging around with self-centred people who easily tell lies. But I also said that Christians should readily mingle with people who don't follow God's ways so we can tell them of God's love in sending His son so that they can be saved from sin and have eternal life. Verses 27-32 are a lovely example of this set by the Lord himself. Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners – and he demonstrated this even before going to the cross by his willingness to live among them and seek their company. This really upset the religious leaders who taught their followers to avoid any contact with sinners. Those who didn't follow God's rules were the outcasts of society. Is there a lesson here for Christians too? Do we avoid any contact with those who we know are living ungodly lives?

But it wasn’t only the religious leaders who were offended by Jesus. Many of the people wanted to know why he did not insist that his followers keep all the rules about religious fasting. Jesus uses the simple example of how people don't fast at wedding feasts! As long as he was in the world it was like having the bridegroom with them. He then added the parable we read in vs 36-39. What do you think was the point of that parable, and do you think it has any relation to vs 27-32?

At first glance it looks straight forward and that Jesus' message is the 'new wine' that must not be put into 'old wine-skins', referring to Old Testament rules. But the last sentence complicates it where Jesus says: “No one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good'”. The word 'good' there can also be translated as 'better'. One Bible translation has tried to solve what looks like a contradiction by paraphrasing the sentence to say:“But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine - they say the old is just fine.” That may be on the right track but it's only a suggestion.

Yes, Jesus was surely pointing out that one must not mix old ways and news ways, but it was probably a warning against all the rules the Scribes and Pharisees had added to what was good in the past. And a big part of the ‘new wine’ Jesus was bringing was to do with the outcasts. The Pharisees excluded them, but Jesus included them in the salvation God was providing. He came to seek and save those who were lost.

How does our life compare with this? Does our circle of friends include those who are not saved? When Levi was converted the first thing he did was invite all his unsaved friends to a feast so that they could hear Jesus. It's natural to spend more time with our brothers and sisters in Christ – but we mustn't let it grow into a pious clique to which societies outcasts are not welcome.