God's Wine Cellar

Mt. 9:14-17

The church is a wine cellar, and each vintage is a faith story in process.

Jesus cautions us not to put the new wine into old wine skins. As wine ferments, it expands and the elasticity of a new wine skin can swell with the aging wine. At the end of this parable, in Matthew’s version, it says that when new wine is put into fresh wineskins, both are preserved. When wine has reached a maturity, it has a potency that doesn’t exist in the new wine. The wine at wedding feasts in Jesus’ day made some drunk. It was potent. In Luke’s telling of this parable, it is written that the people prefer the old wine. There are many vintages in the church. Some found the Lord decades ago. Some found the Lord more recently. The more time passes, our faith stories develop a depth, and character. There is a fresh and exuberant expression of faith in newer vintages of faith, for someone new in the Lord, which is exciting to us all. Each possesses a quality which is unique to its vintage. And I picture Jesus talking about a wine cellar of Christians all chosen to be in the cellar together. Now, John’s Disciples come to Jesus, practicing their faith differently than Jesus’ disciples. And John’s Disciples have a question which sounds like a request for ammunition in the war of superiority and religious correctness. ‘Now wait a minute! WE fast, and you don’t?!’ They want Jesus to take sides in the fight. Jesus never gives them any ammo. He gives validity to the various vintages. This is not to say that Jesus does not teach accountability. However, John’s Disciples were trying to do the very thing that Jesus addressed in another, related parable- the wheat and the tares. In a garden, the good seed sprouted right next to the weeds, and they looked alike. Jesus said don’t pull out the wheat with the tares. Don’t uproot the good with the bad. Wait and let the Father in heaven take care of it. Let the Lord do the sorting. This is not a replacement for group accountability, but humility to admit that only God knows the heart. Let God weed His own garden. The disciples of John are trying to weed out a brand – one kind of wine skin. Jesus could have critiqued John’s disciples, but He chose to teach them a lesson. We find today, faith practiced in many different ways. We pray, worship, and live out the faith in diverse ways- a variety of vintages. We live for Christ, and let the Lord weed his own garden. We focus our energy growing in Christ, serving and following. If you call upon the name of Jesus, then here’s my hand. I’ll walk with you, and I’ll talk with you – let’s be the church, and show the love of Jesus Christ. No matter what kind of vintage you are, you’re the right vintage for your faith - Whether you found the Lord 50 years ago, or today. Some of you have a lot more kick than others, some are fresh, and others are at points in-between. Vintage faith can tell you what it’s like to be happily married for 60 years, or, how tender love overcame abandonment. The wine steward was pleased to choose each of us as an irreplaceable vintage, in the fermenting process of growing in the spirit.