Mark 2:21-22 meaning

The parallel Gospel accounts for Mark 2:21-22 are Matthew 9:16-17 and Luke 5:36-39.

Jesus responded to the question of why His disciples do not fast with a trio of parables. This section covers the second and third parable of clothing and wineskins. The first parable was covered in the previous section, regarding the attendants of a wedding not fasting while the bridegroom is with them (Mark 2:19-20).

Fasting is meant to draw us closer to God when His visible presence is not seen. Jesus explained that His disciples do not fast like the followers of the Pharisees and John the Baptizer because they are currently in the presence of the bridegroom—Jesus, the Messiah. Just as it is inappropriate to fast during a wedding feast while celebrating with the bridegroom, so too is fasting inappropriate when Jesus the Son of God is here on earth with His disciples.

Now Jesus elaborates with a second and third parable that each highlight the potency of His mission and it relationship to what has come before it.

The second parable uses the metaphor of clothing. The third parable employs the metaphor of wineskins. Both have similar points.

The Parable of the Unshrunk Cloth
The second parable is: “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results” (v 21).

In the ancient world, cloth was a valuable commodity. Clothing and garments were labor-intensive and time-consuming to produce. It was generally more efficient to repair a torn garment than to replace it with a new one. However, when patching an old garment, it was crucial to use the right kind of material for the patch to ensure a proper repair.

Since new cloth tends to shrink, especially after several washes, a garment-mender needed to use a patch of old cloth that had already been pre-shrunk. If a new, unshrunk patch was used, it would shrink after washing, potentially causing it to pull away from the seams and create an even larger tear in the garment.

This parable is often interpreted in terms of Jesus, His teachings, and His kingdom representing the new unshrunk cloth and the Pharisees with their man-made religious regulations representing the old worn-out garment. Sometimes this interpretation understands this parable in terms of New Covenant and Old Covenant.

According to this interpretation, Jesus is not interested in patching up this old system of righteousness, which is flawed and marked by external rule-following and hypocrisy. Instead, He came to offer a new way that provides both inner and outer harmony between God and humanity.

But this interpretation which points to Biblical principles seems to overlook that it is the old piece of cloth that is needed rather than a new one.

Perhaps a better interpretation understands the old garment as the Law of Moses, the new piece of unshrunk cloth as the teachings of the Pharisees, and the old piece of cloth as Jesus and His teachings.

Jesus did not come to make new rules. He came to fulfill the old and perfect ones—the Law. His teachings were summed up as loving God and loving others (Matthew 5:7, 5:9, 5:44, 6:14-15, 7:1, 7:12, 18:22, 18:35, 22:37-40, John 15:12-17). Jesus stated that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17).

It was the Pharisees, not Jesus, who were the ones who were constantly making more and more new rules. And they were making them in an unnecessary attempt to “patch up” God’s perfect Law. The result was not a better garment. Their patches were tearing God’s Law apart.

They were more interested in keeping their new traditions, even when it meant violating God’s original Law (Matthew 15:3).

One example of this was how the Pharisees justified breaking one of the Ten Commandments—“Honor your father and mother” (Exodus 20:12) in order to keep their new rules.

“For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’…but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),’ you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down.”
(Mark 7:10-13a—See also Matthew 15:4-6)

Jesus added: “and you do many things such as that” (Mark 7:13b). Jesus also told the Pharisees, “You are experts at setting aside the [old] commandments of God in order to keep your [new] tradition” (Mark 7:9). The Pharisees were experts at breaking God’s law and justifying themselves according to their own rules.

Their new rules neglected the old and eternal values of God (Matthew 23:23). And their religious rules were shutting off God’s kingdom from the people (Matthew 23:13). Their new rules essentially provided a justification for them to neglect caring for their parents, thereby breaking the covenant with God.

The Pharisees’ new laws were making a mockery of God’s original Law. Or in terms of the parable, their new patches were tearing the fabric of God’s old and good Law apart. The solution was not more new laws from the Pharisees which results in a worse tear. Rather, the solution is to find a piece of old or original cloth to mend the tears.

Jesus and His teachings were not new. They fulfilled the old Law of God (Luke 24:44). Jesus as the divine author of the Law (John 1:17) came to mend the damage men had done to it. Jesus is eternal. He is both old and new. And in this parable Jesus represents an old piece of cloth that will mend the old and torn garment so that it will be like new.

The Parable of the New Wine and Wineskins
In the third parable, Jesus reiterates the same point as the previous parable. Just as the old cloth was the true law and the new cloth was corruptive legalism, in this parable the old wine is the true law and the new wine corrupting.

Jesus’s third parable responding to the Pharisees and John’s disciples is:

“No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins” (v 22).

Just as no one would sew a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, neither should new wine be placed into old wineskins. Just as a new, unshrunk patch would ruin an old garment, so new wine will ruin an old wineskin.

This parable is often interpreted in terms of Jesus, His teachings, and His kingdom representing the new wine and the Pharisees with their man-made religious regulations representing the old wine and wineskins. Sometimes this interpretation understands this parable in terms of the Gospel and the Law.

According to this interpretation, the power of Jesus’s grace is so potent that the Pharisees teachings on the Law cannot contain it. Grace bursts it wide open, like new wine does to old wineskins. Their old wineskins may be able to hold old wine, but they cannot hold the new wine of Jesus and His Gospel. Therefore, what is needed is to be made new—fresh wineskins, which are flexible and not rigid (like old wineskins)—so that we can receive Jesus and His teachings.

There are some interesting connections to other scriptures with this interpretation, such as:

• The principle that describes believers as made new, or the call for people to be made new
  (Psalm 51:10, Ezekiel 36:26, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:9-10)

• The fact that the headwaiter at the wedding at Cana declared that the new wine which Jesus miraculously transformed from water was better than the old wine which was served first.
  (John 2:1-10)

But this interpretation of Jesus representing the new wine in this parable seems to overlook the fact that the Law and the Gospel are the same old, satisfying, and good wine, and that what the Pharisees were offering was the new wine of legalism which can only destroy human hearts.

This parable, as recorded by Mark has three symbols—new wine, old wineskins, and fresh wineskins.

Wineskins were leather pouches that contained and stored wine. Fresh wineskins were flexible and had a degree of elasticity to them that allowed them to stretch and expand. Old wineskins lost this elasticity and were hardened and stiff. Old wineskins could be used to store water but not wine.

Similar to the new cloth on the old, no one puts new wine into old wineskins because new, unfermented wine expands as it ferments, and the old wineskins, which have already lost their elasticity, cannot accommodate this expansion.

As a result, the expanding wine bursts the old wineskins and the new wine spills and is wasted, while the old wineskin is ruined. To preserve both the new wine and the old wineskin, new wine must be put into fresh, flexible wineskins.

The meaning of Jesus’s third parable in response to the Pharisees’ question (Mark 2:18) is similar to the second parable, which was about patching an old garment. Jesus came to fulfill the old and perfect Law. His teachings were summed up by loving God as well as loving others (Matthew 5:7, 5:9, 5:44, 6:14-15, 7:1, 7:12, 18:22, 18:35, 22:37-40, John 15:12-17).

Jesus stated that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17).

The Old and New Wine (Luke 5:38-39)
Luke’s Gospel records another two verses to this parable which supports the interpretation that these parables assert that Jesus came to fulfill (Matthew 5:17) rather than to abolish the Law of God.

The first verse (Luke 5:38) is an observation:

“But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.”
(Luke 5:38)

Jesus is still addressing the question why His disciples do not fast. The primary point of all three parables appears to be that there is a time and place for everything. This is a Biblical principle particularly highlighted in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

Given the additional context of the Pharisee’s approach toward fasting as a means to bring human affirmation to themselves rather than to serve God, this could also be viewed as Jesus saying that the new wine of legalism is to have no place in the hearts of His followers. The Pharisees’ new wine of legalism is contrary to the intent of God’s perfect Law, which is love and mercy.

Love and mercy are others-focused. The Pharisees were self-focused. This is why they fasted in such a manner as to be seen as pious by others (Matthew 6:16). The two greatest commandments that sum up God’s entire law (Matthew 22:40) are to love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5) and to love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18b).

Jesus’s observation that new wine belongs in new wineskins is His way of saying, within the terms of the parable, that the Pharisees’ new wine of legalism does not belong in old wineskins of love for God and neighbors. God desires His people to love and serve Him and others rather than religious regulations. In other words: “Leave legalism for the legalists.”

The old wineskins (who love God and believe Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets) drink the better wine—the old wine—and are satisfied.

Luke records Jesus’s conclusion of this parable as a declaration asserting the superiority of God’s perfect law (the old wine) over the new wine of legalism.

“And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’”
(Luke 5:39)

As with the previous parable of the old garment, the old ways are good ways. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The old covenant God gave to Israel was good; Jesus came to fulfill that covenant (Matthew 5:17). Now there is a new covenant in Jesus’s blood (Luke 22:20). But the new covenant is really the perfect fulfillment of the old. All are fulfillments of God’s ways for Israel and all of humanity.

As a part of this new covenant, God has written His law on the hearts of all who believe through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 31:31, Ezekiel 36:26, Ephesians 3:16). But both are part of the old wine, a fulfillment of God’s promises. That is why when people drink of the old wine, they do not ask for new wine (Luke 5:39). Rather, they are satisfied:

“O taste and see that the LORD is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"
(Psalm 34:8)

The way we can drink the old and satisfying wine is to believe in Jesus and follow His example of obeying God’s commands to boldly love others through humble acts of service and gracious acts of mercy (Micah 6:8, John 15:12).

These parables as indirect answers to John’s disciples’ question

The original question Jesus was asked was why Jesus’s disciples did not regularly practice fasting (Matthew 9:14).

Jesus, as the fulfillment of the Law and prophets, represents all that is good. He is sufficient. All things are summed up in Christ. Therefore, to fast while Christ is present among them is like adding something new that spoils what is already sufficient:

• Fasting at a wedding spoils the feast (Mark 2:19-20),
• A new, unshrunk cloth spoils an old garment (v 21),
• New wine spoils old wineskins (v 22).

Religious regulations like fasting, when practiced the way the Pharisees did, spoil what ought to be the true focus of worship—God. The focus of the Pharisees was the approval of men. They fasted in order to be seen and admired by men (Matthew 6:16).

The Law and prophets point to Jesus (Luke 24:44). When Jesus is not physically present, we might be well served to fast in order to remember and focus on Jesus. But when He is present, there is no need.

Apart from Christ we can accomplish nothing (John 15:5b). The attempt to replicate Jesus’s teachings and righteousness in our own strength, or according to our man-made religious regulations, will spoil what is good. Reliance on our own efforts is like spoiling the feast, the garment, or the old wineskins.

To follow Jesus, we must become humble and have faith. We must focus on Jesus, the fulfiller of God’s perfect Law, rather than upon following more and more new religious rules.

In order to be placed into what is good, we need new hearts. But those new hearts allow us to focus on Christ rather than on religious observances like fasting. Fasting can be useful to focus our hearts on Christ. But fasting is not an end unto itself.

Summary

The common takeaway from all three of these parables which Jesus gave in response to the question, “Why don’t Your disciples fast?” (Mark 2:18) is that Jesus and His teachings are incompatible with the teachings and practices of the Pharisees.

Each parable makes the same point: what God has said is already complete and fulfilled, human attempts trying to add something new to God’s word only spoils what is already sufficient. Christ is sufficient. Our focus should be on Him. Any attempt to add only takes away our focus and spoils what is good.

Jesus’s teaching cannot be combined with the outdated and rigid religious practices imposed by the Pharisees. Just as a person cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24), the new wine of religious practice cannot be poured into the old wineskins that contain the good, old wine of God’s fulfilled promises. A new patch of legalism will ruin the old garment that represents God’s perfect covenant. The new teachings of the Pharisees make a mockery of God’s Law.

Instead of mending the damage which their rules have done to the Law, their new patches only make the tear worse. Only Jesus and His teachings which are a fulfillment of the Old Law can mend things. Their religious rules ruin the pleasure and happiness available through the joy of dwelling in the presence of the Bridegroom, who is Christ.

We must choose. Either we embrace the man-made rules that will make things worse or follow God’s original commands by following Christ. If our focus is on Christ, we gain fulfillment. If the focus is on the religious practices of men, then we spoil what is right and good.