January 15: Mark 2:18-22
Key Verse: Mark 2:22
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.
Devotion:
I wonder how many readers are old enough to know about the canvas bags which used to hang on the front of jeeps a few decades ago. The canvas would obviously leak a little bit, but the water coming out would evaporate and keep the contents cool even in the brightest sunshine. But if the canvas bag dried out too much it would crack and the whole content of the bag would gush out making it useless! That is what I always think about when I hear these verses.
Back in those days the skin of an animal would be used to keep the liquids in; much the same as the canvas bag, but it would dry out much quicker when empty so when used again after drying out, it would split and be useless.
Jesus was trying to teach those listening that if we let our lives dry out without constant input of the gospel, we may well become like an empty vessel which has dried out and becomes useless once again. The initial comparison was between the disciples of some groups fasting and the disciples of Jesus not fasting. Jesus was trying to say they were constantly being filled with the gospel because He was with them.
If they were not constantly receiving the gospel they may well have dried out and become like useless vessels. The Pharisees were too consumed with recounting the scriptures word for word and making sure other people kept the myriad of laws which had been drawn up! Their ability to keep the scriptures was fine, but their ability to share it was not going so well because they were alienating themselves from the people...
Points to Ponder:
Do you keep up with receiving the gospel?
Do you share the gospel as well?