IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 144

YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

We discussed yesterday what we see as the thoughts of the Master in two of the parables that He spoke at Levi’s (Matthew) house. So that there be no confusion, let us restate our determinations here as these are not in the normal view of the parables of the Master. Both the new piece of cloth sewn into the garment and and the new wine into old bottles pose the same basic problem in man. Both are incorporating the new spiritual matter into the old carnal consciousness. The one as a patch to cover up areas or holes in the carnal consciousness that need help, which help humanity is ever searching for. Whenever there is trial and tribulation in one’s carnal life he will tend to turn to the spiritual for repair and this is the caution of the Master; you cannot repair the torn and tattered carnal life, you must change it, become renewed totally. We painted the picture of the result of the patch showing that one who is seemingly healed of whatever he was seeking help for then becomes bothered by the patch that was used as the lure of the flesh persists. He then works around the patch and eventually it tears off leaving a yet larger hole. Whatever current event type of meaning the Master had in His saying granted, it would not be for us or for a teaching.  We know that it is a teaching for us in every age that we should expect from every saying that He uttered.

The other saying, while similar, is quite different in that there is not a rent in the garment but just a desire to bring the spiritual light into one’s life; this is the new wine. To bring this new wine into our carnal lives, our old bottles, does not work without a renewal of the old carnal self. The Apostle Paul calls this transformed and it could also be called born again. Jesus tells us in this parable that this is necessary, that putting the new into the old does not work and we used the saying of Paul regarding the conflict of the old and the new as example of what can and does happen. We went so far as to say that doing this thing, bringing the new and the pure Christ consciousness into the old selfish carnal self may be a leading cause of the confusion and the self-condemnation and the mental instability that is so common today. Winding up in a state like Paul alludes to saying: “For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:22-24).

These are important points in one’s walk with God on the Path to His Kingdom; they show, as do most of the Master’s sayings, that a total commitment is required for success in attaining to His Presence. This is the message to them and this is the ever enduring message to us.  It is unclear who heard these as the scribes and the Pharisees were present but perhaps not in the house as they “murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?” (Luke 5:30) and this would indicate that they were likely outside. Perhaps they could hear what the Master said about the new patch on an old garment and the new wine in the old bottle. More importantly, who understood. Jesus spoke two other things that day that we will cover here today and these are the question posed on fasting as did John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees and the very last line, after the two parables from yesterday, regarding drinking new wine verses old. Both of these are rather obscure and they are not really the parables nor even parts of them; the one being an answer and the other a seemingly isolated saying that follows His parable on the old wine in new bottles.

• We have first the question and the answer: “And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days” (Luke 5:33-35). In Matthew’s version of this Jesus return question is worded a bit differently saying: “…Can the children of the bridechamber mourn” (Matthew 9:15) showing to us that fasting can be an apparently mournful act which is understandable in that way because the Master’s phrasing of this in Luke is also as comparing as opposites the fasting to the ‘joy’ of the bride-chamber.
• The second part that we will cover appears only in the Gospel of Luke and it goes thus: “No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better” (Luke 5:39). This Jesus says after the Parable of the Old Wine Bottle.

Remembering that there are no idle words in any discourse by the Master, we will look for the meaning, the message to the ages, in these two sayings. Let us begin here with the first saying above regarding the bridegroom, a term that is used often by the Master and others in the New Testament. We begin with a saying by John the Baptist who was asked about He who was drawing men to Himself replied. He replied, speaking about the Master, “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled” (John 3:29). We should notice here in this saying by John  an opposite word being used regarding the being in the presence of the bridegroom when compared to the Jesus sayings above. We all should see the bridegroom here as the Master and in His saying is the word fast which is recorded as mourn by Matthew; John uses a opposite word in his saying which is rejoice. The idea, given by these opposites,  gives us a  key to the Master’s saying. Simply, we take from the combination of these sayings that the idea that fasting is a mournful activity, or at least it is viewed this way in Jesus day, and second we need to see that the Presence of the Master is a joyful thing and a cause for rejoicing.

The comparison to the bridegroom may have also had a more specific meaning in that day as this idea and the idea of weddings and feasts is used much in the New Testament. Let us look at this as a joyous time for both the bridegroom and the “children of the bridechamber” which should be translated literally as sons who. Vincent tells us: the sons of the bride-chamber are different from the groomsmen. They are the guests invited to the bridal⁴. So we have Jesus referring to His disciples as the sons of the bride-chamber and telling those asking that as long as the groom is with them that they should be, and are, joyous thus saying that the mournful idea of fasting can not be done in such a setting. The same idea is put forth by the Master about praying and, in this case, we should understand this as specific to the type of praying that the Jews in sorrow would pray. The Master is here, it is a time to be joyous in His Presence and not a time for being mournful; this is the message of the Master to them that asked and this is the message to us. The idea presented by the word joy is more than happiness; it is closer to bliss and practically, it is being without sorrow. It is frequently used in reference to Jesus and of His birth bringing great joy and it is frequently used by Jesus to express the feelings and thoughts of for which only the word joy could apply:

• “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11).
• “Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful , but your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (John 16:20).
• “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10

We should have the idea of Joy from these sayings. How then does this seemingly frozen in time sequence affect us here over 2000 years later? Simply by being in His Presence. The joy that comes to us when we are striving toward the strait gate and seeking His Kingdom is enough to overwhelm us and eradicate fear and sorrow. This is how it works; as disciples of the Master living in the Light of the Christ Within we can have joy, we no longer are thinking of the things of the world, of our unfulfilled lusts and Earthly desires, which have been the cause of all our sorrow and our fear. We are free and we rejoice. We should see here too that the Master does tells us of what happens when we turn aside from the things of God and turn back to the things of the world; this is, in His saying above, where the Christ is taken from us and we are again subject to mourning and fasting and find ourselves praying to overcome

Back a way in our posts (In the Words of Jesus part 58) we had used some verses from the Dhammapada, the Sayings of the Buddha, on Joy as our Quote of the Day. I repeat them here and add a bit to give us a better flavor of the idea of joy.

Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate.
Live in joy, in health, even among the afflicted.
Live in joy, in peace, even among the troubled.
Live in joy, without possessions.
Like the shining ones.
The winner sows hatred because the loser suffers.
Let go of winning and losing and find joy.
There is no fire like passion, no crime like hatred,
No sorrow like separation, no sickness like hunger,
And no joy like the joy of freedom⁵. 

To this we add today:

Health, contentment and trust are your greatest possessions, and freedom your greatest joy. Look within. Be still. Free from fear and attachment, know the sweet joy of the way⁵.

See here the relation to our theme; to be free is to live the life of the spiritual man and not the life in this world. This is free from fear and free from the attachment to desires and wants; the sweet joy of living life on the Path to God and His Kingdom.

We come now to the closing saying by the Master in this segment and again it is a rather obscure and isolated statement concerning the thought of drinking old wine and thinking it is better than the new wine. Vincent tells us that the word better (from chrestos) is better translated as good⁴  leading to the American Standard Version to say it this way: “And no man having drunk old [wine] desireth new; for he saith, The old is good“. Reading the commentaries on this passage can leave us confused, saying that there is no real message to this teaching except to the followers of the Pharisees or of John. Let us look a one that is typical and rather short. From The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible⁸ we find: The additional parable in Luke 5:39 , which is peculiar to Luke, has been variously interpreted. But the “new wine” seems plainly to be the evangelical freedom which Christ was introducing; and the old, the opposite spirit of Judaism: men long accustomed to the latter could not be expected “straightway”–all at once–to take a liking for the former; that is, “These inquiries about the difference between My disciples and the Pharisees,” and even John’s, are not surprising; they are the effect of a natural revulsion against sudden change, which time will cure; the new wine will itself in time become old, and so acquire all the added charms of antiquity. What lessons does this teach, on the one hand, to those who unreasonably cling to what is getting antiquated; and, on the other, to hasty reformers who have no patience with the timidity of their weaker brethren!

Note on the Quote of the Day