Wineskins

Something I’ve found interesting in the past week is the word ‘wineskin’. It’s literally like the word kept following me. It came up in my bible study, I went to church it was talked about. it was like everywhere I turned I was hearing the word.

During my bible study when I first encountered the word, it was when Jesus was speaking to the disciples of John the Baptist when they asked Jesus why His disciples do not fast often just like them and the pharisees and this reply was given to them by Christ and it was definitely no mistake He use of that exact word to make a point. However, I didn’t really go deeper into it, you know I just went with what Jesus said. After the too many coincidences, i decided to be deliberate, go into finding the genesis of the word. In my little rabbit hole of searching i found a lot things interesting about it. Permit me to indulge you in few of my (not so boring) findings.

Wineskins are containers traditionally made from animal hides (commonly goatskin or sheepskin), used for storing and transporting liquids, especially wine. Animal hides were chosen for their flexibility, durability, and ability to retain liquids without leaking or bursting. The hides were cleaned, tanned, sewn together, and treated (often with oils or resin) to make them watertight.

See the thing is that wineskin is a structure that is used to contain wine, wine is a liquid that is subject to fermentation. During the fermentation process, the liquid expands due to the chemical reactions that occur, let’s not get into all that nerdy stuff. Due to the expanding ability of the contained—wine, the container ought to expand. Now that’s interesting.

Nor does anyone pour new wine into used wineskins, for the skins will burst, the wine will pour out, and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins, and both will keep in good condition— matthew 9:17

The characteristics of the wine skin is what interests me revealing that the wineskin is first of all a structure that is put in place for the wine or any liquid of sort. Structure—framework that gives shape, order; determines how the contained would last(durability), how it will function(ability). So Jesus made use of this illustration to explain the importance of the structure and not just that but the contained— the life of Christ

He explained that what He brings for us cannot stay in the structure that was laid down, that structure cannot give the durability and functionality of the new wine, there is need to let it go. To let go of that rigid mindset, that belief system that was no longer serving you but you still clung to it religiously like it was the last candy bar in a store . In order to let it go, we need humility which was what the pharisees lacked and they were destroyed for lack of it thereof.

There is need for a structure that can consistently help live the life that is being presented. Only Him can sustain the life that He gives and that was what He was aiming for the disciples understand. The paradox of this is that Jesus is both the wineskin and wine.