An Ancient Lesson: New Wine, Old Wineskins

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” - Mark 2:22 
 
In ancient times, wine was primarily made through a process of fermentation or aging in a wineskin. It was usually made from the skin of a goat or lamb. This new wineskin was then filled with unfermented juice and left to age.

During the aging process, gasses were created as the flavor, color, balance, and boutique of the wine growing. The new, unstretched wineskin would expand to hold both the wine and the gasses. Because it is a new wineskin, by its nature, it has the capacity to expand.

However, If the juice is put into an old wineskin that has already been stretched, by its nature, it will burst during the fermentation process. As a result, the new wine and old wineskin would both be lost.  

Jesus uses wineskins in the bible as a beautiful depiction of the new nature within us and how we need to let go and put off our old selves to become more like our heavenly Father. This week we will be discussing this necessary choice to live a new life.

Calibration:
- What comes to mind when you read about this ancient practice of using wineskins to make wine?
- Can you think of an area of life where you have tried to mix your old ways of living with new ways? How did that work for you?