Nontraditional Traditions

“So that is the way we always do it—it has sort of become a tradition.” I (Chantal) had recently joined the leadership team at Hope Camp—a Germany-wide camp meeting that you could feel comfortable inviting your nonchurched neighbors or the Hope TV viewers to. The response came to a question about the possibility of changes to the time and place of the early-morning prayer run. Being in Europe, where everything has a very long history and backstory that often spans hundreds, if not thousands, of years, I supposed that this prayer run had at least a 20-year history to have become a tradition. It didn’t—this was the fifth time it was being done. Turns out that the time and place for the prayer run were well thought out and the attendance was good, but it got us thinking: How many times do we need to do something for it to become a nonnegotiable part of the framework of how we think and behave?

Jewish society in the time of Jesus looked back on a very long history that had resulted in the establishment of traditions that covered nearly every aspect of life. Jesus’ statement about the need for new wine in new wineskins must have come as a shock to His audience. “Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved” (Matt. 9:17).[*]

In biblical times wine was stored in animal-skin bags called wineskins. Fresh wine expands, so it needs flexible skins. Old wineskins, brittle and cracked, cannot handle the pressure of new wine. Pouring new wine into them would ruin both the container and the wine.

When Jesus enters our lives, He doesn’t come to patch us up—He makes us new.

Jesus wasn’t giving a lesson in optimal storage options. He was pointing to the explosive potential of the gospel. His teachings weren’t an upgrade to the old systems and traditions; the gospel represented an entirely new reality.

Renewal Instead of Patching

Jesus spoke these words when questioned about fasting. John’s disciples asked, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” (Matt. 9:14). The spiritual discipline of fasting is a good one. Rituals and traditions have their place and were meant to point toward and remind the people of greater and deeper realities. They were never meant to become ends in themselves to be defended without question.

Just as patching an old garment with new cloth makes the tear worse, Jesus’ teaching cannot be squeezed into any rigid framework of our making. When Jesus enters our lives, He doesn’t come to patch us up—He makes us new. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor. 5:17).

It’s easy to think that traditions are all about liturgy and worship service. Those who have lived in different cultures know that different perspectives about traditions and styles can easily become points of friction. But perhaps Jesus’ analogy runs even deeper. Perhaps He was also talking about our tendency to try to fit God’s new life into our old habits, “traditions,” and ways of thinking. Perhaps I am seeking control while asking God to lead, clinging to bitterness while praying for peace, or living under guilt while talking of forgiveness.

These old personal “traditions” may not be as obvious as liturgical hot spots, but they create tension, frustration, and spiritual burnout. Now may be a good time to realize that the new wine demands a new wineskin—a renewed heart, pliable and Spirit-filled.

[*] All Scripture quotations have been taken from the New International Version.