Traditional style wineskins in the Middle East.
“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.”
Mark 2:22
I’m not much of a wine connoisseur by any means, but I’m beginning to appreciate the uniqueness of this beverage. Good bottled wine, unlike beer, does not expire for up to a hundred years. And while spirit drinks like whiskey or vodka also have very long shelf lives, they don’t really change in flavor. Good wine matures over time. Most young wines that are one to five years old tend to be bright, sharp, and sweeter in taste. More mature wines that are at 7+ years old tend to become more mellow, earthy, and complex. However, if wines are not stored properly, they can end up bitter, sour, or corrupt.
People are similar to wine in this way. Young “wines” tend to be bright, sharp, and sweeter. They’re so obnoxious sometimes, right?! If they don’t mature correctly, they can become bitter, sour, or corrupt. But when wines mature properly, they become more mellow, down to earth, and complex. Our desire as a new community is to create a “new wineskin” for ourselves to mature properly and healthy.
