The calling of Levi and the question about fasting is the fifth episode of six concerning the acts of messiah - the nature of his authority, 4:31-6:11. This episode, focused on the tax collector's banquet, serves as a sign of the new age, a sign of the ingathering of the lost. Something new is here. God is gathering the lost into his long promised kingdom. Such calls for celebration, not sadness.

v27-28. Tax in the first century was insidious. Not only was it too high, it was fraudulently collected. The tax collectors would often pocket up to 50% for themselves. Levi, often identified by his common name Matthew, was in his tax booth. Obviously he had already been touched by Jesus' ministry, and when asked to be a disciple, he jumps at the chance.

v29. Levi then holds a farewell dinner for his old tax-collecting friends so that they can meet his new friends.

v30. Somehow the Pharisees get in on the act, although as the "separated ones" they would certainly not have entered the home of a collaborator and thief. In their question to the disciples, the Pharisees probe the issue of religious cleanliness. Jesus cannot be the messiah if he allows himself to become ritually unclean.

v31-32. In line with the Old Testament prophets, Jesus declares that the dawning kingdom of God is for the lost, broken, dispersed, enslaved..... remnant of Israel. Messiah comes to gather those who yearn for the day of redemption. Jesus therefore, as the messiah, rightly associates with "sinners" and invites, or better, summons them to enter the kingdom.

v33. The Pharisees note that even the disciples of John the Baptist fast, so why is it that Jesus and his disciples are more prone to partying than fasting?

v34-35. In a simple illustration Jesus makes the point that a wedding is not a time for sadness, but rather joy. The inauguration of the new age of the kingdom is not a time for fasting, but a time of celebration.

v36-38. Jesus then, with two short illustrations, makes the point that some things in life simply cannot go together, they are totally incompatible. There is a total dichotomy between an age when people wait for the coming of God's kingdom and an age when people enter it.

v39. In a final note, only found in Luke's gospel, Jesus observes that the Pharisees seem to enjoy the sadness of waiting rather than the joy of arriving - the old wine suits them.

I was in a discussion with a young clergyman and we got into the thorny issue of Anglican ritual and order. As one of the "young bloods", he wanted to throw out all the trappings of Anglicanism. He felt that unless we adapted to the new ethos of the age (whatever that is!) we would undermine the work of the gospel in gathering and nurturing a people of God. As a church we would die. I, on the other hand, even though more inclined to a "Country and Western" form of worship, argued that I was still willing to do it by the book. He argued that I was hanging onto "old wine sins", old religious form. "New wine" was here which required "new wine skins".

We might be able to argue from Luke 5:36-38 that Jesus is intent on introducing a new religious form to house the new age of the kingdom, a new framework to replace the old religion of Israel. Yet, it would be difficult to argue that this passage encourages the replacement of a "catholic" form of doing church with a "Congregational" or "semi-Charismatic" form.

Jesus is not concerned with religious form. He inaugurates the new age of the kingdom, not the new age of pop-culture worship. Obviously, temple worship can no longer contain a worship that is of "spirit and truth". Yet, the kingdom of God is not "a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit", Rom.14:17. A myriad of frames, of religious forms, of ways of doing church, can serve to celebrate the new age, but none can contain it, for Christ's "kingdom is not of this world".

For us to rely on any "wine skin" is dangerous in the extreme, particularly if we think a new "relevant" ("conformed") skin is somehow superior to a "traditional" one. Better to worship in "spirit and truth" whatever the skin.

1. Why is Jesus a bit of "a party animal"? Discuss.

2. Why is "relevance" a dangerous pursuit?