Nobody sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old outer garment, for the new piece pulls away from the garment and the tear becomes worse. Matthew 9:16(New World Translation)
In Matthew 9 verses 14-17 Jesus was approached by some of John´s disciples. They were asking Him why they had to fast, but Jesus´ disciples did not. Jesus answers them by comparing to the friends of a bridegroom. This may be easily understood and is a great comparison for it helps us see the importance Jesus holds for us.
But the very next verses may seem a little more difficult to find their relevance to what Jesus was trying to teach them. In fact you may wonder why would Jesus say these things in the same moment.
Although the opinions may vary, perhaps we may consider here who and what Jesus is and was. If we look not only at His words, but at what He means to you and me today, maybe there is still light that can be shed for our instruction.
Jesus is our Savior. He came from the Father to do a work that only He could do. No other person could pay for all the sins and trespasses of the entire human race, except for an actual part of God or His only Son.
This means for you and I, that something new and wonderful was happening. God was engaging His creation and carrying out His great plan of redemption. Before Jesus came to do His work, people had only the instructions of Moses and the prophets to guide them. They had been taught certain ways of worship to approach God, but unfortunately fell into the common mistake of turning everything into empty ritual.
Then came Jesus. Here He was fulfilling Gods wishes and plans for us. In carrying out His Fathers will, He became to us our everything. He is our Salvation. He is our Lord. He is our Goal and He is the Way. We must come intimately close to Him, so close as to reflect Him in all we do and say. In Him we find life and outside of Him we have nothing in the end.
Therefore when Jesus mentions new patches of cloth or new wineskins, He is not rambling on nor changing direction in His teachings. He is consistently pointing us back to Him and His Father. Their intentions for all times, has and always will be for us to be together in a correct children-to-Father relationship.
Jesus always encourages us to look away from ourselves and upwards towards heaven. Even though He uses analogies of earthly things they are only to help us fix our gaze on above. His instruction is clear; there is always connecting and blending of spiritual material. There is always a clean new vessel and a filling. Then between Savior and His lambs it can be said with assurance, ¨both are preserved.¨ (verse 17)
May we let Jesus be who and what He is. May we do this today in conscious awareness. Let Him be everything to us and for us. Let us draw so close to Him, that people may say of us that it is as if we were sewn together of the same material or that we have been made of new skin and filled with Him like new wine.
Amen
Scott W
Searching For Christ 
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