This morning, my readings in Mark and in 1Corinthians, seem to emphasize a new theme. Not a new theme as in a “never been discovered before” theme . . . but a theme about things being new. In Mark I read of “new cloth”, of “new wine”, and of “new wineskins” . . . in 1Corinthians I was reminded of being a “new lump.” And it seems to me that thinking about a “new theme” is kind of appropriate as we approach Easter . . . and consider afresh the power of the resurrection to make things new.

In Mark, the Pharisees are trying to figure out Jesus. He doesn’t fit the typical “Rabbi startup” model. Their disciples fast . . . even the disciples of John the Baptizer, a supporter of Jesus, fast . . . but Jesus’ disciples? . . . they don’t fast . . . “How come?” the Pharisees ask (Mark 2:18). Because, says Jesus, they’re part of something new. They weren’t just following another run-of-the-mill spiritual teacher, they were locking on the One who was about to usher in a whole new spiritual economy. The law, the old ways, had been their tutor, their schoolmaster (Gal. 3:23-24), leading them to a see something in Jesus that would usher in a new day . . . a wedding day . . . a day of feasting. The bridegroom was among them . . . this was not time for fasting . . . this was a time of renewal. He was presenting a new way . . . a new piece of cloth that just didn’t have any place being sewn to an old garment (Mark 2:21). To be with Jesus was to sense that things were changing . . . not the same old wine they had been drinking . . . but a new wine . . . with a new taste . . . a new vibrancy . . . and to put it in old, worn out wineskins made no sense at all (Mark 2:22).

In chapter 5 of his letter to the Corinthians, Paul’s subject is very different . . . but the conclusion is somewhat the same. Paul’s rebuking the believers in Corinth for their tolerance of a brother in their midst who is in an sexual relationship with his stepmother. And rather than mourning and dealing with the sin, they are “puffed up” and proud of how accepting they are. And Paul says that they are to deal with it, that they are to “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1Cor. 5:5). They were to get rid of the leaven . . . they were to deal with the sin. Why? Because “a little leaven leavens the whole lump . . . therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump” (1Cor. 5:6-7a). They weren’t the same people they were before meeting the Savior and, as such, the old leaven, those old practices and standards of morality (or lack thereof), had no place in this new lump. They were being built into something new . . . fashioned into something spiritually alive . . . just as the Passover had spoken of a new beginning and was to be remembered with unleavened bread, they too, as a new lump in Christ, were to put away the damaging yeast from their midst.

New cloth . . . new wine . . . new lump. Worth considering as I approach this weekend and consider again its significance. Jesus didn’t die so that it would be “life as usual”. The cross wasn’t about just providing “fire insurance” so that we could continue in sin and escape judgment . . . the empty tomb wasn’t so that we could pursue old, stale religion and work our way to heaven. No, Christ our Passover was sacrificed (1Cor. 5:7b) for us that we might keep the feast in a new way. A new lump, free from the stain and burden of sin . . . a new piece of cloth made from the fabric of a righteousness through faith alone . . . new wine made with the grapes of grace — active and vibrant and inviting those who would come to the wedding feast to partake in newness of life.

Oh, that I would, as I consider this “new theme”, renew my desire to put away the old by the power of the Spirit who lives in me and for the sake of the Christ who died for me. To not be satisfied with the “old time religion” but to hunger for walking in newness of life . . . to not kid myself about my old garments of self-righteousness being fit for the wedding supper of the Lamb . . . to not settle for the old leaven of sin to have any active part in my life — but to deal with it quickly and completely through repentance and the application of the blood of Christ. Oh, to the live in the reality and power of the resurrection of Jesus my Passover . . . for His glory . . . amen!