Matthew 9:17

New Testament

14 Then John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?” 15 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn while the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment because the patch will pull away from the garment and the tear will be worse. 17 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the skins burst and the wine is spilled out and the skins are destroyed. Instead they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.”

Pirkei Avot 4:20

Mishnah
Rabbinic

20 Elisha ben Abuyah said: He who learns when a child, to what is he compared? To ink written upon a new writing sheet. And he who learns when an old man, to what is he compared? To ink written on a rubbed writing sheet. Rabbi Yose ben Judah a man of Kfar Ha-babli said: He who learns from the young, to what is he compared? To one who eats unripe grapes, and drinks wine from his vat; And he who learns from the old, to what is he compared? To one who eats ripe grapes, and drinks old wine. Rabbi said: don’t look at the container but at that which is in it: there is a new container full of old wine, and an old [container] in which there is not even new [wine]. 21 Rabbi Elazar Ha-kappar said: envy, lust and [the desire for] honor put a man out of the world.

 Notes and References

"... '... the one who learns from the old, to what is it like? To one who eats ripe grapes, and drinks old wine ...' Consider the saying of Jesus, 'the old wine is better. (Luke 5:39) ..."

Young, Brad Meet the Rabbis: Rabbinic Thought and the Teachings of Jesus (p. 135) Hendrickson Publishers, 2007


"... The sayings concerning new and old wine by Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Judah in Avot 4:20 resonates with Jesus’s teaching about new and old wine in the gospels. This teaching appears in all of the synoptic gospels. Responding to a question about why his disciples do not fast like those of either John the Baptist or the Pharisees, Jesus responds by comparing these days to the coming of the Bridegroom who heralds the messianic age. He concludes by declaring, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the wineskins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins”. As Viviano has shown, although both texts use the image of old and new wine, the teachings are not parallel. Avot focuses on the quality of teachers and the Gospels focus on the differing content of the teachings of Jesus ..."

Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, Daniel The More Torah, the More Life: A Christian Commentary on Mishnah Avot (pp. 225-226) Peeters, 2018


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