Mark 2:21

 Mark 2:21 says, No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.  Verse twenty-two adds, And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles. Jesus had just answered the religious leaders' comments about His disciples and Himself not fasting and spoke of celebrating while the Bridegroom was with the bridal party.  He then spoke of new patches on old garments and new wine in old wine skins and bottles.  The religious leaders were still attempting to live by the old covenant, which had been impossible to live up to.  This was not because of there being anything wrong with the old covenant itself, but because of the rebellious nature of people.  Jesus came to usher in the new covenant, which was based on His goodness and obedience to the Heavenly Father alone.  The new covenant of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ alone could not be stitched into the old covenant without destroying both, and Jesus did not come to destroy the old covenant but to fulfill it.  We today cannot attempt to justify ourselves by the old covenant and faith in Jesus Christ also.  We must set aside obedience to the old covenant as a way to salvation. Salvation comes not by our ability to keep all of God's law, which we cannot do, but by faith in Jesus Christ alone as our Savior and Lord.  Verse twenty-three states, And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. When Jesus and His disciples were going through a cornfield on the Sabbath, they began to pluck ears of corn to eat.  There were very explicit rules about what Jewish people could do on the Sabbath, and plucking corn was not one of the things allowed.  Verse twenty-four adds, And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?  The Pharisees were concerned about the disciples disobeying the law of the Sabbath.  They were more concerned with the law than they were with what the disciples were doing and why they were doing it.  We need to be careful that we don't become more concerned with religious rules than we are with doing whatever we can to share the gospel and enable others to do so.  Verse twenty-five states, And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?  Verse twenty-six adds, How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?  When the Pharisees confronted Jesus, He referred to a passage of scripture about David eating and sharing the shewbread in the temple.  The Pharisees could not deny this happened since they knew the scripture.   If questioned about why we may have done something that others may say is spiritually wrong, we need to be able to support our actions based on what the Bible teaches, and if we can, then they should no longer have a problem with what we have done.  Verse twenty-seven continues, And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:  Verse twenty-eight concludes, Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.  Jesus then said that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, and that the Son of Man, Jesus Himself, was the Lord of the Sabbath.   We need to realize that our relationship with and obedience to God through our faith in Jesus Christ takes priority over any law, religious or otherwise.  Of course, this is all dependent on having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.