TK Torah Keepers

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. ²² 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. (Mark 2:21-22 KJV)

I was raised in the Christian faith.  I attended Church services and Sunday School on a weekly basis.  I completed all of the compulsory catechism classes and continued to study the Bible outside of the Church.  Even when we were on vacation or visiting Mema and Pop (my grandparents) out in the country we still attended a local Sunday School and Church service.  My love for the word of God eventually lead me to college and then to Seminary.  In all of this time the Bible stories were repeated again and again and again without much variation.  Whether in my home congregation’s Sunday School class or worship service, or any other church convenient to our travels, the stories were the same and the sermons were the same. “A” always meant “A” and “B” always meant “B” over time these “truths” simply became assimilated into my own thinking, beliefs, walk, and faith. The church’s theology was woven into the very fabric of my faith.  I too became a Sunday School teacher and eventually a preacher that taught “A” always means “A” and “B” always means “B”.  

But every now and then, the Living God moves in a mysterious way.  Every now and then when reading and re-reading the same old stories and lessons from the Bible, the Author of the Bible breathes life into his word.  Every now and then the word of God catches the reader off guard and speaks directly to the heart.  When this happens it can be extremely exciting.  With spiritual eyes and ears opened the old story suddenly becomes alive and meaningful in a dramatically new way.  The mind and soul is flooded with all manner of new understanding.   The little hairs on the back of the neck stand up and words of praise and awe involuntarily gush forth from somewhere in deep within the soul.  But when the warmth of this intimate encounter is over and the excitement and ecstasy of revelation has subsided the reality sets in.

Armed with this new revelation knowledge one must begin resorting everything that one has been taught over the years.  Does this newly discovered understanding line up with the old mantra of “A” always means “A” and “B” always means “B”?  One must begin searching the rest of the scriptures to confirm that the voice heard was indeed the voice of the Shepherd and not merely one’s own wacky sub-conscience trying to deceive.  Once one’s spiritual eyes and ears have been opened to a divine truth it is difficult to silence the echo of the voice of the Creator ringing within the halls of your soul.  Now one must make decisions.  Do you share this newly discerned information? Do you dare to rock the boat and shake the comfortable faith of others? Do you risk being misunderstood, rejected, labeled as a heretic, or a radical, or a trouble maker?  Or for the sake of peace and unity do you simply swallow hard and try to forget the awesome splendor of that moment when the Sovereign Creator of the universe opened your eyes and ears and spoke directly to your heart? 

While Messiah himself may be a solid Rock…the journey of faith is often walked upon shifting sands.  As the Spirit of the Holy One informs and directs our studies, we find that the various foundations we have based our faith upon over the course of our life time are not always as stable or solid as with thought or would like.

I remember as a Lutheran Pastor, studying the book of Acts with no other intention than deepening my already established faith and walk.  I studied the book with the thought that it would confirm the fact that my faith was indeed built upon the right foundation.  But the Living God surprised me.  He answered my prayer that he would show me his truth.  And when the wave of divine understanding came, the foundations of my established faith laid in ruin beneath the tidal-wave of truth. Filled with the certainty that the voice I was hearing did indeed belong to the Good Shepherd, I began following the new path that he was leading me on.  Everything he showed me was lining up, it all made sense, it answered long unresolved questions, and it brought me a sense of peace.  But this peace would end once I left the study and returned to the pieces of the old foundation. 

When we are frightened we have a tendency to jump backwards to where we came from.  We are familiar with where we were.  We had comfort and security where we were.  So it is when our faith is shaken, even by the revelation of the Creator, that we try to go back to where we last felt secure and stable.  But when we try to apply the new information to the old foundation it begins to crumble.  We simply cannot sew a new piece of cloth on the old worn and now torn cloth.  Nor can we pour the new wine of understanding into the old wine skin of a previously established religious system.  The old cloth will tear and be divided by the new revelation.  The old religious system will ultimately burst asunder if filled with the new wine.

When YHWH encounters us—we must be ready to be “born-again”.  We must be ready to become a new creature in Messiah.  Every time we open the Bible we must be ready to put our old man with all of his established theological principles, and religious understandings to death.  Before we read we should make sure that we are prepared for our faith life and journey to take drastic and surprising turns and twists.  We must be prepared to meet the Shepherd and follow his leading, even if it means that we must follow him to the cross and beyond.  We should pray before we open the Bible and ask the Father to open our ears, eyes, heart and mind to his presence and his will.  We must be willing to send the old comfortable garment of our old religious system to the thrift store or rag bag—and put on the new garment created in the image of YHWH.  This is not always so easy to do.  However, trying to fit the new living revelation into the old dead religious system will surely end in disaster.

Yeshua realized that what he was imparting to his disciples would cause them a great deal of grief if they tried to remain in the Pharisaic system of religion they had been raised in.  He knew that just as the religious system of Yeshua’s day persecuted him and sought to silence and kill him; it would not readily accept his teachings as embodied in his disciples.  He did not try to stitch them back into the old system—but called them out to a new life and faith as his body in the world. 

For those who have encountered the living God and have heard his invitation and calling to embrace the Torah as Moses received it and as Yeshua taught it, you know of what I speak.  There is no way to receive this knowledge and apply it to the old system without tearing it and ourselves apart.  YHWH is calling us to become a new cloth, a new creature, a new wineskin ready and able to expand with his ever increasing revelations.  Let us not be afraid to put our old comfortable garment off, and put on the new garment.  Let us not become merely a patch on the old system, but become a whole new clothe fit for our king.  Let us trust, that if YHWH dared to encounter us that he will indeed lead and provide for us all along the journey through the wilderness.