In this daily Bible reading Jesus says the following to the religious leaders, the Pharisees: “No one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment and a worse tear results. Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are ruined, but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.” The Pharisees were steeped in religion. Their religion was built around ritual and sacrifice to atone for sin. They went through the religious motions, but their hearts were not directed to God.
Jesus told them that God desires compassion rather than sacrifice. Jesus was saying to them that they needed to change from the inside out. In Jesus’ words, they needed to be reborn and become new vessels so that they could be receptive to Jesus’ teaching. The Pharisees were religious vessels and were not receptive to what Jesus was telling them.
Religion has had the effect of moving people away from God rather than bringing them close to God. Religion has also distorted the Word of God with man-made traditions and doctrines. This has had the effect of putting people in bondage and exploiting their superstitious tendencies. Jesus came to set people free from this bondage.
