“No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth,
for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.
People do not put new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.
Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Analogy time. More specifically, motorcycle analogy time…my favorite kind. For those of you who don’t follow the world of Adventure Motorcycling, I assume that will be 99.9% of ACM readers, there is a motorcycle that is made by the Japanese motorcycle company, Kawasaki. The bike is a KLR 650. It was first produced in 1987 and was called the 1st generation, which lasted until 2007. In 2008 the 2nd generation KLR was released with the primary change being the addition of water cooling. The bike remained unchanged until 2022 when the 3rd generation KLR was released with Electronic Fuel Injection replacing the carburetor. Except for those couple changes, the 1987 KLR looks very similar to the 2022 model.
Now, at the risk of offending any possible KLR fans out there, this motorcycle remains overweight and under powered. Not the best combination of features for a motorcycle that needs to function in conditions featuring steep hills, rocks, deep water, ruts and mud. The addition of water cooling and fuel injection did not appreciably change the underlying fact that the KLR is a motorcycle that is well past its prime with only superficial upgrades.
Contrast that with the Yamaha Tenere. In 1983 it debuted as a 600cc machine popular among riders racing in the famed Dakar Rally. It was reliable and robust. But over the years the bike was surpassed by other lighter and more powerful motorcycles. The bike was discontinued in 1991. After several derivations failed to compete well with other machines the motorcycle was laid to rest in the early 2000s.
In 2020 Yamaha released the all new Tenere. The T7. It was a 700cc water cooled twin cylinder motorcycle with an unbelievably smooth engine, decent suspension and excellent handling. It became what will likely be one of Yamaha’s most popular and successful bikes. As you may realize by now, I own a T7. This motorcycle revolutionized the Adventure motorcycle market bringing Yamaha to the forefront with its all-new design compared to the original Tenere. Where the KLR remained stagnant except for minor changes, the Tenere broke the mold advancing the industry into new directions.
No why the stroll down motorcycle memory lane? No reason. Just wanted to talk about motorcycles. Oh…you thought I was going to tie this into today’s readings somehow did you? 🙂
Of course, I am. I have my priorities straight…most of the time. So the Gospel reading today always had me a bit confused. All this talk about wineskins and patches that pulled away causing the wine to be spilled fell on deaf ears for me. I know very little about wine. As a matter of fact a friend of mine told me he had a special wine for me which I tasted and felt it was awesome. Turns out he mixed a red wine with Welch’s Grape Juice. I needed a better way of looking at this. And then the motorcycle thing came to me.
Kawasaki has been trying to put patches on an old wine skin. Taking old beliefs that no longer apply then dressing them up to appear to be on the cutting edge. But that edge has become dull and no longer applicable. Jesus brought to us a New Covenant. A new agreement between the Father and His people, made clear by the life of Christ, the Son. No longer are we to be judged by whether we dot the i’s and cross the t’s in the correct order. Whether we are eating the right food in the right combination. Whether we are mixing fabrics in our clothes. Are we sacrificing the correct animal. Whether we are being punished for our sins when bad things happen or if our sins fall on the backs of our children.
We are all a new creation. Our thoughts and actions are our own and the consequences are our own as well. It is not what or how we eat that is critical. It is how we love (sacrifice) our God and those we meet. Whether good or bad. Friend or enemy. THAT is the new wine skin. The new faith. One that can hold all of us. No, I will not be buying a KLR anytime soon. In fact, I hear that the Tenere is coming out in an all new Extreme model. Count me in. My T7 is getting a bit long in the tooth.
