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Jesus is the wine which tore the old wineskin, that is the old orders, habits and everything that had bound a human being before Christ's coming and becoming a man. Jesus has brought us liberty; he has released the shackles of the Law and has turned them into shackles of Love. He has given himself to us as wine which is the delight of our heart.

To be able to break, to tear everything what has tied us, everything, that has taken away our liberty and freedom (such as grievance, no forgiveness or no self-acceptance, etc.). We need to let Jesus himself fulfil us, because in his power a change is possible. Actually, it is thanks to his power that genuine change is possible for us.

However, wine cannot be stored outside the wineskins; it would spill all over the place and it would be wasted; nobody would have any delight of heart or mind... Fresh wineskins mean new clothes that we should wear to become His. To wear Jesus means to take the burden Jesus wants us to take on. Jesus says nothing about narrow-mindedness or boundlessness. Jesus tells us: new wine into fresh wineskin.

New wine into fresh / new wineskins. To become new wine means to be fulfilled by Jesus Christ, to be changed in Jesus. Accepting Jesus means to be filled up to the brim with Him until there is no space for anything else. Accepting Jesus, we receive joy and we become new wine bursting with joy. To be filled by Jesus means to be filled with joy and to be drunk with joy because it is Jesus who is the true wine that fills us.

The sign of Jesus' disciple is joyful fulfilment, bursting with joy.

Lord Jesus Christ, you are the spring of genuine joy. We beseech you, make us a new wineskin which you can fill up to the brim with yourself, so that everyone who thirsts for you can drink from our wineskins. You live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.

When we see Jesus in the Gospel, we notice that he quite often has something in common with wine. Jesus is the true vine and the Father is the vine dresser (Jn 15:1, etc.). He is a wine drinker (Lc 7:34; Mt 11:19). Also, he turned water into wine (Jn 2:9) and he changes wine into his blood.

There is a mention of wine in today’s Gospel. Jesus is speaking about young wine which has the power to burst the old wineskin. Wine was made by a double-pressing of grapes and the juice was left to ferment. “Young” wine or we can say “new” wine was not sufficiently fermented, it needed more time. Wine in process of fermentation was stored in wineskins; when new wine was poured into the old wineskin, the fermentation burst and tore the old skin.

Statements about patches and wineskin highlight the contrast between the old and the new. Both contain an element of process which is likely to happen: cloth shrinks and wine ferments. Both contain an element of time which is proceeding and shows us the inconsistency of old and new. (Taken from the Sacra Pagina Series, Gospel according to Mark)