Luke 5:17-39

For Reading and Meditation:     Luke 19:1-10

We spend one more day meditating on the first of the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Dr Raymond Cramer, the minister and psychologist whom I mentioned earlier, says that in the psychology of Jesus, it is the one who has a problem that gets the Master's attention. When...

Little know we what sorrow may be upon the sea at this moment. We are safe in our quiet chamber, but far away on the salt sea the hurricane may be cruelly seeking for the lives of men. Hear how the death fiends howl among the cordage; how every timber starts as the waves beat like battering rams upon the vessel! God help you, poor drenched and wearied ones! My prayer goes up to the great Lord of sea and land, that he will make the storm a calm, and bring you to your desired haven! Nor ought...

The bottles referred to here were actually containers made from the hides of animals. When these wineskins were new, they were pliable and somewhat elastic. But when they became old, they were stiff and inflexible. If new wine was placed in old skins, the fermenting action of the wine would build up too much pressure for the old wineskins to accommodate, and they would burst.

Here in Luke 5:1-39, Jesus uses this to illustrate the clash...