Many of the works carried out by Jesus (Lk 4-21) took place in Galilee (Lk 4:14-9:50). At a certain point, Luke speaks of the call to Matthew and of a dialogue on fasting (Lk 5:27-39). These words, which contain the well-known expression "new wine, new wineskins," are illuminated by what is described in Lk 5:12-26 (two healings, in which there is widespread recognition of Jesus) and in Lk 6:1-11 (two controversies, in which he is rejected).

After this he went out and saw (looked at) a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax counter, and said to him, "Follow me." He, leaving everything, got up and followed him. And Levi gave a great feast in his honor in his house, and there were at table with them a great issue number of publicans and others. 

These words introduce the rest of the passage. The description is simple. Jesus looks at Levi and asks him to follow him. The Greek verb used makes reference letter an attentive, deep look. It is not a simple seeing. Moreover, Jesus does not perform any extraordinary action to support his call. It is based on his fame: They spoke of him more and more, and many people came to hear him and to be cured of their sicknesses (Lk 5:15); amazement seized them all and they gave glory to God. And they were filled with awe and said, "Today we have seen wonders" (Lk 5:26). Levi's reaction is reflected in the great banquet he offers as an expression of recognition of Jesus.

Now there were at table with them a great number issue of tax collectors and others. And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured, saying to Jesus' disciples, "How is it that you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." But they said to him, "John's disciples fast often and pray, and the disciples of the Pharisees fast often, but yours eat and drink. Jesus said to them, "Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when they will take them away from the bridegroom, then they will fast in those days."

Presumably this dialogue takes place outside Matthew's house. Pharisees and scribes question Jesus and his disciples in order to know the reasons that move them in their actions. They do not understand why they accept to be invited by sinners (this was the publicans, tax collectors, for the Jews), because it was a condemnable attitude. Jesus answers them that he has come to call them to conversion, identifying them with the sick, in need of a doctor to cure them. In fact, a short time before, with them present, Jesus cured a sick person after having forgiven his sins (Lk 5:17-26). He came to heal these sick sinners and showed that he could save them.

But this answer gives rise to another, which is only understandable if we take into account that for the Pharisees a sign of conversion would be fasting and praying, practices that they themselves multiplied out of devotion, and not eating and drinking. Jesus places his answer in the context of the wedding. Thus, his words acquire a very concrete meaning. During the wedding feast, which symbolizes God's relationship with his people (Is 61:10: 62:5; Hos 2:21-22), it is forbidden to fast. Jesus lets it be known that he is the bridegroom and that the time of the wedding has come. This eating and drinking, which normally ends a time of fasting or penance, has here a connotation of feasting and joy, not of eating and drunkenness. We see in this passage, therefore, that Jesus' actions have provoked a series of questions that, in turn, have allowed him to reveal his authority and the meaning of his mission statement. At the same time, he has veiled that light, so that understanding passes through an act of faith. With Jesus the new times have arrived, and they are not compatible with the old ones.

He also told them a parable: "No one cuts off a piece of a new garment to put it on an old garment; for if he does so, the new one will be torn, and the old one will not fit the piece of the new one. No man putteth new wine into old bottles: for if he do so, the new wine will burst the bottles, and spill out, and the bottles will burst. New wine, new wineskins. No one who drinks old wine wants new wine, for he will say, 'The old is better'".

Jesus illustrates these new times with parables that refer to everyday situations easily understood by all: that of the old garment and that of the wine (vv. 36-38). The image of the new wine is especially illustrative. For the Jews, it is the sign of God's blessing to his people. For Christians, it is the wine of the covenant in the blood of the Lord (Lk 22:18-20). Jesus wants those who listen to him to glimpse the new and eschatological realities based on the experience of their elders. Luke wants the same for his readers.

V. 39 adds a final nuance. Its meaning is marked by what has just been said with the previous parables: the old wine is no longer a normal wine, which in itself would be preferable to the new, but the old world, with its penitential uses, the optimal way of salvation according to the Pharisees. But the problem is that the Pharisees, tied to their system, neither want nor are able to open themselves to the new one proposed by Jesus. The real drama is this: the old had as mission statement to lead to the new, but if the old becomes plenary session of the Executive Council, the truly new no longer has a place. This does not mean that the old is meaningless, but that it must be understood in the light of the new, of the Lord, who is the one who truly saves.