Many bible commentaries are dry exposition of texts. Your affections are seldom stirred by the writing in most commentaries. Not so with the Pillar Commentary Series edited by D.A. Carson. Here is an example; Commenting on Mark 2:21-22 James R. Edwards says of the new wine and unshrunk cloth parables:
The parables illustrate the radical posture and presumption of Jesus. Jesus is the new patch and the new wine. He is not an attachment, addition, or appendage to the status quo. He cannot be integrated into preexisting structures, even Judaism, Torah, and the synagogue…He goes to the synagogue, but not as everyone else goes to the synagogue. Jesus goes with new teaching (1:27). He is like the scribes in that he teaches, but his authority surpasses theirs (1:22)…He relinquishes himself completely, though never surrendering his divine authority. He gives himself in service, though rendering allegiance to none but God. He gives his life to the world, but he is not a captive to the world. The question posed by the image of the wedding feast and the two atom-like parables is not whether disciples will, like sewing a new patch on an old garment or refilling an old container, make room for Jesus in their already full agendas and lives. The question is whether they will forsake business as usual and join the wedding celebration; whether they will become entirely new receptacles for the expanding fermentation of Jesus and the gospel in their lives. (Emphasis mine)
Jesus is much more than something we add to our already full lives.
That rocks.
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