Matthew 9: 16
16No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made.
Have you ever gone into a clothing store and seen “worn” jeans for sale? You know, the ones that are frayed and already have holes in them? Times have certainly changed. When I was a kid, the last thing you wanted was to get a hole in your jeans. Because if you did, your mother would go get one of those iron-on patches to cover the hole. Every kid I knew thought those patches looked ridiculous! Plus, they always pealed away. Putting these new patches on the old pants made things worse. It was better to get a new pair of pants. This is what Jesus is talking about in this brief parable. Instead of trying to fix the old way with something that just won’t work, get something new altogether.
Jesus was saying he was the “something new”. He was not here to mend the ancient rules of the old covenant. They were obsolete. Jesus was the new covenant. The one that said God so loved the world that he sent Jesus and that everyone who believed in Jesus would be reconciled with God. It is a new day, and a new way. And we acknowledge this new covenant during Advent. Emmanuel, God with us, is the new thing that is worth the wait and worth the devotion.