Jesus' parable of the new patch on old cloak and new wine in old wineskins (Lk 5:33-39) pointed to the short sightedness of the Pharisees. Firstly, the Sabbath did not forbid walking short distances. The Sabbath did not forbid "gleaning", that is, taking grain left over by reapers. The Pharisees took a very narrow interpretation, and ruled that plucking, as reaping and rubbing between the hands, as threshing. We too are forewarned of the 'old wineskin' we tenaciously hold on to.

Secondly, Jesus using the example of King David eating the holy bread challenged his detractors to recognise the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law, and that the Son of Man is the lord of the Sabbath. Recognising Jesus is the Good News, we are forewarned that 'new wine' needs 'new wineskin'. Do not try to put a new patch of cloth onto an old cloak.

St. Paul faced this unwillingness in the early Church of Corinth. The Corinthians were a motley group of merchants, artisans, Greeks, Jews and Gentile peoples. It was a prosperous cosmopolitan city. St. Paul had to address their worldliness, divisions and immorality. He reminded them that it is in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that they were saved; and that they should take upon themselves the wisdom of God rather than their own narrow human thinking for sanctification.