What does "the old is better" mean in Luke 5:36–39? 36 "No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one... 37 No one puts New wine in old wineskins ...   39 no one wants the new ... THE OLD IS BETTER." (NIV)


What is this referring to?  Seems that Jesus is saying the old is better, but the OLD what?
Luke 5:33 is a reference to the past, in which we are told that Jewish tradition required frequent fasting:


  Luke 5:33: And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?


Then verses 34-35 takes us to the new, and to what is to come:


  Luke 5:34-35: And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. 


Finally, Jesus explains that the old does not belong with the new: the old must be discarded and. allegorically, new garments or new wine belong with the new. This teaches that the traditions and laws of the Old Testament will not be part of the Jesus' new Testament.



The earliest version of this parable is in Mark 2:21-22, which makes this point and then proceeds to another passage about the corn fields. However, Luke elaborates on the parable, before proceeding to the passage about the corn fields:


  Luke 5:37-39: And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.


In verse 39, the author of Luke appears to demonstrate that he misunderstood the parable as it appears in Mark, saying "The old is better".  Joseph F. Mali (Two Sayings on the "New" and the "Old", page 263) discusses some differing views on why Luke makes this strange addition, with a general consensus that it is an ironic comment on the Jews, who reject the new gospel.