Bring on the new wine

Often I think the Jews get a bad rap in the Christian Church. As God's chosen people they were expected to uphold His laws. Not just 10 of them, but 613. A complete list can be found here along with the scripture references. If you read Deuteronomy 5 & 6 where the top 10 are given those were proclaimed by the LORD in a loud voice and the people were scared they would die if He kept talking. So the LORD heard them and told the rest of the laws to Moses to relay to them. But they didn't have any less validity, and God wanted them taken seriously. As it is written in Deuteronomy 6:6-9 "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframse of your houses and on your gates." The learned Jews had the entire Torah (first 5 books of old testament) memorized. We are proud of ourselves if we memorize one verse, let alone 5 books of scripture! They knew what God said and tried to live faithfully by it. This was not an easy task. So while they may have also added beyond the 613, details that God didn't specify, God did give them a mighty big pill to swallow. And aren't I thankful to no longer be under the law! But I can sympathise with the Jews when Jesus came along and had a whole new way of living to present to them. I can see why they would be skeptical when Jesus' message and way of doing things was different from the revelations they had received from God in the past. Which is why in Mark 2:22 Jesus says, "No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins." The new wine was the new way Jesus was bringing about to live by the spirit. God's law being in our minds and written on our hearts(See Jeremiah 31:32 & Hebrews 10:16), by the power of the spirit. This wouldn't fit into the old wineskin of the law. The new wine required a new wineskin, which is the new covenant. The Jews needed a complete paradigm shift to accept Jesus'teaching. They were no longer held to the first laws God gave them and commanded them to live by. It would have been hard to see that Jesus' message was also from the God they knew. And although I'm certainly glad to be living under the new covenant, that can be hard to live up to as well. Because we need to be constantly listening for the Spirit's guidance, and responding to what God has impressed upon our hearts and minds. So, anyways, that's all I have to say about that. Descending from soapbox, now.