Dear editor,
Steven King’s letters always bring to mind Jesus’ little parable about putting new wine in old bottles, recorded in Luke 5:37-38.
You remember the story: Jesus told this parable in response to criticism from Pharisees about his healing on the Sabbath, eating with sinners, picking a little snack from a grain field on the Sabbath, always eating and drinking rather than fasting, etc.
Of course, Jesus wasn’t really talking about putting new wine in old bottles. What he was talking about is putting new light on old truth. Jesus was telling the Pharisees that their old bottles of dogma, opinion and tradition were brittle and would not accommodate the new gospel that he was preaching.
And, so it is that I am reminded of Jesus’ parable because King’s old wine bottle is brittle and incapable of holding new wine without being destroyed.
King clings to his interpretation of the Constitution because (he will not) adapt to the demands of a constantly changing universe and everything in it.
PRESLEY HARPER
Pensacola
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: New wine in old bottles