A New Network for a New Day
David W Palmer
Jesus’s apprentices had been on a steep learning curve of breathtaking speed, as they followed him and learned to work with him in his ministry. Having dealt with fasting, Jesus now forays into some very deep and profound revelation about new anointings and ministries that he raises up:
(Matthew 9:16 NKJV) “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.”
As Head of the church, Jesus is talking about introducing new ministries—his original one, and then others that will operate in his name. His first illustration is that of a garment—an old garment patched with new, or “unshrunk” cloth. The fact that it can shrink means it is probably a woven material made of wool. This implies a network of threads that make up the fabric of a covering. The maker of this garment designs it for a particular person—boy, girl, man, woman, etc.—and makes it flawlessly to keep out the wind, rain, heat, cold, and to look attractive.
Jesus is telling us a lot in a short illustration; the covering mantle or garment is woven of many strands to fit the person it is designed to serve. When Jesus introduces a new ministry, he calls, equips, and sends a key leader with an anointing. To that person, he imparts the vision of what he wants. Then he draws other people around that anointing to participate in its ministry, and he knits them together into a network or body. (Note: our human body is also a form of clothing—physical clothing for the spirit man (2 Pet. 1:14).)
(Ephesians 4:15–16 NKJV) … the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
(Colossians 2:19 NKJV) … the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
(1 Corinthians 12:18 NKJV) But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
Those Jesus knits together are called to: work with the new anointing, cover the leader, support financially, and supply for the ministry. Jesus then takes of the same spirit he put on the leader, and puts it on those appointed to form this new network (See: Num. 11:17). This way, they work in agreement with the vision, and Jesus combines them, their gifts, personalities, and callings to fit together into a working body. Its function is to fulfill the head’s God-given vision for that local church or ministry.
When any new structure is first put together, the master-builder will test everyone in it. Hopefully, most pass their tests … but some will not. (That’s precisely why he tests them; a wise master-builder wants to know who will fail under extreme stress and pressure. Remember that even in the original 12 disciples that Jesus called to be part of his ministry, there was one who fell away and betrayed Jesus.) During this process, the network “shrinks” a little before settling into its designed function. A new network has so much oil of anointing and flexibility that it can adjust to the shrinkage, but an old one cannot.
The “old garment” Jesus mentions speaks of a well-worn mantle. This is pictured in the one Elijah passed on to Elisha. It was perfect when instituted by God, and it fulfilled its purpose in that season. But by the time Jesus came, it was old and had gaps in its function—like holes in an old garment. It was no longer able to meet the demands of what God needed in this next season; it could no longer protect and serve the ministry it was designed to cover. So, two options presented themselves: patch the old with some of the new, un-shrunk network; or make a completely new one.
