Mark 2:21
No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.
Jesus spoke this illustration in answer to the disciples of John. The old garment is the false, manufactured religion of the scribes and Pharisees, made up of tradition and superstition and pretense, of ceremonies and forms and human injunctions, and the new cloth is the religion of Christ and the new principles He introduced, the truth and life and light of true godliness. The message and devotion of John and the principles of Christ's teaching cannot be interwoven with Pharisaism, united to it, or used to remodel it, for the two do not harmonize, and the attempt to sew them together only tears away from the old, makes the rent worse, and makes the breach between them more evident.
He did not come to close up the breach made by the teachings of John but to make more distinct the separation between the old and the new. The priests and scribes and rulers were fixed in a rut of ceremonies and traditions, satisfied with a legal religion and counting their own righteousness and the merit of good works all-sufficient, and while they remained so it was impossible for them to become depositaries of the living truth of heaven, for the faith that works by love and purifies the soul could find no place for union with their religion. Outward forms and ceremonies cannot take the place of righteousness and mercy and a heart truly serving God.
Genuine repentance does not try to patch an old life of self-righteousness with a new outward change, for the old pharisaical garment must be discarded. Repentance is genuine when the heart changes and reformation follows, rather than excuses or attempts to preserve the old way. Trying to correct others by humbling them instead of humbling oneself is like sewing the new patch on the old garment: it makes the tear worse and forfeits blessing, and God turns away from that course. Each person must recognize his own danger and peril, confess his own sins, and humble his own heart and place himself where God can bless him.