THE WORD
1 Sm 15,16-23 / Mk 2,18-22
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed too fast. People came to him and objected, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.
IN OTHER WORDS
When Jesus explained why his disciples were not fasting, he was presenting a new understanding of what fasting could mean- as long as he was with them there was no need for fasting. He equated his presence to that of a bridegroom at his wedding feast, an occasion for rejoicing and making full use of his time with them. That special time would end soon and then they would fast. They would plunge into the hard work of spreading the gospel, risking their lives and experiencing rejection at times. The disciples would be doing more than fasting as they face the demands and challenges of being disciples and witnesses of the word.
Together with this view on fasting, Jesus explained also the need for a new mind-set for a new world order. The new wine represents a renewed life that is expected to create a new society, a new environment (wineskin). The new wine is the renewed spirit in the Christian that would impel him to create changes, to make all things new. The old wineskins, old habits and lifestyles that are incompatible with a life of faith, have to be discarded. Likewise, the old wine, the old content of the sinful past, must be removed.
We are then challenged to become new wine and to create new wineskins. The new year is just three weeks old. We have plenty of time to renew, and make new of ourselves and the world we live in.
- Fr. Gil Alejandria, SVD | (CT Manila)
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience. The Word in other words 2016
