GOSPEL READING:
Mark 2:18-2218 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 19 And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wine skins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins."
Meditation: Which comes first, fasting or feasting? The
disciples of John the Baptist were upset with Jesus' disciples
because they did not fast (Mark 2:18). Fasting was one of the
three most important religious duties, along with prayer and
almsgiving. Jesus gave a simple explanation. There's a time for
fasting and a time for feasting (or celebrating). To walk as a
disciple with Jesus is to experience a whole new joy of
relationship akin to the joy of the wedding party in celebrating
with the groom and bride their wedding bliss. But there also comes
a time when the Lord's disciples must bear the cross of affliction
and purification. For the disciple there is both a time for
rejoicing in the Lord's presence and celebrating his goodness and
a time for seeking the Lord with humility and fasting and for
mourning over sin. Do you take joy in the Lord's presence with you
and do you express sorrow and contrition for your sins?
The closed mind that rejects all of God's Word
Jesus goes on to warn his disciples about the problem of the
"closed mind" that refuses to learn new things. Jesus used an
image familiar to his audience - new and old wine skins. In Jesus'
times, wine was stored in wine skins, not bottles. New wine poured
into skins was still fermenting. The gases exerted gave pressure.
New wine skins were elastic enough to take the pressure, but old
wine skins easily burst because they were hard. What did Jesus
mean by this comparison? Are we to reject the old in place of the
new? Just as there is a right place and a right time for fasting
and for feasting, so there is a right place for the old as well as
the new.
Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who
brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old (Matthew
13:52). How impoverished we would be if we only had the Old
Testament books of Scripture or the New Testament books of
Scripture, rather than both. The Lord gives us wisdom so we can
make the best use of both the old and the new. He doesn't want us
to hold rigidly to the past and to be resistant to the new work of
his Holy Spirit in our lives. He wants our minds and hearts to be
like new wine skins - open and ready to receive the new wine of
the Holy Spirit. Are you eager to grow in the knowledge and
understanding of God's word and plan for your life?
Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit, that I may grow in the knowledge of your great love and truth. Help me to seek you earnestly in prayer and fasting that I may turn away from sin and wilfulness and conform my life more fully to your will. May I always find joy in knowing, loving, and serving You who are My All.
Psalm 110:1-4
1 The LORD says to my lord: "Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool."
2 The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes!
3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day you lead your host upon the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning like dew your youth will come to you.
4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: The presence of the Bridegroom, by Bede the Venerable, 672-735 A.D.
"From the time that the incarnation of our Savior was first
promised to the patriarchs, it was always awaited by many upright
souls with tears and mourning - until he came. From that time
when, after his resurrection, he ascended to heaven, all the hope
of the saints hangs upon his return. It was at the time when he
was keeping company with humanity that his presence was to be
celebrated. Then it would have been unfitting to weep and mourn.
For like the bride, she had him with her bodily whom she loved
spiritually. Therefore the bridegroom is Christ, the bride is the
church, and the friends of the bridegroom (Matthew 9:15, Luke
5:34) and of the marriage are each and every one of his faithful
companions. The time of his marriage is that time when, through
the mystery of the incarnation, he is joining the holy church to
himself (Revelation 19:7). Thus it was not by chance, but for the
sake of a certain mystical meaning that he came to a marriage
ceremony on earth in the customary fleshly way (John 2:1-12),
since he descended from heaven to earth in order to wed the church
to himself in spiritual love. His nuptial chamber was the womb of
his virgin mother. There God was conjoined with human nature. From
there he came forth like a bridegroom to join the church to
himself."(excerpt from HOMILIES ON THE
GOSPELS 1.14)
