GOSPEL READING:
Luke 5:33-3933 And they said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink." 34 And Jesus said to them, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days." 36 He told them a parable also: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, `The old is good.'"
Meditation: Which comes first, fasting or feasting? The
disciples of John the Baptist were upset with Jesus' disciples
because they did not fast. 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).
A time to weep and fast - a time to rejoice and celebrate
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?
A mind closed to God's wisdom
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 became hard as they aged.
What did Jesus mean by this comparison?
The Old Testament points to the New - the New Testament
fulfills the Old
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).
A very common expression, dating back to
the early beginnings of the Christian church, states that the
New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is
unveiled in the New - the two shed light on each other. The New Testament does not replace the Old -
rather it unveils and brings into full light the hidden meaning
and signs which foreshadow and point to God's plan of redemption
which he would accomplish through his Son, Jesus Christ. How
impoverished we would be if we only had the Old Testament or the
New Testament, rather than both.
New "wine" of the Holy Spirit
The Lord Jesus 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 action of his Holy Spirit in
our lives. He wants our minds and hearts to be like the 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.
Psalm 100:1-5
1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the lands!
2 Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
3 Know that the LORD is God! It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him, bless his name!
5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures for ever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Christ will send you wise men and scribes, by Clement of Alexandria, 150-215 A.D.
"A scribe is one who, through continual reading of the Old and
New Testaments, has laid up for himself a storehouse of knowledge.
Thus Christ blesses those who have gathered in themselves the
education both of the law and of the gospel, so as to 'bring forth
from their treasure things both new and old.' And Christ compares
such people with a scribe, just as in another place he says, 'I
will send you wise men and scribes' (Matthew 23:34)"(excerpt from FRAGMENT 172)
