New Wine

January 17, 2005 New Wine Mk 2:18-22

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus 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.

New Wine needs new wineskins...Jesus is a new way for us...The Pharisees want to know why his disciples are not like the disciples of John or the Pharisees in their fasting. They will fast when their "bridegroom" is taken away. I see the new wine as the way of Christ and also the new covenant and the institution of the Eucharist being foretold here. It is so typical for us to say we always did it that way why are you doing something different. Today I will make a special effort to see new ways of doing things throughout the day. I also will again rejoice that I can have the Eucharist soon this morning. The old wine bursts the new wineskins...so many times situations have changed but our first approach and reaction to them have not.