They put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And he said to him, "Follow me." So he arose and followed him.

Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard that, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. "No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

- Matthew 9:9-17

As Jesus continues his ministry, we begin to see and experience more fully what he is about, what his ministry is about. In today's reading, we begin to get a better understanding of the notion of healing. We have seen several miraculous healings in the past few readings in Matthew's gospel. Today Matthew himself is mentioned - and we come to understand more deeply the function of mercy, and also more fully the concept of healing, and Jesus as divine physician.

First, a lengthy note from my study bible on the first part of our reading today: "Matthew is also named Levi (Mark 2:14, Luke 5:27,29). Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit. Their collaboration with Gentiles, and their fraud and corruption, caused other Jews to hate the tax collectors and consider them unclean (11:19, Luke 15:1). Jesus, with power to forgive and undo all offenses, calls to this tax collector, follow me, and then dines with him and other sinners. Thus his followers are not troubled later at seeing a tax collector entering into the company of the disciples. The Pharisees, however, are offended and Jesus' defense is simple: he goes where the need for the physician is greatest. I desire mercy and not sacrifice does not mean that Jesus rejects the sacrifices of the temple, but that his priority is mercy -- the forgiving love of God in action (see Ps. 51)." "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" is a quotation from Hosea 6:6 - and is also reflected in Micah 6:6-8 (see link).

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." If we examine Jesus' words closely, we come to a certain understanding about this healing role of mercy. First of all, the quotation from the Old Testament books teaches us that God places the highest value on the quality of mercy. And furthermore, repentance - change - is that act of healing that this physician calls all toward. It is not that people are simply perfect as they are - but that this physician has a treatment: the treatment is love and mercy, and repentance - literally "change of mind" in the Greek (metanoia) - is the healing itself. As I have done many times in my commentary, I wish to remind my readers here about the word in Greek for "mercy" - eleos. In sound it is identical to the word for "olive oil" which was the base for all healing balm in the ancient world. When we pray for mercy, we pray for healing of all ailments, on all levels.

There is another substantial note in my study bible for the next part of today's reading, which I will also quote: "The Jews typically fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), Monday and Thursday. In addition, public fasts were regularly observed or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chr. 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Neh. 1:4-11), especially on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zech. 7:5, 8:19). But the Jews saw the day of the Messiah as a wedding feast -- a time of joy and gladness, not a time of mourning and sorrow. Jesus here proclaims that he is that Messiah/Bridegroom. Yet Jesus says the time will come when his disciples will fast. For his disciples, then, fasting is not gloomy but desirable, a bright sadness, for by fasting they gain self-control and prepare themselves for the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.

"The old garment (v. 16) and old wineskins (v. 17) stand for the Old Covenant and Judaism, viewed as imperfect and temporary; the new wineskins are the New Covenant and the Church, those in Christ. Wine represents the spirit and energy devoted to a covenant; the new wine of the New Covenant is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed men, the inauguration of the long-awaited Kingdom."

What I think is important about this passage is also to reflect on the notions of change, mercy and healing. The bridegroom himself is the one who is with them, with the disciples. He is at once the healer or physician, the actor of mercy, the balm, and the bridegroom. All is concentrated in him - and our relationship with him is what creates all of this action. It is one, therefore, of joy. Fasting is a preparation for joy - for this union, or reunion, if you will, in the sense of our reconciliation.

"No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." The earlier part of our text (in which Jesus is sitting at table with sinners) is another example of the effects of the holy which overturn the hierarchies of this world - in which "the lowly are lifted up" (see Magnificat) - and so is this one. All the other righteous and devout (including the disciples of John the Baptist) fast, but Jesus' disciples do not fast. They are with the Bridegroom, at the Feast, in effect, in the Kingdom as long as they are with him. The values of this world are upside down - and a part of the healing effect of this mercy, in the holiness of the actions of the divine via Jesus, is to show them as such. We go once again to the Magnificat as a prayer or song that illustrates this joyous reality: "He has filled the hungry with good things." And so, in healing, or mercy, of this divine physician who is also our bridegroom, there is joy, transformation (metanoia), change. The effect of the holy, this powerful priority for mercy in all of its expression and fullness, is change. In order to rectify what ails us in this world, to heal our illnesses, to create good values, to put us in perspective of proper sight and hearing (eyes to see and ears to hear), we experience the transforming power of holiness. It is always astonishing, always new, a revelation that opens our eyes to reality on new levels.

And so, we have new wineskins. This is necessary for our healing and understanding and growth. The divine physician is not simply a wonderful man who walks the earth healing, and feeding and saying nice things. He asks of us one thing: that we seek first his kingdom. When we are with the bridegroom, we are there in that kingdom, and we are to be - to become - his salt and light of that heavenly kingdom even as we are in the world. "New wineskins" does not mean business as usual. It means change and transformation, as does repentance. And in that change is the effect of the holy, of mercy, of the healing balm he brings us.