No one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'

After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.

Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?" And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days." Then He spoke a parable to them: "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one, otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

- Luke 5:27-39

In yesterday's reading, Jesus healed a man in front of a crowd so large that the man's friends had to lower him down on his bed through the roof of the house. Many Pharisees and scribes were there, and they questioned Jesus when He said to the paralytic, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." At that point, Jesus asked, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk?' But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."

After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he left all, rose up, and followed Him. My study bible notes here: "Levi (Matthew)answers Christ's call, follow me, and leaves his occupation to become a disciple. From the beginning of His ministry Christ has been a friend of tax collectors and sinners, which is one of the Pharisees' complaints against Him (v. 30). Levi may also have been one of those tax collectors prepared for Christ by John the Baptist (3:12)."

Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. My study bible says, "This feast expresses Matthew's joy and gratitude. The guest register is a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness." Inclusion of the excluded is a theme that has resurfaced time after time already in this Gospel. In yesterday's reading, Jesus demonstrated the power to forgive sins. Repeatedly, we have come to understand through this Gospel that Jesus' followers, His own immediate disciples, are sinful men. See Peter's confession in this reading: Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.

And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." A note reads: "Christ has come to call only those who know they need Him. Sinners know it, but the scribes and Pharisees do not." Here is a clue to the inclusion of all: those who are excluded perhaps understand more deeply their need of help and healing, their need of a physician, as Jesus puts it. As He has said, He is here to save, not to condemn. It is not that we are works of perfection as we are, but that imperfect as we may be, we are one of His, and His love is there for us if we want it and know we need it.

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?" And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days." Then He spoke a parable to them: "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one, otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'" My study bible notes on these verses: "Jesus' earthly life is a time of joyous blessings. But there will come a time when His followers will practice fasting." Of course, fasting is a part of the long history of Christian tradition throughout the widespread denominations of the Church. But the parable of the wineskins is interesting, because it tells us about Jesus' consciousness that He is doing something new. He is not merely fulfilling the old. This is a break, this is something new and radical and revolutionary, because it includes the excluded. No matter where we are, or what we do, or how we see the world, Christ is for everybody. "For the life of the world" really means there are no exceptions. In this parable of the wineskins, He is expressing His awareness of what He is doing -- and also his consciousness of the difficulties of the scribes and the Pharisees.

For us, perhaps, this story has a deeper meaning that we must consider. When we start off on a journey of faith, we may be in for many surprises. We may find that we are called to fast or feast with the Bridegroom ourselves. There are things of which we may be called to repent, and things we may secretly find shameful (like perhaps our deep devotion to faith that takes us away from old friends or attachments), that we will be called to embody in a bold way. Whatever it is, the love of Christ calls us and it always calls us to new life. Repentance, I find, is a series or a process of choices that calls us out of the old -- the old wine which we are used to -- and into the new. This parable works today as much as it did for the time when it was told, and under the circumstances in which we find ourselves as much as the circumstances at Matthew's table. We may rejoice with our Bridegroom as we are His friends. But there will always be something new in which we are called to "Follow Him," as was Matthew, and we must be ready to do so. In that time we will fast, if from nothing else, at least from our "old wine" so that we may be issued into the new. This is the Physician's work in us.