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Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him.
Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom 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 will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins."
- Mark 2:13-22
Yesterday, we read that again Jesus entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"
Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." My study bible explains that this Levi is also Matthew (whose name will be on the first book of the Gospels). It says that Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit. Their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption caused other Jews to hate them and to consider the unclean. Jesus dining with them and accepting a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me") offends the Pharisees, yet Christ's defense is simple: he goes where the need of a physician is greatest. In Matthew's gospel itself there is added the quotation from Hosea 6:6: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice." Jesus gives the emphasis on mercy as the high priority.
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom 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 will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins." My study bible explains that, typically, the Jews fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday. In addition, public fasts were regularly observed or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21-23; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15), especially on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5, 8:19). But the day of the Messiah was seen, by contrast, as a wedding feast -- a time of joy and gladness. Jesus is proclaiming that day here and declaring Himself to be the Messiah or Bridegroom. My study bible says that for Christians, fasting is not a gloomy but desirable or "bright" sadness, because by fasting one gains self-control and makes preparation for this Wedding Feast. Regarding the old garment and old wineskins, they stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, which from this standpoint is seen as imperfect and temporary, while the new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ. This new wine is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.
It must have been extremely shocking for the scribes and Pharisees to observe Jesus with His new disciples. The tax collectors were seen as among the lowest of the low, contemptible Jews who would accept to "lord it over" other Jews and work collecting taxes for the Romans -- seen as something onerous to the people. Moreover they would usually also be empowered to take extra for themselves, so we have to understand this profession as seen imbued with corruption and thuggery to the people as a whole. It's in this context that we have to see this dinner. Strange disciples indeed for this holy man! But Jesus comes with something so new that it is shocking, and in order to understand Him, we have to understand ideas of transformation, and of transcendence. Like wine, these people are not finished products as they are. Jesus uses metaphors of fermentation for the mysterious spiritual work of the kingdom, such as in comparing the kingdom of God to the leaven measured into flour for dough. Here, the "new wine" is that new covenant at work: there has to be room for it to expand in this process -- thus the new wineskins that are different from the old and require an entirely new container, one that will stretch and grow with the action of the enzymes at work in the process. (And, by the way, the Greek word for leaven gives us the word "enzyme.") It's quite an exciting thing to think about new wine, a process that begins with a new harvest. It's a sign of anticipation; what will the new wine be like? In some way, we're still in the process of finding that out, still in the process of this mysterious fermentation of the new wine. We remember that our Bridegroom has come to us once, and we await His return for the outcome of the vintage. But it's well for all of us to remember that we are in a process, part of something that is at work in us, and in which we need room to grow. Sometimes the things we learn in prayer will take us to a place where we need room to be completely new, where we may break off from the old and need a new container for our lives. The Spirit at work will call us in one way or another, to cast off old things that leave us too limited, and to take up things that will expand us. Let us remember this vintage process, that the work of the kingdom is one of surprising growth, something like the fermentation of the wine, that is at work deep within us. Jesus' spirit of transformation moves us where the Spirit will, and it's not up to us to determine what that looks like in advance, or where we'll go with it. Let us prepare for the surprises, and the startling news that will always be good, no matter what its form, even if it would burst the old wineskins.
