New wine must be put into new wineskins

 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 of preaching in other towns, 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."    Levi is also named Matthew, and considered to be the author of the Gospel that bears his name.  Under the system of the Roman Empire, Roman overlords would assign specific areas to Jewish tax collectors.  In turn, these tax collectors were free to collect extra revenue for their personal profit, using the might of the Roman state to extort their own people.  My study bible explains that their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption caused other Jews to hate them and to consider them to be unclean.  As Jesus dines with them and also calls a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me"), this offends the Pharisees.  However, Christ's defense is simple, and it reflects the tenor of His ministry so far:  He is here to heal.  He goes where the need of a physician is the greatest.   Here the healing call is to repentance, just as in the message with which He began His ministry:  "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."

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."  My study bible tells us that the Jews would typically fast twice a week (see Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  Additionally, there were public fasts that were regularly observed or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3, Ezra 8:21, Esther 4:16, Joel 2:15).   This was especially for the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5, 8:19).  But the day of the But the day of the Messiah was seen as a time of celebration, a wedding feast, a time of joy.  Jesus is proclaiming that this day is here, and effectively declares Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom.  My study bible explains -- and this is particularly relevant to our current season of Lent -- that fasting is not gloomy but desirable, a "bright sadness," because by fasting we gain self-control and prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast.

"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 the old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant, viewed as imperfect and temporary.  The new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  The new wine is the Holy Spirit which dwells within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law. 

The new wineskins are those which are capable of being stretched to make room for new things.  And the new wine is the Holy Spirit, whose enzymatic-like action works internally to produce that growth.  These images are not static images meant only for the period in which Jesus was preaching.  They are images that stay with us, and which characterize the nature of the work of God in us and among us.  The Holy Spirit remains with us, an the Spirit's actions remain continually those of new wine, fermenting, growing, expanding, and working in an internal and mysterious way which is hidden from ordinary sight.  New wine is a kind of adequate reflection, an image of Jesus' words about the Spirit to Nicodemus, in which He compared the Spirit to the wind:  "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8).  Like the hidden enzymatic action of new wine, the wind only becomes visible to us through its effects.  Do we find ourselves thinking differently than we did in the past?  Do we "change our minds" (the literal meaning of repentance in Greek) about things we used to believe as our faith takes deeper root in ourselves?  Do we mysteriously find ourselves in agreement with the wisdom contained in the Church, but which becomes only with time "more true" to us?  Life continues in an ever-adjusting motion, just as is illustrated by Christ's images of God at work in the world, the effects and actions of the ministry He brings to us, and especially the work of the Spirit.  Let us note that the image of the new wineskins gives us a sense in which we are continually to make room for God's work, God's place in the world, God's actions.  Not only do we expand our understanding of what Church is and means, but Christ's very ministry is one that opens up and makes room for "new people."  This is not simply about opening up faith to those not nominally of a particular background or worldly definition, but it is specifically related to the healing action of His ministry.  It is somehow a difficult thing for us to understand at times, but it is that very work of healing that opens up the Church for membership where one would least expect it.  It is that action of the Holy Spirit that opens up repentance and change for those who might have remained outsiders except for this surprising and changing action, the healing that effects repentance.  Let us note that the tax collectors and sinners do not follow Christ simply because He gives them some sort of respectability.  We cannot label these people as products of a modern society in which the Christian church is a visible socially-acceptable institution.  In Jesus' new ministry, He is already looked at askance by the religious authorities.  Instead, what we must see is the true work of the Physician and how very keenly these individuals feel the need of His help, the medicine which He offers in which they are restored to community.  He does not give a message in which the tax collectors continue to do their work in a criminally abusive way, nor does He endorse sin.  Instead, He offers hope, He brings the presence of God more manifestly into the world, and it is a presence which effectively heals, makes room for more at the table, and transforms and expands our own understanding and consideration of what God is and does among us and within us.  This is the action of healing, of setting aright, of offering medicine.  It is a sign of the presence of the Bridegroom.  Let us note that the traditional practices of Lent are meant to do the same.  Fasting practices such as abstaining from meat or animal products are meant to "make room" for God, making time for us to remember God.  St. John Chrysostom, in one Lenten sermon, preached to the well-heeled among his flock that they should give up the splendid special dishes and rare ingredients they sought after for a time, give up the demand for sumptuous entertainment and the desire to impress their guests at table, stop for a time the fire and grease of the kitchen (and the work of servants).  The message was, if we put it in modern terms, to just give it a rest for a while.  Think about other things, spend your efforts on strengthening communion with God, spend time in prayer or other practices (such as reading Scripture) in place of the usual drive to acquire or achieve other things.  In so doing, we make those new wineskins that expand and grow to make room for remembrance of God, for the effects of God's work in us.  We invite in that enzymatic action -- that mysterious hidden process -- in which the Holy Spirit can be at work in us and in our lives.  We make room to think of new things, to change things we hadn't considered before, and to reconsider old habits that we'd be better off adjusting to more suitably reflect our commitment to God, to our faith in Christ.  Let us consider all the ways in which we may make room for the new and for the action of God in us and in our lives, and go forward in the deepening internal way we must at this time.  In the image of Christ the healer, we may also make room for rehabilitation of things we thought lost or useless, and healing of wounds we haven't truly taken a good look at -- with God's help.  Let us remember that "with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26) so that we open up and expand with the new wine and new wineskins He prescribes.  It is with "prayer and fasting" that even the toughest opponents of God's work are cast out