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, 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."  Let us note that at this stage, Jesus is well-enough known so that He teaches by the sea, where a multitude can gather to Him and be taught.  Levi is also called Matthew, and is the author of the Gospel that bears his name.  My study Bible explains that Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who were then free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  Their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption, my study Bible says, caused other Jews to hate them and to consider them to be unclean (Matthew 11:19).  Here Jesus was dining with them, and also had accepted a tax collector, Levi/Matthew, as His disciple ("Follow Me").  This is offensive to the Pharisees.  But Jesus' defense is simple:  He goes where the need of a physician is the greatest.  In Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 9:13), Jesus quotes from Hosea 6:6 in His reply, telling them,  "I desire mercy and not sacrifice."  My study Bible tells us that this is not a rejection of sacrifice per se, but it shows that mercy is a higher priority (see Psalm 51).

 

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."  Jews would typically fast twice a week, my study Bible notes (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  Additionally, there were public fasts which were regularly observed or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21; 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, in contrast to this, the day of the Messiah was seen as a wedding feast; that is, as a time of joy and gladness.  Jesus here is proclaiming that day, and declaring Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom.  The Church continued with its own fasting practices, but this fasting is not seen as gloomy but desirable, a "bright sadness" in the words of my study Bible, because by fasting Christian gain self-control and prepare themselves for the Wedding Feast to come.  The old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, viewed as imperfect and temporary; the new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  The new wine is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed people, my study Bible says, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.

 

 It's interesting that Jesus makes a more or less open declaration that He is the Messiah, or the Bridegroom, in today's reading.  This is the second confrontation with religious leaders in Mark's Gospel; the first occurred in yesterday's reading, when Jesus confronted some scribes regarding His ability to forgive sins -- which is also a priority belonging only to God.  What Jesus is essentially saying to them, couched within disagreement and confrontation, is that the fullness of time has come (just as He said at the beginning of His public ministry, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel" - Mark 1:15).  This is the opportune time, what we view as the "center" of history, in which the Bridegroom is present with His people.  But today's reading also tells us something very important, which has already been established in Mark's Gospel and is reinforced here:  the Bridegroom comes as Physician, as Healer -- and this is His expression of compassion.  It enforces the words quoted from Hosea and noted in Matthew's Gospel:  "I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."  Jesus brings a distinct shift into the picture, as mercy becomes more strongly paired with what it is to counter sin and the corruption of the world.  Let us note that in the Old Testament perspective, the constant sacrifices in the temple were meant to be a way to counter the problem of sin in the world, and of its effects on communities as a constant presence.  But Jesus brings a distinctive understanding of healing as part of this correction for what is wrong in the world, and the component of compassion as righteousness.  This is also the announcement of a new day, the time of the Messiah, and the fullness or completeness of the time in which this manifests in the world.   The symbolism of the new wine and new wineskins is a promise of the Holy Spirit which will be poured out upon the world, God's presence available to all as indwelling.  It is this sense in which St. Paul writes that we are each a temple of God, and quotes from the prophecy of Ezekiel:  "I will dwell in them and walk among them.  I will be their God, and they shall be My people" (see 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16).  And all of this is in a context of mercy and of healing, of setting aright a world that has been corrupted by sin, in which humankind suffers.  In the Old Testament, we find references in the Prophets to the New Covenant (see Jeremiah 31:31-34,Ezekiel 36:24-28, Joel 2:28-32).  So the notion of the New Covenant would not be something strange to the ears of the scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus addresses.  But possibly they are not prepared for what that looks like, as Jesus sits at table with tax collectors and other sinners, as well as other "friends of the bridegroom" who do not fast while the Bridegroom is with them.  The secret key to unlocking this understanding is in Christ as Physician and Healer, the One who sets aright, who calls all to repentance, and makes His covenant with those who accept His gospel.  For those new wineskins must be able to make room for expansion, for those who will continue to come to Him.  Let us keep in mind that both stories in today's reading involve hospitality, sitting at table, a very important notion throughout the Old Testament, but also in Christianity.  Jesus will give us parables about hospitality, about the importance of inviting those who cannot pay us back (see, for instance, Luke 14:7-24).   In this setting it is who sits at the same table with Him, and why, that really matters.