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

 

 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.   Levi the son of Alphaeus is also known to us as Matthew, and is the apostle whose Gospel bears that name (Matthew 9:9).  

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 Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who then were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  This would amount to a type of extortion backed by Roman might at their disposal.  Therefore, their collaboration with the occupying Romans, couple with their fraud and corruption caused other Jews to hate them and to consider them unclean (Matthew 11:19).  As Jesus dines and accepts a tax collector as His disciple ("Follow Me"), He offends the scribes and Pharisees.  But Christ's defense is simple, says My study Bible.  He goes where the need of a physician is greatest.  He did not come to call the righteous, He says, but sinners, to repentance.  In Matthew's version of this story, Jesus quotes from the prophesy of Hosea, "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:13).  

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."  Here my study Bible explains to us that the Jews typically fasted twice a week (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), particularly on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5, 8:19).  But for the Jews, the day of the Messiah was a wedding feast.  That is, a time of joy and gladness.  Here Jesus proclaims that day, and declares Himself to be the Messiah or Bridegroom.  My study Bible adds that for Christians, fasting is not gloomy but rather desirable -- often called a bright sadness.  For by fasting we gain self-control and prepare ourselves for this Wedding Feast.  The old garment and old wineskins are images of the Old Covenant and the Law, which is viewed in this perspective as imperfect and temporary.  The new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  My study Bible elaborates that the new wine is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law. 

 So how do we, as Christians, understand the Holy Spirit dwelling within us as renewed people?  For most Christian denominations, the Holy Spirit is a gift conferred at Holy Baptism.  In this light, we understand fasting and ascetic practices as those things designed for us to pay attention to this gift within ourselves, so that we might focus more deeply on the things of the Spirit, and see where God leads us to make us holy people.  This works not just as individuals but as a community living the life of our faith.  So, in today's reading, we have these mixed images of fasting and a wedding feast.  Christ announces that He is the Bridegroom, and more than a bridegroom.  For He is also Physician.  The Pharisees and scribes are scandalized that He calls tax collectors to be His disciples.  As we indicated in yesterday's reading and commentary, for the Jews, sin was a kind of contaminant, akin (and sometimes synonymous) with disease.  We can see that in the attitudes of the Pharisees and scribes to Christ dining with people who were considered to be sinners.  But Christ brings several things into this picture of what was considered to be ascetic or pious practice.  First, He characterizes Himself as Physician, indicating that sin is something not simply put aside somewhere and projected outside of oneself and community, but something that needed to be healed.  Moreover, in and through Himself, sin was possible to heal.  Therefore the new wineskins -- that must be used for a new people (new wine) are necessary, because this new understanding, this new covenant, is something that needs room to grow.  It must be able to expand, and its dynamic action is something that must be allowed to grow and to change our experience of sin and holiness.  The enzymatic action that produces new wine needs to be allowed to expand.  It is akin to the work of the Holy Spirit, and makes a metaphor to grace that works as energies to transform and transfigure.  In other words, to heal what needs changing.  It's the whole notion of healing in itself that is new here, and it is the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, even fasting becomes transfigured; as my study Bible calls it, a time of bright sadness.  This is because, in the words of St. Paul, we fast based on a hope of something to come.  St. Paul writes, "For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance" (Romans 8:22-25).  Fasting and other ascetic practices prepare us, as my study Bible says, for the Wedding Feast, the time of the Bridegroom.  These practices are meant to help us to focus on the indwelling of the Spirit, removing the distractions that keep us away from this faithful focus.  We fast from the things that distract us from prayer and worship and the remembrance of God and where we are within God's community.  We fast from the things that keep us from hearing the things we need to change.  For this is the real meaning of repentance, to change one's mind.   So let us deeply focus on what is happening in today's reading, the healing of sin and sinners, the Physician and Bridegroom -- who does not repudiate fasting altogether, but rather transfigures it as He does all things He touches, even as He calls Matthew the tax collector to follow Him.

 

 

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick

St. Matthew.  Painted miniature, Gospel head-piece.  Illuminated Armenian Gospels with Eusebian canons, 1609.  Bodleian Library, University of Oxford

 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

Yesterday we read that, after Christ's healing of the demon-possessed men, Jesus got into a boat, crossed over the Sea of Galilee, and came to His own city of Capernaum, the site of His Galilean ministry "headquarters."  Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you."  And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, "This Man blasphemes!"  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?  For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  And he arose and departed to his house.  Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men.

 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."   Mark's Gospel tells us that Matthew is also called Levi (Mark 2:14).  My study bible explains that Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors.  In turn, these tax collectors (such as Matthew/Levi) were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit, backed by the might of the Roman state.  Because of their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption, other Jews to hate them and to consider them unclean (11:19), my study bible says.   We can understand, then, how shocking it is that Jesus dines with them and also accepts a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me"), and therefore the offended response of the Pharisees.  But this gives rise to the occasion upon which Christ can define His surprising ministry:  "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  His answer frames His ministry as movement for healing of all kinds:  Christ goes where the need of the physician is greatest.  My study bible says that "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" (as Jesus quotes from Hosea 6:6) is not a rejection of sacrifice per se.  Rather it shows that mercy is the higher priority (see Psalm 51).   In this case, Jesus makes it clear that repentance is a form of healing, and is part and parcel of God's mercy.

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."  In Jewish traditional practice, fasting was done twice a week, on Monday and Thursday  (Luke 18:12).  Additionally, there were regularly-declared public fasts or others were occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15), particularly on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5, 8:19).  But Jesus contrasts fasting with the wedding feast of the day of the Messiah.  This is a time of joy and gladness, and the Incarnation is the time when the Bridegroom is with His friends.  So Jesus declares in this passage.  My study bible says that for Christians, fasting is not gloomy but desirable, and calls it a bright sadness, because by fasting we gain self-control and prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast (Christ's return). 

"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."   My study bible explains that the old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law.  In this perspective, as Christ presents them here, they are viewed as imperfect and temporary.  The new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ, and in particular the healing ministry He characterizes by referring to Himself as Physician, and the joy of the friends of the Bridegroom through the Incarnation.  My study bible explains also that the new wine is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed people, who can't be constrained by the old precepts of the Law, which cannot expand to hold what is new.

In today's reading, it's important to understand that Christ presents His ministry as that of a physician.  He's come to heal.  Therefore He goes to the ones who transgress the Law in order to bring repentance to them.  Moreover, He is the Bridegroom, the One whose wedding feast brings joy to the people.  This also is a picture of healing, as the wedding feast is the union of Creator and God's people, a supremely longed-for restoration of true community and harmony, and a return to the life meant to be good as given by God.  So what is healing for us?  How is it related to repentance?  If we're thinking in a highly legalistic way, there aren't going to be a lot of gray areas.  If one thinks in terms of transgression and failure, we can get stuck in limited thinking that fails to consider that repentance, in the context of the grace which Christ brings,  is able to heal and restore right-relationship and community.  Let us keep in mind that "right-relationship" can be among the community, between ourselves and God, and even an internal disposition to the things which are truly good for us, the true "natural" state for which we were created to begin with.  Repentance can work to build such a state in us, and it can work on a continual kind of basis -- and especially through prayer -- to help to heal us in ways we wouldn't expect through merely worldly considerations or expectations.  How does one heal, for example, abuse which has fractured or disfigured an understanding of what love is?  How can God as Physician step in and remedy what has been broken in community?  If we take the example of the Jewish tax collectors of this Roman period, they are seen as breaking community by acting as predators for outside, occupying forces.  Therefore, they could remain on the outside, or through the "intervention" of the Incarnation, they can come to a repentance and forgiveness of sins so that they may be restored to community, and participate as those who may be restored to right relationship through repentance.  There is the exercise of medicine at work, a corrective effort which means restoration in the eyes of God.  This requires the capacity to expand, to see what is possible, to allow for repentance to do its work.  But it also asks us to admit that as human beings we can be healed.  A tax collector can be restored to community through divine help, even to repentance which does not come from punitive measures but rather from a change of heart, the work of a kind of love (or mercy) that can reach where the worldly can't go.  My study bible calls the "new wine" the Holy Spirit, whose energies in us can bring surprising change which can't easily be explained through worldly experience.  Anyone with a deepening life of prayer, for example, may testify to the kind of love encountered that expands our own worldly experience of love to include potentials we may not have been given within a worldly family life.  So even a tax collector, used to extorting with the help of the Roman state, can come to terms with a justice that must be practiced for true community, and find a new way to live within the community of Christ.  It calls us to wonder about the ways in which we, too, need to expand our understanding of potential and possibility within the healing ministry of Christ the Physician in our own lives and communities, as we see new ailments (or old ailments in new forms) through rejection of the good.  Where do you need restoration and healing?  How do you find a way to a better life in the community of the friends of the Bridegroom, the entire communion of saints and the Body of Christ?  Are there examples that help us expand to see a better way, with the new wine and the new wineskins that will make room for new potentials?  These are the questions to ask ourselves.  And it is important to remind ourselves that they are continually expanding.  What we may think is impossible to solve becomes possible with God, and with faith.  We simply need to make room for our own "change of mind" to find Christ's way to do it.  We will always be asked to stretch.  The new wine continually expands, and so do the wineskins.    This is something we need to keep in mind through the whole of our lives, as the way of our faith may bring us new surprises, and call on us to encompass new possibilities all along the way.   So important is the idea of expansion that Christ's example of new wine and its enzymatic action isn't the only metaphor he'll give for the work of the Spirit.  He will also use leaven, as a positive image, to teach us about the work of God in us (Matthew 13:33)  Let us endeavor to find His way through all things, especially when we feel we're stuck, or we've come to a "dead end," or an impossible hurdle or impasse.    For Christ our Physician there is no such thing, if we seek His way.

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

 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 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

In yesterday's reading, we were told that Jesus entered Capernaum again 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.  My study bible explains that "Levi (Matthew) is the only one of the Twelve with a powerful position in society and presumably an education.  He has probably already heard of Jesus.  Follow Me is a divine call, a command, not merely a suggestion.  Of course, Matthew, like anyone receiving a call, must respond by his own free will."

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.   My study bible tells us:  "In dining with sinners, Jesus shows the Kingdom's openness to the outcast, and its destruction of the barrier between sinful men and God.  Jesus recognizes these people as a definable group.  It is possible to follow Jesus and remain in one's social class; however, friends no longer come first."

And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"   A note here explains the difference in emphasis between the old and the new introduced in the Gospel:  "The teachers of the Law sought to expel evil; Christ comes to transform it.  Jesus does not become unclean by contact with the unclean.  Rather, His touch makes the unclean clean."  Again, as we mentioned in yesterday's reading and commentary, it is transfiguration, transformation that is at the center of this gospel message.

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 tells us, "Christ came to save and heal, not to judge.  There are righteous people who do dead works (actions which are good in themselves but are motivated by legalism rather than by love) and keep people from God.  True righteousness comes through faith and is accompanied by wholesome works.  Many Pharisees were masters of dead works; some tax collectors and many sinners would become masters of true righteousness."

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."  My study bible says here that this is "an expression of the messianic joy which accompanies the presence of Christ  Some believe this episode suggests the Eucharist." 

"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."  The value of fasting as a spiritual practice is not neglected here by Christ, nor was it neglected by the early Church.  But the emphasis here is on what is new:  sinners dine with Christ and are a part of this party of the bridechamber.  My study bible says regarding Christ's teaching about "new wineskins":  "This is not a blanket condemnation of Old Testament traditions, which Christ came to fulfill, not to destroy (Matthew 5:17).  Rather, this verse stresses the newness of Christ's teaching.  The old and the new cannot mix."

Let's look at the emphasis in today's reading:  over and over again, there's the call of sinners by Christ.   Matthew (Levi) himself is considered a public sinner as a tax collector, an agent of the Romans, willing to do a job that was notorious for its corruption, widely despised by the people.  We should note, for today's audience perhaps, that Jesus says He calls sinners to repentance (although some ancient versions do not include the phrase "to repentance").  Whatever text we look at, the context is clear:  Jesus' mission is a saving ministry.  He's here not to bring immediate judgment, but rather to save.  In that context, we're all sinners.  We all need some kind of growth and change.  Whatever that might be, Jesus is placing a different emphasis on what's important, and His claim here is a call of redemption, coming to save that which was lost, to offer a way forward into the kingdom.  There is no one who cannot be saved by coming to Him as a little child.  As Jesus dines in the center of that table of sinners as honored guest, let us consider the picture it makes for us.  He is the centerpiece.  But His message is one of transformation, transfiguration:  by coming to Him as a little child -- with the trust of a little child -- we are healed.  This transformation is likened to the work of a physician:  "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick."  Transformation, transfiguration:  those who are ill spiritually or even in any other sense if we are really to take the context of the Gospel into consideration, need this Physician to heal.  Spiritual ailments require spiritual healing --  but in Jesus' context all affliction comes from being bound (paralyzed if we are to use yesterday's text as an analogy) by the "strong man" whose rule of this world Jesus is here to undo.  On every level, Jesus is here to transform, to transfigure, but this only happens through our assent to His work in us and in our world.  When it comes to the new wineskins, His gospel is so expansive, so explosive in some sense, that it cannot be contained within the old ways of understanding.  Just as the wine ferments into something new, so the action of this transformation is upheld in the analogy of the new wineskins.  The good news is just that:  something new, that cannot be easily contained, that requires a whole new way of thinking to embrace its understanding.  We may not all think that there is anything about ourselves that needs healing or changing.  We may not all believe that we are sinners.  But if we consider that to "sin" really means to "miss the mark" we may need to come to a different -- and new -- understanding of our own faith.  A sin can be just as much a failure to love what is truly good about ourselves as it is a failure to love the good of God.  A false sense of guilt is a lie as is a false sense of innocence.  Any affliction can be addressed by this Physician. Which of us is entirely perfect in such a sense?  Which of us can make such an assumption without practicing self-deception (another form of lying)?  This physician is here for all of us, and this good news is still so far from being contained within the boundaries of our every day assumptions that it will always require new wineskins.  Let us continue to understand that His gospel cannot be contained in day-to-day ways of thinking, but will always require our own willingness to expand with it.  Like a little child, we come to Him.  We don't have all the answers.  We don't know all our own imperfections.  But we can read the Gospel, and continue to have expanded for us His transfiguring power, His call to righteousness, to a change of mind (the literal meaning of the word for repentance in the Greek).  His gospel message will always call us to see and relate to ourselves and to the world in new ways beyond our own limits.