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, and 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 Christ 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."  Levi is also called Matthew, and he is the Evangelist who wrote the Gospel we know by that name.  In the system of the Empire, Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who were then free to collect extra revenues for their own profit, as my study Bible explains it.  It notes that therefore, their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption caused other Jews to hate them and to consider them to be unclean (Matthew 11:19).  Here Christ dining with them and also accepting a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me") is an offense to the Pharisees.  But Christ's defense is quite simple:   He goes where the need of the physician is greatest.  He has come not 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, and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."  My study Bible explains that the Jews typically fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  Moreover, there were public fasts which were regularly observed, or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21-23; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15), particularly on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and also in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5, 8:19).  However, the Jews saw the day of the Messiah, by contrast, as a wedding feast:  this is a time of joy and gladness.  Here, Christ is proclaiming that day, and He declares Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom, my study Bible explains.  For Christians, it notes, fasting is not gloomy but desirable; it is a bright sadness.  For by fasting, we gain self-control and we prepare ourselves for this Wedding Feast.  In this light, we understand that Jesus uses the illustration of the old garment and old wineskins to 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, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.  

If we look closely at today's reading, we might see a kind of revolutionary concept at work between the Old and the New.  That is, once a person is identified as a sinner, or as someone detrimental to community, Christ's work is healing, rehabilitation.  His aim is to save, to redeem.  He says, "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."  As Physician, then, Christ is here to heal, and that healing -- most significantly -- is repentance.  One wonders, at times, if today we have lost sight of this teaching about repentance.  Forgiveness is God's glorious purview, but it is not realized without some significant action on the part of the one who is forgiven their sins.  First of all, we must couch all concepts about faith within the understanding that we are called into relationship to God.  This is the nature of the reality we inhabit, that we are creatures of God.  Of course, we have the freedom to repudiate this should we so choose.  But that road is not a road of repentance; it is moving in the opposite direction.  To forgo forgiveness is also possible for God's creatures -- even, it seems, for angels -- but the consequences of such choices remain.  Repentance is not a kind of "Get Out of Jail Free" card, which we can just pull up when we think we need it, but like all things concerning our faith and the deep things of God, it really depends upon the state of the heart.  Jesus most solemnly condemns hypocrisy, even in those who are meant to represent God on earth and shepherd God's people (Matthew 23).  So, therefore, in considering Christ's eating and drinking with tax collectors and other sinners, people who were considered to be harmful to the community and spiritually impure, we need to think about what this repentance is that Christ puts so much stress on.  Certainly the good news of Christ's gospel of the Kingdom is first that repentance is not only possible, but desired by God.  In yesterday's reading (see above), the scribes ask, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" and thereby make it clear to us that Christ possesses this authority to forgive and to judge.  But what is repentance?  How does it work?  Why is this the great good news of our Physician, the healing and liberation which He brings to us?  Perhaps as a result of 2,000 years of Christian history, often we find people who may be so assured that they cannot sin or endanger their spiritual welfare through their choices, because we now have been so conditioned to understand God's love and forgiveness.  But repentance, nonetheless, remains an important work for us to do.  Perhaps it is the most important work of all we should consider, for repentance isn't the same thing as simple remorse or regret.  Repentance is the action of change, of turning toward God to be more reconciled to God and the ways God would ask us to walk in life.  And this is indeed the great light we need in our lives.  To neglect this saving and healing work in us is to ignore the gift we're given of the light of Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit at work.  To refuse to take this notion seriously is to refuse the gift, or to practice the hypocrisy Christ so condemns in the actions of the Pharisees and scribes in Matthew 23.  The New Covenant is all about recognizing our capacity for change and healing and renewal under the actions and guidance of the Physician who is Christ.  When we forget what a great wonder and marvel this is, we have only to turn to those systems in which forgiveness never seems to take place, where to cross a social rule or a particular value system or even a political opinion renders a person hopelessly assigned to oblivion -- and rehabilitation only comes at the expense of personal integrity and particularly of what one believes to be the truth.  Let us consider the great gift of the Physician, and remember the power of healing always present in Christ.  For if we are afraid to change, or admit our mistakes, or refuse this reconciliation in God's sight, we lose ourselves, we lose our spiritual health and understanding in God's light.  That is simply too much to lose, and bears all kinds of sacrifices to achieve it.  It's God's wisdom we need in order to determine who we are in our best sense of self, for to refuse is to lose one's life to delusion and fantasy, to a self-created idol rather than God's gift to us of true identity and spiritual health.  Let us rejoice within the new wineskins for the new wine of the wedding feast of Christ the Bridegroom, for He brings His love in order to invite us in where life is truly good. 

But 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 Jess 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 Jess 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 the son of Alphaeus is also known to us as Matthew.  It is his name which borne on the Gospel that is placed first in the New Testament.  My study Bible explains that Roman overlords would assign specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  In their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption, they were despised by fellow Jews, and considered to be unclean (see Matthew 11:19).  That Jesus would dine with tax collectors, and accept one of their number as a disciple is offensive to the Pharisees.  But Christ's defense is straightforward.  For Him, it matters where the need of the physician is greatest.  He heals by calling 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."  Fasting for the Jews typically took place twice a week (Leviticus 18:12), on Mondays and Thursdays.  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 of importance was the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5; 8:19).  But in the sight of the Jews, my study Bible explains, the day of the Messiah was a wedding feast -- a time of joy and gladness.  So here, Jesus is proclaiming that day to be present -- declaring Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom.  My study Bible comments that, for Christians, fasting is not gloomy but rather a desirable, calling it a "bright sadness."  For by fasting, it notes, 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."   Jesus uses the terms old garment and old wineskins to represent the Old Covenant and the Law.  In this sense, they are viewed as imperfect and temporary.  The new wineskins then are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  The new wine, my Bible explains, then is seen as the Holy Spirit, dwelling within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.  

In what way does the term "new wineskin" appeal to you, or apply to you in your life?  This quality of newness is not simply something that was newly on offer 2,000 years ago when Christ engaged in this confrontation with the Pharisees.  For we understand that all of the ways that Christ described Himself, and the action of the Kingdom, were all about "making new" in some sense.  After all, what does a Physician do but heal, and what is healing but "making new"?  For that matter, to forgive sins is to let them go, to release people from their bondage to the sin, to "make new" in this freedom, in redemption.  When we practice repentance, literally "change of mind" in the Greek, we are becoming new people; our spirits change, our souls change, our perspective and outlook changes.  Jesus placed great emphasis on the ways in which we perceived life, the lens through which we looked -- our perspective.  He said that He came that we may have life, and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches, "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"  Clearly, if our "eye" (our mind) can be made good, full of light, then we are renewed people, taken out of the great darkness of spiritual blindness and ignorance.  By cleansing the eye through repentance, and through the illumination of Christ, our outlook is renewed and thus our life.  In the Revelation 21:5, we read, "Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And He said to me, 'Write, for these words are true and faithful.'"   These words are true and faithful in the of always being so, eternally, at every moment.  And in the literal sense of the Greek verbs, the words of the One who sat on the throne are better translated, "I am always making all things new."  For this is, after all, the truth of Resurrection, the power of Christ which is always present, always true, always faithful.  With the Cross comes Resurrection, and therefore the action of new wine which needs new wineskins.  We are those new wineskins, as Christ teaches us that we are always seeming to be works in progress, on our way somewhere, changing our view, ultimately pliable enough to move toward the fullness of the image in which we have been created, the image that Christ has for us.  For even fasting practices are meant to prepare us for the choices of such a journey, fasting from what's not really good, what doesn't feed that true image and integrity, helping us with the discipline to see new things around the corner, new ways through which to view and to approach life, new ways of thinking and being.  Matthew the tax collector sheds the old life of collecting taxes for the empire, and instead becomes one who serves the kingdom of God.  For we are stones, not existing to stand still but to be shaped into something beautiful.  "Living stones," as St. Peter tells us, "being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (see 1 Peter 2:4-6).   Therefore the life in Christ is to be a new wineskin filled with new wine that expands who we think we are, offering us a fullness we don't yet know.  Let us be grateful for this life in abundance.

 

But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved

 

 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 healing two demon-possessed men in the country of the Gergesenes, Jesus got into a boat, crossed back over the Sea of Galilee, and came to His own city of Capernaum.  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."  Matthew (the author of the Gospel we are reading) is also named Levi (Mark 2:14).   As Israel was under the rule of Rome, Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, and my study Bible explains that these tax collectors were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  Backed by the Roman state and power, they could practice extortion on their own people.  My study Bible says 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 (Matthew 11:19).  As Jesus both dines with them and accepts a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me") , this offends the Pharisees.  But Christ's defense is simple:  As our ultimate healer, He goes where the need of the physician is greatest.  My study Bible adds that Jesus' quotation from Hosea's prophecy (Hosea 6:6), "I desire mercy and not sacrifice," isn't a rejection of sacrifice per se, but rather shows that mercy is a higher priority (see Psalm 51).

 

 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."  My study Bible explains that the Jews typically fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  Additionally, there were regular public fasts which were observed and 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 the day of the Messiah was seen as a wedding feast -- a time of joy and gladness.  Here Jesus is proclaiming that day, and declaring Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom.  My study Bible adds that for Christians, fasting is not gloomy but desirable, a "bright sadness," for by fasting we gain self-control and we prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast.  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, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.  

What is your new wine?  What does your new wineskin look like?  Our faith often seems to teach us that we live in a kind of fine tension between practices we know and honor, and which are always helpful to us, and the new exuberant life which is sudden and surprising and through which the Holy Spirit works in us.  Sitting in a liturgy that dates itself to centuries past, we find tremendous truths and beauty that is waiting for us to discover it, as the Holy Spirit, while we're in prayer, will open up our eyes to what is there, what has always been there, and yet is working in us now.  We might engage in fasting practices which don't find much popular favor necessarily in the Church worldwide, but we'll find that they do indeed teach us the kind of self-mastery that allows us to rise above our own habits and seeming limitations, teaching us that we have a power to aspire to the capacity to say "No" to what plagues and ails us.  These old practices are not meant to be restrictions in and of themselves, but rather platforms; they are meant to give us structure, rails within which we can move and live and move forward on the right track, so to speak.  Just like the stunned and offended Pharisees in today's reading, we might not necessarily like or expect what that surprising new wine will do, what the new wineskins look like.  But there is one thing we can be certain about, and that is that when we plant our faith where it belongs and do all we can to nurture it, we are calling on the Physician who knows what's best for us, who will call all of us beyond what we know and expect -- even through the practices that are meant to give us proper structure for that journey, which have served for many centuries, through the saints who came before us and helped to show us the way, God's power in that new wine revealing itself through those who came before us in faith.  Let us take on those new wineskins and become the new wine, and turn to the fasting that is in preparation for the Bridegroom, the resources ready to help make that happen, to a faith that is always surprisingly new.  The Bridegroom says, "I am always making all things new" (Revelation 21:5).  The tension between what is, what was, and is to come, is always there in His presence and in the Church, and it is there we dwell and practice our faith (Hebrews 13:8, Revelation 4:8).

 

 

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.