How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?

 

 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."   Levi the son of Alphaeus is also known to us as Matthew (Matthew 9:91-13).  My study Bible explains that Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  It notes that their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption caused other Jews to hate them and to consider them unclean (Matthew 11:19).  Jesus dining with them and accepting a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me") is an offense to the scribes and Pharisees.  But Christ's defense of His ministry is simple:  He goes where the need of a physician is the greatest.  He clarifies His mission:  "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."  Typically, fasting practices for the Jews included fasting on Mondays and Thursday (Luke 18:12).  Moreover, my study Bible tells us, fasts were regularly observed or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15), and most particularly on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and also in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5; 8:19).  But for the Jews, the day of the Messiah was foreseen as a wedding feast; that is, a time of joy and gladness.  Here Jesus is proclaiming that day, and subtly declaring Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom.  For Christians, my study Bible comments, fasting is not gloomy but desirable.  It is a "bright sadness" because in fasting, we gain self-control and prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast.  Moreover, the old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, according to my study Bible.  They are viewed as imperfect and temporary, while 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.

 

 Of course, we know from an important story in the Gospels, that wine was essential to the celebration of a wedding feast (see John 2:1-12; Christ's first divine sign of seven in St. John's Gospel).  So Christ's comparison of old and new wine here is significant, because wine is symbolic and essential to covenant.  So it is also in our Eucharist; in addition to the understanding of the mystical presence Christ's Blood in the wine of the Eucharist, wine retains its covenantal meaning as well, for in taking our Eucharist we affirm that He is our Bridegroom and we wish to be united to Him as His Church, the Bride.  So when Jesus speaks of old and new wine in today's reading, we need to pay attention to the depth of what He's saying.  This isn't simply about a kind of preference in terms of a simple metaphor about what we drink, but its deeper sense is about how we live covenant, what we live by, what we know, and how we participate in the divine life of God.  One hallmark of that new wine is no doubt the element of forgiveness that is so crucial to Christ's ministry, and that becomes a counterpoint to the criticism of the Pharisees and the scribes.  Just as Jesus touched a leper (and therefore "unclean" person) in Monday's reading, something forbidden in the Law, Jesus' proximity to these sinners as He eats and drinks with them is offensive to the Pharisees and scribes, who follow the Law and the traditions built up around it as scrupulously as possible.  They, in fact, live their scrupulosity in seeking to serve God.  We can simply imagine, then, how they view Christ's behavior with these tax collectors and sinners.  But Jesus has a mission that they can't understand, and it is a mission of repentance for the purpose of forgiveness of sins.  So, as He says, He's come to call sinners to repentance, because repentance is essential to forgiveness -- and it is the freedom from sin that is the true state of wholeness or healing.  Thus, He likens Himself to a physician seeking to treat the cause of illness in those who are sick.  The Law for its purposes sought to ameliorate the effects of sin in community, to limit it, to protect the community from it.  But it did not have the power to forgive sin, for only God has that power.  As Jesus here insinuates, He has that power, for He is God.  Jesus does not openly declare Himself to be the Messiah (or to be divine) in an open or obvious sense.  But He does fulfill this role, and He is doing things that only a Messiah who was both human and divine could do.  The religious leaders will understand this, and therefore be offended by it.  His followers are those who drink the new wine and need it, for it heals what ails them, and they follow Him in the ways that He leads them.  But this wine needs new wineskins, which will expand with time and age and the powerful enzymatic properties of the wine.  As time passes, and the Church continues in the world, we continue to discover that these wineskins must expand.  We find new ways in which healing and repentance go hand in hand.  We discover that our own healing depends upon freedom from sin, not just limiting sins effects.  Real healing asks for a radical turnaround, and it needs what Christ gives.  Moreover, the Holy Spirit, the real new wine, must lead from there, always expanding, always producing new saints, always giving us its creative responses to what unfolds with time.  Let us remember we must be the product of that new wine, and continue expanding as it asks of us, for that is what repentance is for.  Today's reading is also a valuable and important lesson about the deceptiveness of appearances.  For the Pharisees and scribes are judging by what they see, and indeed Jesus is sitting with those who are considered to be notorious sinners.  But with the new wine we're taught that life is not always what it appears to be, and we must find God's way for us regardless of social appearances and pressures otherwise. With social media and new technologies, the powerful manipulation of image (and the demand that we pursue the same) is more potent and persuasive than ever.   Let us make that commitment with our covenant in the new wine of Christ, who teaches us to be wise as serpents and simple as doves, and gives us the Spirit for discernment midst all of the things we think we see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance

 

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

 

- Luke 5:27–39 

 

Yesterday we read that it happened when Jesus was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Him; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering or your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."  However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.  Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"

 

  After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Levi, also known as Matthew, answer's Christ's call to "follow Me."  He leaves his occupation to become a disciple, my study Bible comments.  It notes that from the beginning of Christ's ministry, He was a friend of tax collectors and sinners, which is one of the Pharisees' complaints against Him (as we read a little further on in the text).  Levi was possibly one of the tax collectors prepared for Christ by John the Baptist (Luke 3:12).  

 

 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  My study Bible comments that this feast is an expression of Matthew's joy and gratitude.  The guest register, it says, is a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness. 

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."    My study Bible tells us that Christ's earthly life is a time of joyous blessings.  But, of course, there will come a time when Christ's followers will be practicing the fast.  Jewish fasting practices would be transfigured in Christianity to reflect preparation for the wedding feast of the Messiah/Bridegroom at the end of the age.  Thus historically there have been practices of fasting in the Church to prepare for the feast of Easter, and also for Christmas and other short fasting periods before certain feasts or commemorations.  

 

 Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"   Christ here gives this parable of wineskins to illustrate the growing ranks of His Church, the New Covenant as it transfigures the Old.  My study Bible remarks that this final saying regarding old wine occurs only in Luke's account of this story.  It suggests that this last remark illustrates, first of all, the difficulty with which the Jews would accept the new covenant, and secondly, the inner resistance which a person faces in turning from a sinful way of life.  Finally, it teaches us about the general stubbornness of the human heart. 

The analogy of the old wineskins and the new illustrates an important aspect of the difficulties of repentance.  We always want what we are used to, and it's often hard to accept the new and what is unfamiliar to us.  We're used to doing things a certain way, or being taught that a particular habit or way of doing things is good and preferable in general.  But just as the new wineskins allow for expansion, for new members welcomed into Christ's Church, so the practice of repentance asks us for a constant type of growth and expansion.  Often our faith and our prayers might lead us to make new choices, new decisions we haven't made before, new concepts we hadn't considered to embrace, or perhaps new alternatives to the ways we've always done things in the past.  Occasionally we run into seeming roadblocks in our lives, and we can't understand why things are not working or we seem to have hit a dead end.  It's then that prayer and spiritual guidance can help us find ways to move forward out of our "stuck" places, giving us options and insight into new possibilities and new ways of thinking.  The "new wineskins" of Christ offer us an opening to consider that within His Church and as His disciples we are always asked to grow and to expand, for we are made to learn (the word disciple in the Greek of the Gospels literally means "learner").  To grow within the discipline of following Christ is an expanding way of life, inviting us to continue toward that wedding feast of the Bridegroom and His Church, for union with our Lord has an infinite horizon beyond what we know.  While we may consider that repentance entails turning toward something we already know, the word in Greek (μετανοια/metanoia) actually implies change, and it literally means "change of mind."  Let us consider the ways Christ calls us to change, to expand our own ways of thinking, to follow Him.  

 

 

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 who dwelt across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus got into a boat, crossed back over the sea, and returned 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 is also named Levi (see Mark 2:14).  My study Bible explains that Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who in turn were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  Let us keep in mind that this implied using the power of the Roman state, including its soldiers, to do so and extort their own people.  My study Bible says that because of their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption, among fellow Jews they became objects of hatred and were considered  unclean (Matthew 11:19).  Since Jesus dines with them here, and accepts a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me"), this is offensive to the Pharisees.  But, returning to themes we have already observed in St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus goes back to God's root purpose in terms of divine activity in the world:  healing.  He goes where the need of the physician is greatest.   "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6)  is not a rejection of sacrifice per se.  It is instead a statement that mercy is the 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."  Here my study Bible points out for us that the Jews would typically fast twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  Additionally, there were fasts that were regularly observed or proclaimed on occasion (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21; 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).  But in contrast to those times of fasting, the day of the Messiah was seen as a wedding feast; a time of joy and gladness.  What Jesus is doing here is proclaiming that day, as He declares Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom.  

 

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."  For Christians, my study Bible says, fasting is not gloomy, but is instead desirable, a "bright sadness."  This is because, in fasting, we see ourselves as gaining self-control and thereby preparing ourselves for the Wedding Feast toward which we look.  The old garment and old wineskins, it notes, refer to the Old Covenant and the Law, seen 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 can't be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.

My study Bible describes Christ's reference to the new wine as the Holy Spirit, which lives within renewed people.  How beautiful is this understanding, which gives us a sense that we are here for a purpose, that Christ came for a purpose, to give us this indwelling new wine, the Holy Spirit, so that we also may look forward to the time of the Bridegroom, Christ's return.  We should notice how in the passage on fasting, my study Bible's notes ask us to focus on how Christ's Incarnation and ministry asks us to turn toward that time of the Bridegroom, always keeping this in mind, so that everything is seen in this light.  If we fast, it is because we look forward to that time, and we prepare for it.  Don't we know already that we're not quite prepared to dwell in that heavenly Kingdom as one capable of dwelling in perfect harmony with God?  So we practice prayer, and we practice fasting, we learn to be a disciple, and hopefully grow in discipleship -- not because we need to sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice, but because we look toward Christ and His plans for us.  We hope for that indwelling of the Holy Spirit so that we might be transfigured like the wine that through mysterious enzymatic action grows into the good wine.  We worship so that we participate in that communion of saints that is meant to take us somewhere, to transfigure who we are and even who we think we are.  St. Matthew the repentant tax collector, so grateful to be taken on as disciple by Christ, is not presented as immediately perfect, completed, even if our Physician has forgiven him and called him to join Him.  On the contrary, St. Matthew the tax collector is brought into a new place where He has something toward which He now goes forward, a bright light to guide His life and whatever things will be changed in Him.  He has a cherished hope, and an indwelling of light, just as we all do who are on this path toward the place to which He calls us forward, to His light, to the wedding feast.  If Christ is our Bridegroom, we clearly also need always remember that He is our Physician.  He is here to heal us, and that indwelling of the Holy Spirit is meant to take us on the road to healing, where perfect health in this sense is our own capacity to live in the Kingdom, to dwell with God in that heavenly Kingdom Christ has promised.  The Kingdom is here among us and within us (Luke 17:21), but it is working in us to make us more fit for its dwelling and the return of the Bridegroom.  When we struggle with our journey in His light, let us consider the help we have to find the way, to make the changes we need to (as will Matthew), so that we may receive the light in its fullness that shines on us, even when we can't fully see it.  For this new wine must be preserved in the eternal day of the Kingdom which is always at hand, in which we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). 

 

 

 

I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance

 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew siting 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 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 the encounter with the demon-possessed men in the country of the Gergesenes, Jesus and the disciples got into a boat, crossed over, 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 siting 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 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 is also called Levi (Mark 2:14).  Under the Roman colonial system, Jewish tax collectors were assigned specific areas.  These Jewish tax collectors were also free to collect extra revenues for their own profit, and they had Roman might at their disposal to enforce their practices.  My study bible says that their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption resulted in the hatred of other Jews and viewing them as unclean (11:19).  For Jesus to dine with tax collectors and also to call one as disciple ("Follow Me") is an offense to the Pharisees.  But Jesus' argument is straightforward:  His mission is to go where the need of the physician is highest.  Jesus quotes from Hosea 6:6:  "I desire mercy and not sacrifice."  My study bible notes that this is not a rejection of sacrifice per se, but rather it tells us that mercy is the higher priority (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."  At this time, the typical fasting practice of the Jews was twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  Additionally there were fasts which were regularly observed, and also those occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21, 40; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15).  This was especially important for the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5, 8:19).  The time of the Messiah was the opposite:  viewed as a wedding feast, filled with joy and gladness.  Jesus is proclaiming that day.   In so doing, He reveals Himself as Messiah/Bridegroom.  My study bible notes that for Christians, fasting is meant to be not gloomy but desirable, a "bright sadness."   In this perspective, we gain self-control and prepare ourselves fro the Wedding Feast by fasting.

"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."   Traditionally, wine was kept in leather wineskins.  As indicated by Christ, as the wine ages -- like unshrunk cloth -- the old wineskins, incapable of expanding, could not contain the aging wine with its enzymatic action inside.  My study bible says that the old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, seen here as imperfect and temporary.  The new wineskins are the New Covenant are those in Christ.   My study bible adds that the new wine is the Holy Spirit which dwells within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.

What is the new thing that Christ brings into this picture?  It is the action of Himself as physician, and the need for medicine and rehabilitation as part of the picture of religious faith.  Jesus views sinners as akin to those with illness, and in need of treatment.  Of course, that opens up all kinds of other questions.  What is treatment?  What is rehabilitation?  How necessary is it that those who are ill recognize that this is their condition, and that they need treatment and medicine?  And that they need one particular kind of medicine, and not another?  All of these questions open up to ask ourselves.  For it is one thing to understand sickness and illness causing a visible ailment and its symptoms.  It is another to understand where empathy and compassion are good and important things -- and another to understand what only hampers and delays treatment, or even what the wrong remedy is.  When I was young I knew a young man with a chronic ailment.  He was extremely bright and talented.  But in response to the need for constant medical treatment, and a feeling of responsibility, he was quite spoiled and willful.  He grew up to be quite successful in his career, but also quite arrogant and problematic in his relations with people.  The "treatment" he received was, in effect, not good for him or his growth as a person.  Jesus does not teach us about indulgence.  He teaches us about care.  And so often we tend to confuse the two.  One does not suppose that Matthew continues his work as tax collector after he is called by Christ.  But there is another good case in the Gospels for us to look at in this context, and that is the story of Zacchaeus, found in Luke 19:1-10.  In that encounter, as Christ approached Jericho, Jesus calls to Zacchaeus who is a wealthy chief tax collector, and tells him that He must stay at Zacchaeus' house that day.  When the people complained that Jesus went to stay in the home of such a known sinner, Zacchaeus said, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold."  Zacchaeus found a way to correct and make restitution.  Jesus' reply tells us something about salvific medicine and therapy.  He said, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."  So salvation, redemption, medicine is about saving that which was lost.  If in sin we are ill or disordered in some way,  Christ's mission is to help restore us to proper order, in right relationship to God and to others, and in this way we are in good health.  So let us consider today what "right order" means.  What does it mean to be in good health in body, soul, and spirit?  Christ went the full distance to bring us healing.  For Him no sacrifice was too great.  What will you do for your restoration and healing?  What sacrifice is it worth to find the way to the health He offers?  Sometimes, we are so used to our own condition, we can't recognize when we're ill.  What is it worth to you to find Christ's vision for your own fullness of good health?  Jesus teaches, "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."   Which of us has no need for such medicine?  Sometimes -- perhaps most often (like the well-meaning mother who spoiled her ailing child) -- we are unaware of what would be better to change.  But that is what our faith is for, to lead us in the path of righteousness throughout our lives.  The whole question remains within whether or not we can accept the change.

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

But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, "The old is better"

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

- Luke 5:27-39

Yesterday we read that it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."  However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed of Him by their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.  Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"

After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.   Levi is also known as Matthew (author of the Gospel that bears that name).  He answers Christ's call to "Follow Me" and leaves his occupation as a tax collector to become a disciple.  My study bible says that from the beginning of His ministry, Christ has been a friend of tax collectors and sinners (see the Pharisees' complaint again Him, further along in today's reading).  Levi was possibly one of the tax collectors prepared for Christ by John the Baptist (see the reading Teacher shall we do?).

Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  Levi/Matthew gives a great feast to express his joy and gratitude to the Teacher.  My study bible calls the guest register a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness.  And Christ here clearly expresses His purpose, for which He is sent:  "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."   And He puts it in the context of medicine, with Himself as Physician; repentance, then, is for whole health of our being, for addressing our sicknesses.

 Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"  My study bible calls Christ's earthly life a time of joyous blessings.  But there will come a time when His followers will practice the fast, as He says.  The true wedding feast is the union of Christ with His Church, to be fully realized at His Return.  Jesus uses the illustration for the religious authorities of wine, the new vintage being prepared.  He addresses their discomfort with the unfamiliar aspects of His ministry, such as dining with tax collectors and people known for their sins.  My study bible notes that Jesus' final saying to them, "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better'" is found only here in Luke's Gospel.  It illustrates several things:  the difficulty with which the new covenant would be accepted, the inner resistance a person faces in turning from a sinful way of life, and the general stubbornness of the human heart.

Everybody wants to follow what they are used to, what they already know.  This is our nature:  we know what we have already learned and experienced.  But this is also the nature of sin.  In patristic commentary, sin is often mentioned as akin to paralysis:  we're stuck in something.  It's a way of life, a habit, something we might like to break but find ourselves "paralyzed" to change.  Interestingly enough, modern science also sees our brains as functioning in the same way, with medicines such as Prozac designed to help us to break thought patterns formed within our own biochemistry, and so combat rumination and the resulting depression.  But our Physician's medicine is repentance, which literally means "change of mind" in the Greek.  Repentance is a way of turning around, changing direction, following a different set of commands.  It is the antidote to our spiritual illness, which quite often is the root of emotional and physical illness as well.  Christ has announced to the Pharisees that His own ministry is one of change.  He likens it to "new wine" -- a vintage that is being fermented with enzymatic action, one that needs time to age, and certainly a true taste for those unfamiliar with it to come to know and to understand its goodness (Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who trusts in Him! - Psalm 34:8).  The change that He is bringing is that His work as Physician is all about change and transformation, and His Holy Spirit works within us, in a kind of enzymatic action, to help us bring about that change (see 13:20-21 in which Jesus likens the kingdom of God to leaven; the word for leaven in Greek is ζύμη/zyme, the root of our modern word enzyme).  Clearly the Gospel is already setting out for us the startling nature of the changes that God brings into our world through the Incarnation.  He is Physician, a note that the Gospel of Luke, written by a disciple who was a physician himself, will repeatedly teach.  He is here to heal the sick, and the sick need to change their patterns of life for healing.  What the process, action, and results of healing a sickness might mean can often mean change for all of us, and for all of those in the environment of the person who needs to heal.  Jesus sets us out with the right understanding:  the new vintage might not be what we already know or expect, and yet we will see how good it truly is.

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 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 Jesus again 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.   Levi is also known to us as Matthew (Matthew 9:9).  He is a tax collector.  That is, he collects taxes for the Romans.  My study bible explains that Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  In other words, with the backing of Roman force, they also extorted money from their own people.  My study bible adds that their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption caused other Jews to hate them and consider them unclean.  For the Jews, Jesus calling a tax collector as a disciple and also dining at his home with many other tax collectors and sinners is scandalous.  But it reinforces the nature of Christ's ministry in His capacities both as Redeemer and forgiver of sins.

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."    Jesus couches His ministry in the perfect language to characterize what He does:  He is a physician who goes where the need for Him is greatest.  His ministry is about redeeming, transforming, in both the forgiveness of sins and the practice of repentance ("change of mind") among those who follow Him.  He offers transcendence and healing of our lives.  As in the story of the paralytic in yesterday's reading, above, those like the tax collectors are not "stuck" in their sins, but He offers a way forward to 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.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days."    Here Jesus gives a deeper revelation of the difference of His new ministry in the world.  He is the Bridegroom.  This bridegroom is the One whose bride is the heavenly Jerusalem, the people of God.   Incarnate as Jesus Christ, He is both human and divine, and so for the time being, He is with them. 

"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 is a statement affirming the great difference that the Incarnation of Christ makes to the world.  It is an affirmation of the healing nature of Christ as Physician, as well as His authority to forgive sins, and the power of repentance in His ministry.  In some sense it is also an allusion to Christian baptism, which is a form of death and rebirth. 

Why and how is Christ's ministry so different?  How is He introducing something brand new into the world?  There is first of all the power to forgive sins, disputed by the religious authorities in yesterday's reading (above).  Illustrated by the calling of Levi/Matthew the tax collector, Christ's ministry is not only one in which sins may be forgiven, but one which is transforming, offering a type of new birth.  Repentance (literally "change of mind" in the Greek) becomes a constant form of rebirth, illustrated by Christ in His repeated teaching that we must take up our crosses day by day in order to follow Him (Matthew 10:38; Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; Luke 14:27).  In using the term "new wineskins" Jesus gives us an affirmation of the completely new nature of this ministry, this new covenant that has come into the world.  He is not just another teacher, neither is He a prophet.  His is not merely a philosophical movement, a set of principles, an intellectual design for a new method of finding God.  He brings holy power with Him, an authority to forgive sins, and very real spiritual help of grace for transformation, redemption, and the renewal of life.  This is the essence of what it means for Him to be seen as our Physician, why He "did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."   The illustration of the new wineskins tells us all about this shocking and scandalous ministry.  It doesn't look like what is already known, it tells us something new.  And this is also the very nature of the Christ Himself; His work will always reflect the role of Creator, the One who is always making all things new.  As such, we must remember His words as affirming our own need to take up our personal crosses day by day, to live within this prayerful relationship that will ask us to change in some sense, for constant renewal day by day.  To be a follower of Christ is to be this new wine, for which new wineskins must be provided to contain it.  We are always in the process of change through a kind of internal enzymatic action, and this is the work of grace within us and among us.  The story of disciples like Levi/Matthew and the rest of them is a whole history of lifelong transformation and growth, as shaped by the Spirit and the ongoing ministry of Christ.   Can we truly follow that call in our own lives? 

No one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, "The old is better"

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And he said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And he said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

- Luke 5:27-39

Yesterday we read that it happened when Jesus was in a certain city, that a man who was full of leprosy saw Him; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."  However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.  Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And he said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Levi is also known as Matthew.  He is a tax collector, member of a group of people widely hated by their society.  Tax collectors are seen as collaborators with the occupying Romans, who are willing to use intimidation and force to extort their fellow Jews.  Matthew leaves his occupation and accepts Christ's call to "Follow Me."  My study bible notes that from the beginning of His ministry, Christ has been a friend of tax collectors and sinners -- one of the Pharisees' complaints against Him.  Levi is possibly one of the tax collectors who were prepared for Christ by John the Baptist (3:12).

Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  Matthew gives a feast to express his joy and gratitude.  It's important to understand what it means to find salvation with Christ; here, Levi/Matthew is restored to community.  The scribes and Pharisees, however, complain about the company which Jesus keeps.  My study bible calls this guest register of those at the feast "a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness."  It will be an ongoing theme of Luke's Gospel to understand the Church as hospital, and Christ as Physician, who came to heal those who are sick.  To understand sin as sickness is essential to understanding the healing balm of mercy.

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And he said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."   Jesus' earthly life -- the time when the Bridegroom is with His friends -- is one of joyous blessings.  But there will come a time when His followers will practice the fast.  This is an intimation by Christ of the events that will culminate His earthly life. 

Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"  As the religious authorities begin to confront Christ, so His teachings reflect what is to come -- the new start that is necessary, a new covenant.  My study bible says that this saying, "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better,'" is only found in Luke's Gospel.  Accordingly, my study bible says, it illustrates the difficulty with which the Jews would accept the new covenant, the inner resistance that a person faces in turning away from a sinful way of life, and also the general stubbornness of the human heart. 

In today's reading, we're given an illustration of hospitality.  While there are those who scorn the sinners and tax collectors at Matthew's table, Christ sees them differently, as patients who need healing.  In a certain sense, Jesus' statement that those who have drunk old wine do not desire the new also represents the healing action of medicine.  What's good for us -- a change -- is not automatically desired.  Jesus presents this as human nature, when He says that "no one" who has drunk old wine immediately desires the new.  What we're used to, what we have already accepted, we say is "better."  So, who do we invite to our table?  Christ speaks of change, and the desire to change.  He dines with those in need of change, who want change.  This itself is His new doctrine, one of repentance, transformation, change.  Is sin permanent?  Must it afflict us forever?  Can we break free of old behaviors, old debts?   The key here is the desire to change.  Some would mistake Christ's company with tax collectors and sinners to say that this is the example for all of us, in the sense that we must keep company with those whose behaviors and habits may be less than desirable.  But that's too facile; that is simply taking this story purely at face value without looking into the meaning of Christ's words.   What is remarkable and new here is the effect of transforming sin, the desire for repentance and change.  The expanding wineskins are an illustration of that change.  They must be able to accommodate the new.  What is important about these sinners at this feast is not that they are sinners, but that Christ is at their table, the special guest of honor, the Bridegroom.  What marks these people as different, the great change in the midst of this society, is simply that they seek the company and teachings of Christ for themselves.  We are all invited to this table, but the key is that we seek the guidance of the Physician for ourselves.  Hospitality is an image of the Eucharist, the cup to which all are invited -- but it is also the cup of change, transformation, repentance.  It is the cup that asks us to participate in the life of Christ for ourselves, to become a member of His Body.  How can we accommodate the changes He will ask of us if we really want to be a member of the wedding party at the table?  What new wineskins do we need to become to contain all the internal enzymatic action of God's energies within us?  The message of this table, of this Physician, and of His cup, is precisely one of change and transformation, of ever-active renewal.  It is for those who are willing to give up the old and familiar, and to be called to the new -- even to become the new.  Perhaps it is those who are truly aware of their own illness who are prepared to leave everything behind, and trust in faith that where they are being led has to be better.  Shall we go on this journey with them?  What do you have to lose?  Or gain?

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

 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 casting out demons from two men on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city.  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.  Matthew, the author of our Gospel, is also called Levi (Mark 2:14).  My study bible explains that Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors.  These tax collectors were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit, backed by the military might of the Roman state.  Their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and corruption caused other Jews not only to hate them but to consider them unclean (11:19).

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."  Jesus dining with tax collectors and also accepting Matthew as a disciple ("Follow Me") offends the Pharisees.   But Jesus' defense is quite simple.  He goes where the need for the physician is greatest.  "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" is from Hosea 6:6.  My study bible says that this is not 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."  Typically in Jewish tradition fasting was done twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  In addition to this, public fasts 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 in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5; 8:19).  But the day of the Messiah was viewed as a wedding feast, a time of great joy and gladness.  Here Jesus is proclaiming that this day is present, and declaring Himself to be the Messiah/bridegroom.  In the tradition of the Church from its earliest times, fasting was continued as a practice -- but transfigured.  It was not seen as gloomy.   It was viewed as desirable, a "bright sadness," because by fasting people were gaining self-control and preparing themselves for the Wedding Feast, a forward-looking understanding.

"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 says that the old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law.  In the light of Christ these are viewed as imperfect and temporary.  But the new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  The new wine, it says, is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.

Jesus' encounter with the Pharisees, and His taking on of Matthew the tax collector as disciple, comes in the context of the recent healing stories in Matthew's Gospel.  Jesus reinforces this understanding when He says, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick."  In today's reading, the Gospel gives us glimmers of what is to come in the sense that transfiguration is a repeated hint of the reality that Christ brings into the world.  To be healed is in a sense to be transfigured, brought from one state to another state.  Here the keys are mercy and repentance.  Mercy is the means by which God acts, and also divine action in us.  Repentance is a form of transfiguration, literally meaning "change of mind" in the Greek.  It is what is necessary for the healed state of being.  We also need to read about fasting in this light.  John the Baptist's disciples come and ask about fasting -- and Jesus puts everything into perspective by declaring Himself to be the Bridegroom.  He is the Messiah they await, and the joy of the disciples must be seen in this light.  Jesus also predicts that they will fast "when the bridegroom will be taken away from them."   The early Church would instate the practice of fasting, similarly to the practice that the Jews had on Mondays and Thursdays, but the Church would establish it for Wednesdays and Fridays (commemorating the day of Jesus' betrayal and the day He died on the Cross, the times "when the Bridegroom was taken away" from His friends).  But as hinted at in the repeated understanding in today's reading, this was a transfigured fasting practice, one that looked forward once again to the joy of unification, the wedding feast, and the return of the Bridegroom to the Church, His Bride.  The practice is meant, in a nutshell, for healing and health -- learning to abstain not simply from food but rather from sin, and coming to know our capacity for self-mastery and making choices, such as happens in repentance.  Finally Jesus gives us the great analogy for transfiguration:  the wine.  Its enzymatic action is seen similarly to the work of the Holy Spirit.   New wine -- the "harvest" of His ministry -- must be put into new wineskins, those that will grow and expand with the action of fermentation, the process of the transfiguring internal work that we don't see but yet we come to observe its effects.    This is another mirror of healing -- the mysterious process that takes place internally, but gives us signs externally of its effects.  All of these things are glimmers, facets of the light that will grow through this ministry to bring our understanding of Christ as the One who transforms, transfigures, where ultimately the power of the Cross will even transfigure death.  How we become that wine is something we can't control or name, but rather something that works within us, with which we cooperate through faith and acceptance.  We may not know even how we come to change; but we can observe the fruits of this work in our own transfiguration and capacities for the fruits of the Spirit.  Let us remember who we are as the new wine, and the journey of growth and expansion and repentance we are on, the health of the Physician who is always making all things new.