Thoughts for the Day

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Mark continues his account of the ministry of Jesus with three little parables. Jesus is questioned as to why he and his disciples are not fasting like John's disciples and the Pharisees. Before we look at his answer we should know that at the time there was only one definitive period for fasting and that was at Yom Kippur the time of national repentance. Many of the rules and regulations had only appeared since the time of Ezra, but would be observed extravagantly by the Pharisees, often twice every week, to inform others of their piety.

Jesus uses these parables to:

• Identify himself as the bridegroom in the parable (the bride will later be thought of as the Church).
• Argues that as the bridegroom is present the time is now one of celebration.
• Points towards a time when there will be no celebration, when the bridegroom will be taken away (ie his death).
• Argue that his good news cannot be fitted into old practices.

We need to use the warnings of the new cloth and the new wine to examine our own lives as Christians (and probably our worship), to see that the Good News that Jesus came to bring has not been distorted by old traditions and habits that need to be changed. Have we become too set in our ways? Are we willing to keep on growing spiritually, allowing God to mould us?

Lord Jesus Christ,
You taught Your disciples
not to get trapped in old habits and ways
but to continue seeking the things
of the New Kingdom.
Open our eyes and our ears
to learn more about You
and about Your wishes for us.
May we continue growing
into the people You would have us be.
Amen.