The Question about Fasting

Today's Reflections 

      

The Question about Fasting

Mt 9:14-17

¹⁴The disciples of John approached [Jesus] and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast [much], but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. ¹⁷People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

NEW WINE INTO FRESH WINESKINS. Jesus compares his teaching to wine. But his teaching is something new. In fact, when people hear Jesus, they exclaim, “What is this? A new teaching with authority!” (Mk 1:27). Like the Jewish rabbis, Jesus refers to Moses and the prophets, but he does not just parrot them. He interprets them and even corrects them. An example of Jesus’ “new” teaching is his table fellowship with sinners and his sublimating holy fasting to the feast of the wedding. Jesus does not reject or abolish the Law and the prophets. He fulfills them with his presence and works among the people.

The Pharisees question Jesus’ approach and actuations. They like better the old wine contained in old wineskins: God’s revelation in Scriptures and in their traditions. Jesus says that his teaching can be received only by fresh wineskins. Mind and heart must be “renewed” so that people can receive the good news of the kingdom.

We have to be new wineskins, open and ready for the working of the Spirit. The Spirit is the gift of the risen Christ, reminding us of all things Jesus has taught. For sure, not every old thing is to be discarded, nor is every new thing necessarily good. We need a discerning heart that is the gift of the Spirit. Like a wise scribe, we should be able to bring out of our storeroom both the new and the old.

Use new technologies (“new wineskins”)

in presenting Christ and his good news

to men and women of today.

Let his voice be heard and his face be seen

in the world of the internet.