Gospel: LK 5:33-39
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THE scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”
And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ ”
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In the Old Testament, the wedding imagery is often used to signify the union of God with his people, the covenant between the Lord and Israel. Using the same motif, Luke introduces the start of the New Covenant – with Jesus as the bridegroom (cf Jn 3:29) and John the Baptist as the precursor-friend of the groom.
In the Semitic culture, the wedding ceremony is accompanied by festive mood and joyful celebration. The Pharisees complain that Jesus and his disciples are departing from the old Mosaic practices of fasting, prayer, and abstinence. Like old wineskins, the Pharisees are very rigid in their exercise of the Jewish traditions.
Jesus is the new wineskin, and his teaching is the new wine that supersedes the old Mosaic Law. The new Gospel of Jesus breaks away from the restrictions of the Law; it introduces freedom from sin and judgment, and proclaims mercy and salvation brought in by bridegroom Jesus – the Anointed One, the Christ, the Messiah. By his resurrection, Christ will burst forth victorious over sin and death. From there, Christ forms a new relationship among a new people, under a new Kingdom of God.
Christians are often mentioned in the Preface of the Mass: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own” (1 Pt 2:9).
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2020,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
