The Gospel of Mark: New Wineskins

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.” ~ Mark 2:18-22


More issues about eating with the Pharisees!

This early in Mark, we who have not read other gospel accounts of Jesus, don't yet grasp what he means by the bridegroom being taken away. We can't know that Jesus is the bridegroom who will be leaving us.

But we do know that during a wedding feast, you eat! And eat plenty! So Jesus' very presence is reason to celebrate.

There's a lot of end times theology and metaphor going on there that may or may not have meaning for our 21st century ears (or eyes!), but the metaphor about new wine into old wineskins is one we can probably grasp - even if we tend to put our wine into bottles! :-)

Clearly Jesus is here to do something new. Something the Pharisees can't see. Something Jesus' followers still can't see. 

Something they may not see even until he isn't here any longer.

And what about us? What do we see? Do we see that Jesus is doing something new? Or do we treat Jesus as if he is one of the old (traditional) pieces of our faith? 

Do we see Jesus as an agent of change?

Or do we see Jesus as part of the status quo?

Who is Jesus telling us that he is?

Holy God, thank you for the gospel - the good news - of your Son. Open my mind and heart to this good news and enliven me with your Spirit of servanthood that I might share this good news with a world in need. Amen


Engagement Questions:


What new thing is Jesus calling you to? What new thing is he calling his church to?

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