Second Week of Ordinary Time – Mark 2:18-22
Today’s Gospel opens as people come to Jesus and ask Him: “why do your disciples not fast?” Everyone knew that the Pharisees fasted as did the disciples of John. They were curious about the fact that Jesus and His disciples did not fast. Jesus doesn’t respond as they may have hoped He would. Rather, Jesus uses the example of a wedding feast.
Jesus tells his listeners that as long as the bridegroom is at the reception, the guests will continue to celebrate this joyous occasion. The time to fast will be when the bridegroom is no longer with them. Jesus then uses the image of a cloak that is torn and needs to be patched. He tells His listeners that anyone with sense would not use a new piece of material to patch the cloak. Given the difference in the age of the cloths, it would simply make the tear worse. Jesus then uses the image of wineskins. He says that you should never put new wine into previously used wineskins. The skins would burst!
Today perhaps is Jesus is inviting us to “do something new” rather than simply continuing to live out our old (and perhaps unhealthy) patterns. I assume that all of us have at least one pattern in our life that we would like to change. Take a moment and ask yourself: what is one small change I would like to make in my life? How serious am I about making this change?
Change is not as easy. It is easy to make a New Year’s resolution. However, it is much more difficult to keep that resolution. What is the change that you would like to make? What is the change that you desire? And what is one simple step you can take to move in that direction? May we pray for one another that we will take that first step!
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