Sunday, June 12, 2005
LUKE 5:33-39
Religious people have a kind of passion for what is old and traditional. No one accepts change more slowly than church-people. This is a problem the Pharisees had. Jesus' religious outlook was so startlingly new that they had difficulty adjusting to it. "Love your enemies and do good to those who hurt you." "The Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath." These teachings and others also were frighteningly new for the Pharisees.
Therefore they feared Jesus and his teaching as threats to their traditional way of life, to their traditional beliefs, to the power that they held in Jewish society.
In today's gospel, the Pharisees complain about a practice of Jesus' disciples, which was directly opposed to the traditional teaching of the Jewish law. They complain that his disciples are always partying, eating and drinking, that they do not practice frequent fasting. Jesus says to them that no one ever fasts at a wedding celebration. He himself is the groom, he says, and his disciples celebrate as long as he, the groom, is with them. Of course, this is a new teaching and the Pharisees feel very uncomfortable with it. So Jesus tells them a little parable to show them the truth of the matter.
"You cannot put new wine in an old wineskin." The Jews made pouches for holding wine out of the skins of animals. The skin, out of which the pouch was made, would become dry with age and worn with use. If you put new wine into an old skin, since the new wine continues to ferment, pressure would build up within the skin and since the skin was old and worn, the pressure would burst the skin and both the skin and the wine would be lost.
Jesus is saying, that a mind that is closed to and fearful of new ideas will be not able to contain them. The closed mind will be threatened and torn and ultimately destroyed by these new truths.
Why do we allow new ideas to intimidate us? Normally it has nothing to do with the truth or with religion. It's simply that we feel more comfortable, more secure with the old and the familiar. It is the loss of security that intimidates us. But then again, Jesus never gave much weight to any sort of security, did he? Perhaps we should not either.
Therefore they feared Jesus and his teaching as threats to their traditional way of life, to their traditional beliefs, to the power that they held in Jewish society.
In today's gospel, the Pharisees complain about a practice of Jesus' disciples, which was directly opposed to the traditional teaching of the Jewish law. They complain that his disciples are always partying, eating and drinking, that they do not practice frequent fasting. Jesus says to them that no one ever fasts at a wedding celebration. He himself is the groom, he says, and his disciples celebrate as long as he, the groom, is with them. Of course, this is a new teaching and the Pharisees feel very uncomfortable with it. So Jesus tells them a little parable to show them the truth of the matter.
"You cannot put new wine in an old wineskin." The Jews made pouches for holding wine out of the skins of animals. The skin, out of which the pouch was made, would become dry with age and worn with use. If you put new wine into an old skin, since the new wine continues to ferment, pressure would build up within the skin and since the skin was old and worn, the pressure would burst the skin and both the skin and the wine would be lost.
Jesus is saying, that a mind that is closed to and fearful of new ideas will be not able to contain them. The closed mind will be threatened and torn and ultimately destroyed by these new truths.
Why do we allow new ideas to intimidate us? Normally it has nothing to do with the truth or with religion. It's simply that we feel more comfortable, more secure with the old and the familiar. It is the loss of security that intimidates us. But then again, Jesus never gave much weight to any sort of security, did he? Perhaps we should not either.
# posted by F O O D F O R T H O U G H T @ 5:39 PM 
