Word to the Wise
Monday, January 16, 2017 - Monday in the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 5:1-10 and Mark 2:18-22]The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus and objected, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" [Mark]
The Gospel of Mark has a kind of "in your face" quality about it. Jesus is someone NEW and what he brings is a decisive intervention by God in history. Of course, that rather majestic interpretation was not clear to the folks who were objecting to Jesus' departure from religious observance. What they saw was a man who was giving bad example! Jesus bluntly defends his ministry and observance with two images. The first is a wedding image. His presence is an occasion for joy, like a wedding. One doesn't ordinarily fast at a wedding feast! The second image is that of wineskins and new wine. Jesus represents new wine that calls for new ways of enjoying it. Old wineskins will break. New wineskins will serve to make the new wine available. Old wine and fasting will have a place, but not the same place.
The call by Popes St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis for a "new evangelization" aims to capture the startling quality of Jesus' message which challenges old ways of seeing things that keep us from recognizing God's presence in our midst. The thrust of new evangelization is not toward non-Christians or even non-Catholics. It is toward our own brothers and sisters. Some have left the church for various reasons. Others have become complacent. Still others grasp and hold onto old customs and attitudes that exclude anything new (including the new evangelization). Today's gospel can alert us especially to what Pope Francis is doing, and offer us an opportunity to taste "new wine." It is no coincidence that his first solo major document is entitled, "The Joy of the Gospel." I urge everyone to read it and then re-read today's gospel scripture. AMEN
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