Word to the Wise
Friday, September 6, 2019 - Friday in the 22th Week in Ordinary Time
[Col 1:15-20 and Luke 5:33-39]"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.'" [Luke]
The tension between the old and the new, between tradition and innovation, is almost as old as creation! Some like to emphasize the differences and some prefer to stress the continuity. This dynamic shows up in Jesus' ministry and in the way the gospels portrayed him. A good story needs to have some conflict and the conflict between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees provides much of that element in the gospels. Today's gospel passage provides us with a great example of this dynamic. It begins with the scribes and Pharisees pointing out a difference in religious observances between the disciples of John the Baptist as well as those of the scribes and Pharisees and those of Jesus in regard to fasting and prayers. Pious behavior is pitted against "eating and drinking!" Jesus replies with examples from custom and wine production!
Fasting and prayers were a frequent sign of mourning. Jesus presents himself as a bridegroom at a wedding - an occasion of rejoicing, which is celebrated in eating and drinking. (He also predicts his future death, which will then be a time for mourning.) That resolves the symbolic conflict. But the underlying issue of old vs. new remains and Jesus uses two images to show what he is about. The first is about sewing new cloth on old. The second is about pouring new wine into old wineskins. There is no criticism of the old ("Old Wine" is good stuff!), but neither is the old meant to provide for the new. I see this sometimes in the interest being shown by students in traditional Catholic rituals and ceremonies dating from before the Second Vatican Council. The observances were (and still can be) important, but the surrounding Catholic culture has changed significantly and the older observances are still looking for a place in the new dispensation. The meaning back in 1950, when I was a child, is not quite the same in 2019, when I am elderly.
An understanding of this kind of "dynamic" can lend a lot of meaning to what was going on in Jesus' ministry and in our own time and ministry. AMEN