Word to the Wise
Saturday, July 2, 2022 - Saturday in the 13th Week in Ordinary Time
[Amos 9:11-15 and Matt 9:14-17]The juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains, and all the hills shall run with it. I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel; they shall rebuild and inhabit their cities, plant vineyards and drink the wine, set out gardens and eat the fruits. [Amos] People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved. [Matthew]
Wine has been around for a long time and would be a handy image for a preacher to invoke (both in its uses and abuses! Even Jesus was accused of being a drunkard! Matt. 11:19). The prophet Amos uses the planting of vineyards and wine as a symbol of renewal of the people. Jesus uses wine and wineskins as a symbol of the newness of his mission.
I get the image of pouring new wine into old wineskins. I feel it anytime I sit down at a computer or figure out the latest way one can use a credit card at a restaurant! But Jesus leaves unaddressed the question of pouring old wine into new wineskins. This is a question I face when I see older devotional practices being adopted by students! At the same time, as a preacher, I am trying to do that very same thing when I mix the scriptures and tradition of the Church - all old wine - and share it with the new wineskins of college students or younger folks. The Gospel According to Luke, reporting the same image as Matthew, adds that "No one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, 'The old is good.'" [Luke 5:39].
As my wineskin ages I do the best I can to share the contents and I pray that it will be able to handle at least some of the new wine presented to me every day in our fast-changing social, political and ecclesiastical environment! AMEN
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