Today’s readings
Mass for the school children:
New stuff can be fun. We like to have new clothes or new toys. Adults like to have a new car. But some new stuff can be scary. Going to a new school can be scary. Joining a new team or a new activity can be scary. But after we get used to the new school, the new team, the new group of people, usually things work out just fine. Newness can be fun, it’s most often a good thing, but sometimes it might make us worry.
The scribes and the Pharisees in the Gospel reading were the religious leaders back in Jesus’ time. They were very concerned about their religious traditions. They were so concerned about them, that anytime they saw someone doing something different, they would call them out and correct them. And they weren’t always nice about it.
In the Gospel reading, they were complaining that their disciples fasted, but the disciples of Jesus did not. And that was true, even the disciples of Saint John the Baptist used to fast all the time. But Jesus points out that people don’t fast at a wedding feast, or any other kind of feast as far as that goes. And Jesus is the bridegroom who has married the world, so to speak. He is the one who, when he is with us, it’s always a feast, always an occasion for joy. But of course, the scribes and Pharisees weren’t feeling so joyful about Jesus being around.
Jesus goes on to tell a little parable about newness to make this point a little clearer. He says people don’t take new wine and put it into old wine skins. Back in Jesus’ day, wine didn’t come in bottles like it does now. They used wine skins, which were made of animal hide, usually from goats, to store and transport wine. But they always put new wine into new wine skins. Because if they put the new wine into old skins, the skins would often break because they were old, and the wine would be wasted. It just wouldn’t work.
In the same way, Jesus was doing something new. It wasn’t the same as the old Jewish religion. Jesus was calling people to have concern for the poor and needy, to live good lives, and to love every person in our path. Things needed to change, and he came to change those things. Sins needed to be forgiven, and he came to give his life so that forgiveness could happen. All of this was new, and it was so different from what the scribes and Pharisees had ever known. They wanted what Jesus was doing and saying to fit into their old ideas. Kind of like putting new wine into old wine skins: it just didn’t work.
The thing is, Jesus never stopped doing new things. He came to make us new through Baptism and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He makes us new every time we participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He gives us new life and new grace every time we receive the Eucharist. Jesus doesn’t want us to to waste away with old ideas and old dusty religion. He wants to make us new every single day so that we can go out and make the whole world new.