Then John’s disciples came and asked him, ‘How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’
Jesus answered, ‘How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
‘No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out, and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.’ Matthew 9:14-17 [NIV]
I thought I should include a passage on fasting this week, as it is Lent.
If, like me, you are not fasting or giving something up for Lent, you’re in good company – Jesus’s disciples didn’t fast either. However when the passage above was written, fasting would be a common practice, whereas it is not so much in today’s Christian practice.
As I get older, I notice I have got a bit grumpier. People get dropped off my Christmas card list, people get told my aches and pains. Although “Grumpy Old Men” is a TV comedy show, its observational humour of older people’s traits rings true. However, I do not want to become like that!
In the passage, I think the wine refers to the good news of the kingdom and new wineskins are new followers. The Pharisees are like the old wineskins, the grumpy old men going through a fast merely as a ritual and unable to take on the Gospel.
My desire this Lent is to go deeper in my Faith. A challenge for me is not to become a grumpy old man like a Pharisee stuck in his ways. I want to be like a new wineskin, able to adapt to new things and “living life in its fullness” (John 10:10).
Ironically, fasting is quite a fresh idea now, and one I should maybe re-visit. What practices could you adopt that would keep you like a new wineskin?
Jon Seaton
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