2ND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins. 

In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees, along with some of John the Baptist’s disciples, are scandalized that Jesus’ disciples weren’t as rigorous in fasting as they were. How could people who seemed so lax in their spirituality possibly be models of holiness?

In response, Jesus talks about new wine and new wineskins. Like new wine that was still expanding with fermentation, his teaching was full of the vitality of new possibilities and a new relationship with God. So his disciples needed to be supple and flexibile, like fresh wineskins, so that they could hold that teaching in their hearts and let it change some of their behaviors. They needed to let the Holy Spirit shape them and form them into the “fishers of men” that Jesus had called them to be (Mark 1:17). They needed to be softhearted enough to be just as merciful toward people as God was toward them.

Do you ever feel like an old wineskin? Maybe a little too inflexible or rigid in your thinking. Maybe a little too hard and unmoving toward people. Maybe a little too set in your ways. Since we are Jesus’ disciples just as the first disciples were, we need to follow his call to be like flexible new wineskins. We need to let his Spirit soften our hearts, expand our vision of his call to love God and neighbor, and help us be open to new ways of serving him.

One way we can become more like new wineskins is to try to be open to situations that might take us out of our comfort zones. We can try to make sure that we don’t limit what God can do through us or how he can change us. For instance, if you’re struggling to forgive someone who has hurt you, or to overcome a certain pattern of sin, keep up the fight! Don’t assume that you’ll never change. Or if you’ve always resisted the call to evangelize or to serve in your parish, go ahead and take just one step forward. With every step you take, you’ll be giving the Spirit a greater opening to “stretch” your heart and make it into a more flexible wineskin!

“Come, Holy Spirit, and soften my heart today!”

1 Samuel 15:16-23
Psalm 50:8-9, 16-17, 21, 23
Mark 2:18-22