Same Rules, New Approach
There's a new game in town, Jesus.
As Jesus sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” - Matthew 9:10–17
At first glance it may seem like Jesus is playing by a new set of rules, but when you look closely at his metaphors, he is applying the age old wisdom they all know to a familiar problem.
People had become blind to the reasoning behind their actions. They had become accustomed to doing things a certain way, but had lost the meaning of what they were doing.
Jesus tries to awaken their common sense. Look, he is saying, you wouldn't do this, right? It makes no sense.
How often do we encounter the same type of situation?
We know that logic should prevail, but all around us seem to have lost sight of reason. Jesus shows them the rules of mature still apply, and we should look to nature to understand what has changed.
His presence makes all the difference, so perhaps we should look at the world around us through his eyes, not ours.
We are in Lent, a time for fasting, but why are we fasting? Are we making a sacrifice because we have always done it, or are we anticipating something better?
When Jesus is in our lives, we have no need to fast. That is the message. We accept that something has changed, and we know we can focus on doing what God has planned for us, without making the tradition the reason for our actions.
Yes, we fast and we take stock of our lives at this time, but we should also respond to the needs of those less fortunate, seek to make a difference in the world, and we should acknowledge that His presence makes it right to try a new approach to life.
The lesson, I think, is that we should do what needs to be done out of love.
More to come...