Scripture:
Colossians 1:15-20
Luke 5:33-39
Reflection:
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him. -Colossians 1:19
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins,
and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. -Luke 5:37
It is widely acknowledged that human beings exhibit a resistance to change. There are many aphorisms and proverbs, even going back to ancient Rome and Greece, that speak to this. Even when our present circumstances are not necessarily what we would choose, we often find ourselves unwilling to try something new.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches that he is coming with something brand new. He uses a very vivid metaphor, at least for his disciples and the people of that time to show this. Everyone in his audience would have understood the danger of putting new wine into old wine skins. Old wine skins were stretched out and stiff and new wine was often still in the process of fermentation, of growing, of changing. As Jesus reminds everyone, putting new wine (new teachings) into old wine skins (our previous ways of thinking) can result in a very messy situation.
He’s challenging us to open our old ways of thinking to let His “new wine” fill us and grow within us. But, as he notes at the end of this passage, “…no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” However, we can trust the teachings of Jesus, no matter how strange it may seem to us. For, as St. Paul says, all are reconciled in Jesus. This, “new wine,” with its emphasis on caring for our brothers and sisters, is the path of reconciliation with God the Father, Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
My prayer for us today is that we are able to open our hearts, our minds and our souls to allow this new wine to ferment within us and transform the world.
Talib Huff is a retired teacher, a member of the retreat team at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center in Citrus Heights, California, and a lay member of Holy Cross Provincial Leadership Team. You may contact him at [email protected].