First reading 1 Samuel 15:16-23
Saul disobeys the Lord and the Lord rejects him
Samuel said to Saul, ‘Stop! Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’ Saul said, ‘Tell me.’ Samuel continued, ‘Small as you may be in your own eyes, are you not head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord has anointed you king over Israel. The Lord sent you on a mission and said to you, “Go, put these sinners, the Amalekites, under the ban and make war on them until they are exterminated.” Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you fall on the booty and do what is displeasing to the Lord?’ Saul replied to Samuel, ‘But I did obey the voice of the Lord. I went on the mission which the Lord gave me; I brought back Agag king of the Amalekites; I put the Amalekites under the ban. From the booty the people took the best sheep and oxen of what was under the ban to sacrifice them to the Lord your God in Gilgal.’ But Samuel replied:
‘Is the pleasure of the Lord in holocausts and sacrifices
or in obedience to the voice of the Lord?
Yes, obedience is better than sacrifice,
submissiveness better than the fat of rams.
Rebellion is a sin of sorcery,
presumption a crime of teraphim.
‘Since you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.’
Responsorial Psalm 49(50):8-9,16-17,21,23
Gospel Mark 2:18-22
‘Why do your disciples not fast?’
One day when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Why is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of fasting while the bridegroom is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they could not think of fasting. But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then, on that day, they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak; if he does, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. And nobody puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins too. No! New wine, fresh skins!’
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Fresh wineskin
In today’s Gospel, Jesus told a parable about using a new cloth to patch an old coat, noting that it would lead to a bigger tear as the new cloth shrank and pulled. He also compared this to putting new wine into old wineskins, which would be too brittle to contain the expanding wine, causing them to burst.
We may not fully appreciate examples like new cloth on old coats and new wine in old wineskins because they seem irrelevant to our modern context. However, Jesus’ audience clearly understood the meaning behind these illustrations. The message is: Jesus is here! He brings newness to those who truly believe in Him, newness in His teachings about love and mercy, and newness in the ways we can follow Him. We are called to let go of old habits, mindsets, and ways of living our faith, and to open ourselves to the newness that Jesus brings into our lives. We must allow Jesus to transform our hearts and minds. He desires to give us new hearts and new minds, large enough to contain Him and the joy that comes from following Him.
Reflective question:
How can I become a “fresh wineskin” with a new heart and mind to embrace the abundant life Jesus offers, rather than clinging to familiar but restrictive old ways?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year A” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD
