First reading Colossians 1:15-20
All things were created through Christ and for Christ
Christ Jesus is the image of the unseen God
and the first-born of all creation,
for in him were created
all things in heaven and on earth:
everything visible and everything invisible,
Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers –
all things were created through him and for him.
Before anything was created, he existed,
and he holds all things in unity.
Now the Church is his body,
he is its head.
As he is the Beginning,
he was first to be born from the dead,
so that he should be first in every way;
because God wanted all perfection
to be found in him
and all things to be reconciled through him and for him,
everything in heaven and everything on earth,
when he made peace
by his death on the cross.
Responsorial Psalm 99(100):2-5
Come before the Lord, singing for joy.
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing for joy.
Come before the Lord, singing for joy.
Know that he, the Lord, is God.
He made us, we belong to him,
we are his people, the sheep of his flock.
Come before the Lord, singing for joy.
Go within his gates, giving thanks.
Enter his courts with songs of praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
Come before the Lord, singing for joy.
Indeed, how good is the Lord,
eternal his merciful love.
He is faithful from age to age.
Come before the Lord, singing for joy.
Gospel Luke 5:33-39
When the bridegroom is taken from them, then they will fast
The Pharisees and the scribes said to Jesus, ‘John’s disciples are always fasting and saying prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees too, but yours go on eating and drinking.’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely you cannot make the bridegroom’s attendants fast while the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come, the time for the bridegroom to be taken away from them; that will be the time when they will fast.’
He also told them this parable, ‘No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old cloak; if he does, not only will he have torn the new one, but the piece taken from the new will not match the old.
‘And nobody puts new wine into old skins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and then run out, and the skins will be lost. No; new wine must be put into fresh skins. And nobody who has been drinking old wine wants new. “The old is good” he says.’
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Our faith, a living tradition
The religious leaders criticised Jesus’ disciples for not fasting. Jesus stood up for them by comparing Himself as the bridegroom, and the disciples were in this festive celebration because they were with Him. He also used the image of new wine because there were joy and newness to what He said and did. Jesus invited the Pharisees and the scribes to have new wineskins, i.e. a new openness and attitude, in order to enjoy His presence among them. He was not rejecting the Jewish traditions, but He went beyond them and offered a new understanding of God and new ways of relating with Him.
Today, we need to have this new wineskin and not simply stay in old ways and attitudes. Jesus always brings newness to our lives, and we need to go where He leads us instead of being stuck in our old ways and mentalities. Our Christian faith is a living tradition, not a dead letter. May we experience the relevance and freshness of His word and presence in our lives.
Question for reflection:
Is there anything that might hold me back to the newness that Jesus brings?
Is there anything that might hold me back to the newness that Jesus brings?
