Sunday, January 19, 2020

"Into Fresh Wineskins" by Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB)


Into Fresh Wineskins


Piety
But Samuel said: “Does the LORD so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as in obedience to the command of the LORD? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams. For a sin like divination is rebellion, and presumption is the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he, too, has rejected you as ruler.” 1 Samuel 15:22-23

No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.” Mark 2:21-22

Study
The Second Week of Ordinary Time started by offering beautiful readings from the Prophet Isaiah: "I will make you a light to the nations..."

Then, in the Gospel, John the Baptist and his followers see Jesus as he walks toward them. John says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’”

As an opposite of the beholding of the Lamb of God, this week’s readings from the First Book of Samuel, tell us of God's rejection of Saul as king. Then, Samuel anoints the youngest of Jesse's sons, the shepherd boy David, as the king. Instead of beholding the Lamb of God, they see the temporal king. As we begin Mark's Gospel, the Pharisees ask Jesus why his disciples don't fast. He challenges them to have a completely open mind and heart to his teaching because he will be pouring "new wine…into fresh wineskins.” Beholding Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath brings new freedom.[i]

We heard John 1:29 in our Gospel yesterday when John Baptist said: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”  Today, the Pharisees encountered Jesus without any "proper beholding."  They were just taking a look and did not like what they saw.  Let’s look at a couple of authentic John 1:29 moments.

A man said that he met a former friend before Mass. We stepped aside to a quiet corner. He looked me straight in the eye and got right to the point: "Dean, I've come to tell you how deeply sorry I am for the sins I have committed against you. I ask you to forgive me." Dean later wrote, “Bam—just like that! I knew by the earnestness of his words and the piercing intensity in his eyes that he spoke from the depths of his being and meant every word. This awkward but immensely powerful moment was the fruition of a long, complicated process of stocktaking. On that day, in that place, without forewarning, a John 1:29 moment arrived, ‘The Lamb of God’ took away his resentment and mine.”

 “Beholding” is different than “taking a look.” Beholding has the connotation of taking an in-depth, lengthy, contemplative look at something.

"Who takes away," sin expresses the idea of the pardoning or forgiveness of sin, and the removal of guilt because Jesus was destined to be sacrificed like a spotless lamb as a sin offering to God.

In fact, in both Jewish apocalyptic judgment and the Book of Revelation, it is a conquering lamb who destroys evil in the world (The Testament of Joseph 19:8; Enoch 90:38, Rev. 14:1). Jesus took away sin not by the violent destruction of evil, but by voluntarily laying down his life on the Cross; although the Biblical picture is that to "take away" is parallel to "destroy."

The Lamb of God will take away resentments.

Hebrews 12:15 says, “see to it that….no bitter root grows up to cause trouble.” Ask Jesus daily to take away your anger, resentment, and bitterness.

Here’s another John 1:29 moment that did not go as well.  A man said, “I had an excellent friend called Bob. But he and his wife moved to another country. A little while later, my wife, Charlotte, had to have a very severe operation. Bob and his wife never got in touch with us. I know they knew about it. I was very hurt because they never called to see her or ever inquire about how she was. So, I dropped the relationship. Over the years, I met Bob a few times and he always tried to reconcile, but I didn’t accept it. I wasn’t satisfied with his explanation. I was prideful. I shrugged him off. A few years later, he died of cancer. I feel so sad. I never got to see him. I never got to forgive him. It pains me so much. My advice is: don’t wait.”

Action
Welcome John 1:29 moments when they come.

Notice the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world — “takes away” sin and temptation not “Oh, God, make it go away!” God won’t take away carrying our crosses or take away our daily responsibilities. Taking-away does not replace the need for discernment regarding what activities or things we might want to change according to the virtue of prudence.

God won’t even take away temptations if we don’t want them taken away. Consider James 1:14-15, where St. Paul says that “each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

We should not delay in Beholding the Lamb of God and asking him to take away temptations.  Then, our fresh wineskins can hold the new wine Jesus offers.

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