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.
Food for
thought!
The man who
walks with Christ walks in radiance of joy. This is what Jesus is trying to
teach us on innumerable occasions. This time round, he compares this joy to a
wedding joy. At the wedding the bride enjoys the company of the bridegroom, and
the bridegroom enjoys the company of the bride. All this means that it is good
for our souls to be with Jesus, and that Jesus too enjoys our company. Think
about it, Jesus enjoys to be with you. Do you enjoy Jesus moment? Do you have
in your day any JESUS MOMENT?
It also tells us
that no human joy lasts for ever. John's disciples were at this time sad
because John was already in prison. For Jesus' disciples that time of sorrow
would come when Jesus is imprisoned. It is one of the great inevitabilities of
life that the dearest joy must come to an end. All humans and their joy pass
away. Jesus alone is the same yesterday, today and for ever; God alone abides
amidst all the chances and the changes of life. The dearest human relationships
must some day come to an end; it is only the joy of heaven which lasts for
ever, and if we have it in our hearts, nothing can take it away.
This also means
that days will come, days of challenges, of hardships, of suffering. It means
that life was not meant to be easy. Life is a challenge. Even for Jesus there
was a moment of agony; he could not and did not escape it. Jesus was never
under any illusions; clearly at the end of the road he saw the Cross awaiting
him. He knew that for him the way of life was the way of the Cross, and yet he
did not swerve one step aside from it. Here is the courage of the man who knows
what God's way costs, and who yet goes on.
So, seize the
moment, seize the present joy, seize the week and all its opportunities. Don't
shut your mind for new ideas. We should never be afraid of adventurous thought.
If there is such a person as the Holy Spirit, God must ever be leading us into
new truth. Just look at the many inventions in technology, in computers, in
cell phones, in medicine, etc. How would medicine fare if doctors were
restricted to drugs and methods and techniques three hundred years old?
Many people are
afraid of new methods, new innovations, new ideas. That a thing has always been
done in certain way may very well be the best reason for stopping doing it.
That a thing has never been done may very well be the best reason for trying
it. No business could exist on outworn methods; a business allergic to innovations
is doomed to die. The same with many of us; either we innovative or we perish.
Jesus' plea to
us is to be open minded!
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