“The New from the Old”
In today’s readings, we listen to
the story of our salvation, which began from the prophets and fulfilled in
Jesus Christ our Lord. The first reading from the letter to Hebrews reminded us
the priesthood of Jesus. The priesthood of Jesus, which was traced from the Old
Testament. Jesus came to fulfil high priest in which God Himself gave Him the
power to be glorified. The glorification of Him, was for the purpose of our
salvation.
In the Gospel of today according
to Mark, we hear Jesus Christ discussing with Pharisees who asked Him about
fasting. The one question would be, what makes the Pharisees ask Jesus about
fasting? Pharisees were people who were Law observers and Law keepers. Hence,
for them, any person who do not keep the Law would be treated as a pagan. In
their mind they were thinking that Jesus is a pagan, that is a person who does
not believe in God. To the surprise, Jesus Christ did not go against fasting,
as a law which is known by the Pharisees, but He replied that, the wedding
guests cannot fast if the bridegroom is with them, as the time will come for
them to fast. I am sure the Pharisees did not understand the reply from Jesus,
as they were already not understanding His nature. Jesus explains His mission
in the context of new wine and old wine. The old wine being the law which was
revealed to Prophets in Old Testament, and then new wine being the revelation
which was to be fulfilled by Him, to fulfill the journey of our salvation. The
new wine came to fulfill not to be under the old wine, which was just a
preparation of our salvation. It is of very important to us as Christians to
change our life, and follow Jesus Christ who is the fulfilment of our
salvation. Sometimes, we fall into temptation of following other laws which do
not lead us to salvation. The greatest law which we have to carry every day, is
the law of Love, which Jesus came to show us. Jesus Christ was not against the
law, but how we observe the laws may lead us into forgetting the greatest law
which bind all laws into one. Jesus finished by saying, “the new wine is poured
into fresh wineskins.” We are the new skins, today we are challenged to live as
new people in following Christ.
Joseph Chingarande
I Year Theology
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