STRETCH OR TEAR?
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Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for knowing everything about me and still loving me. Please give me what I need to serve you today.
Read MARK 2:18—22
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Mark
Mark 2
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”
19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them.
20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.
22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.”
Reflect
Stretching a muscle gets us ready for movement. Tearing a muscle brings us to a halt. Are you being spiritually stretched or torn right now?Fasting was a key ingredient in Jewish life. It was a sign of taking God seriously. It showed repentance and obedience to the law. With John in jail and the Romans in charge, it was an appropriate way to focus on prayer to seek God’s intervention (v. 18).
Yet Jesus rejects the practice, for the time being. The wedding reception is in full swing. Now is the time for celebration and rejoicing. The lame walk, the blind see, and sins are forgiven. God is with us! He is intervening, just not in the way everyone was expecting. Something new is happening.
Jesus hints at what is ahead (v. 20). This new way will require sacrifice and sadness as well. It will bring division as well as salvation, sorrow as well as joy.
The two images Jesus uses would have been very familiar to his hearers. Both draw on the lived experience of what happens when there is a mismatch between the means and the end. Fasting will not bring salvation, like old wine skins cannot contain fermenting wine. This must have been very hard for everyone to hear. What are the new rules?
Apply
Where can you see Jesus at work around you, doing new things and breaking down barriers?
Closing prayer
Thank you, Lord God, for what Jesus has done, for the freedom and the joy of salvation he brings. Please give me eyes to see where he is at work around me.
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