Old Habits

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:18-22 ESV). We continue in our Lenten series. I hope you are finding it easier to continue your resolve to add those things you committed to adding at the beginning of the season. I’m afraid that as the time passes it seems our old ways often pinch the new resolve that we so sincerely make at the beginning of any new venture.

Our reading makes mention of this principle today. The need for “new wineskins,” or a different way of looking and acting is not merely placing the new on the top where there is no mixture of the new and the old (like vinegar and oil). It is a complete new beginning. As Lent proceeds and I am attempting to put new practices into my life to draw me closer in my relationship to God, I must remember that the new practices (like new wine) must be put into new wineskins (a new, more open body and mind) in order for there to be a permanent, lasting change. I cannot expect to merely patch up the holes in my journey to become whole. It really is not like spring cleaning when we merely move things around a bit and make some extra room for other things we want to add to our lives. Our challenge is to open up to the relationships God desires for us to have in our lives that will bring mutual benefit based in the kindness we show to one another as have been shown to us in the love of Christ. In Genesis, Joseph asks to be remembered when it is well with the wine steward. However, as soon as the wine steward’s fortune was restored, he forgot about Joseph. It is easy to get caught up in the routine so that there is not time nor energy to allow new ways of serving to be tested, new friendships formed. Mark reminds us how Matthew followed the call of Jesus without hesitation. I forget my call and often fail to allow the love of Christ which is within me to be visible to others; and, I hesitate to find new opportunities to serve. I need new eyes which see the opportunities for different service. I need a willing heart to sit and listen and to be aware of where God has placed me in relationship to others; serving God is not always doing but also a renewing of those relationships.