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| Illustration by
Phil Younk |
Have you ever gone with your family to a wedding? It’s a happy time when everyone invited joins the bridegroom and bride in celebrating their special day. Weddings are important times in people’s lives and special to Jesus. Jewish wedding feasts were celebrated with much joy and lasted from three to eight days, depending on what the couple could afford.
In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus compares himself to a bridegroom at a wedding. We also hear about fasting. To fast means to go without food for a certain amount of time.
The followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people noticed Jesus and his disciples were eating as usual and asked him, “Why is it that the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but yours do not?
Jesus answered, “Do you expect the guests at a wedding party to go without food? Of course not. As long as the bridegroom is with them, they will not do that. But the day will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
“No one uses a piece of new cloth to patch up an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear off some of the old cloth, making an even bigger hole. Nor does anyone pour new wine into used wineskins, because the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.”
Jesus knew he would not be with his disciples for very long. For the time he would be with them, he wanted them to listen to his words and teaching. He came to bring the Good News that would change people’s hearts and the way they live and to teach people to love God and neighbor.
Jesus’ teaching, miracles, and way of life were upsetting to the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders. They could be compared to old wineskins which are not able to hold Jesus’ “new wine” — his message of love.
Wednesday, March 1, is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. It is the time we will spend recalling Jesus’ sufferings and death leading to his glorious resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday.
During Lent, spend some extra time with Jesus in prayer, asking him to fill you with his love. How about fasting from: television? computer games? selfishness?
(Couture is a catechist at St. Aloysius Parish, West Allis.) |
