Then they said to him, “John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.” Jesus said to them, “You cannot make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.’”
Growing up, I remember sometimes my parents would compare my brother and I to each other. "Look, your brother Scott ate all his lima beans." And this went both ways. "Look, your brother Wes got good grades," which I attribute totally to not eating lima beans. Today, some Pharisees try to peer pressure Jesus by pointing out that John's disciples are way better at fasting and praying that Jesus' disciples who are such slackers. Ever notice how we do this all the time still today to each other? We love the status quo. Quirkiness will be accepted to a point, individualism will also be honor...until the collective or leader feels threatened. Family System's Theory says that we long for equilibrium in our relationships; and when someone decides to no longer play his/her appointed role, the group will respond. They happens in families where you don't talk about alcoholism when someone wants to bring the dysfunction into the light. This happens in families where the drug of choice is sugar and unhealthy eating and someone starts to eat kale. This happens in churches when a new idea is proposed only to quickly be discounted by either: "We've never done it that way before" or "We tried that...didn't work." And this happens to ourselves. I am not sure how your New Years resolutions are going...but we do a great job of discounting and discouraging ourselves. We glance at Facebook to see a friend who lost weight...or is having a great time with family...or is being way more amazing than we see ourselves. So, we throw in the towel.
But Jesus reminds people that he isn't just trying to reform or remodel or re-arrange the religious order...he is hear to introduce a whole new sense of connecting with God. It isn't just a patch on a garment...it isn't just refilling the old wineskine...this is something new and different. This is something to celebrate.
I love the story about Groucho Marx who encountered a priest in a hotel lobby. The priest rushed over to him and thanked him for making people so happy and bringing so much laughter into the world. Groucho said in response, "And thank you, father, for making people so miserable it makes my job easier." Let's face it, churches are rather somber, too serious places. Jesus celebrated life fully. Please remember that Roman oppression wasn't created on Good Friday. Lots of people struggled. Lots of people were falsely accused and held unjustly. Lots of people suffered with the Roman boot on their neck. What does it mean that Jesus is here eating and drinking and making merry? What might that mean for us at such a time as this?
I am not sure I have a lot of great answers...but I know that wisdom challenges me and asks me to stay open to God who is still forming and fashioning moments of beauty even here and now. It isn't either/or. It isn't just the Pharisees' way or party all the time. It is both and. I pray this week, I might be open to traces of God's grace here and now to live both fully, faithfully, and lovingly.
Grace and peace ~~
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