THE NEW WINESKIN

Reflection for Friday of the 22^nd Week in Ordinary Time, Year A

(1 Cor 4:1-5; Lk 5:33-39)

 The human mind is the seat of judgement. While the intellectual mind is actively engaged in judgement of things and human affairs, true wisdom is to know the limit. Often times we overstep our boundaries and become judges of persons. This happens when we decide the fate of others, even before God. While we readily judge others, no one likes to be judged and condemned as such. Hence, St Paul tells the Corinthians that God alone is the ultimate judge. “It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgement before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.”

But in the Gospel of today, the self-righteous Pharisees accused the disciples of Jesus of not fasting along with others. Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?” The over-zealous Pharisees crossed their boundary and made themselves the determinant of who was at good standing with God. Indirectly, when we judge people thus, we secretly wish that they should act to please us. That is why it is dangerous for one to think he is better than others. He who thinks he is standing, let him be careful lest he fall (1 Cor 10:12).

Of Course, Jesus reminded the Pharisees that they were ‘old-fashioned.’ God is doing something new; a new cloth, a new wine! Something more beautiful and tastier comes forth from the Children of God when we gather around Jesus. So, whoever makes himself a judge ‘on behalf of the Lord’ and sets to condemn others automatically makes himself ‘old-fashioned.’ “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rm 8:1). So, according to St Paul in the first reading, as ‘servants of Christ’ and ‘stewards of the mysteries of God’ we are required to be trustworthy, bearing in mind that the Lord will hold us accountable.

Imagine the new wine poured into old wineskins, which bursts the skins and pours away. Oh what a waste! This is how we waste away when we over step our boundaries of thought and begin to judge and condemn others. Instead, let us empty ourselves into Jesus, the ‘New Wineskin’ that He may preserve our inner peace and sustain us in ‘freshness of taste’ each day as we remain ‘contained in Him.’ Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Friday September 4^th, 2020.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com