Gospel

Matthew 9:14-17

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,

"Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,

but your disciples do not fast?"

Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn

as long as the bridegroom is with them?

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,

and then they will fast.

No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth,

for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.

People do not put new wine into old wineskins.

Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.

Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Reflection

The response that Jesus has to the disciples of John the Baptist is that things are changing, and the change is coming in the form of something new, something so new that one has to be reborn. The image of baptism, the entrance into a new kingdom is all about a birth that is created by God. We are made new.

We are made capable of embracing and holding the teaching of Jesus.

Closing Prayer

Father, the work of grace that you promise to share with each of us, is the work of a transformation, always being remade into the newness of the kingdom of God that is coming. Bless us with patience as we work toward that goal. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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