New Wineskins

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’ Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.’ Matthew 9:9-17

"Those who are well have no need of a physician." Those of us who are not well, wish there was a physician who would tell us when we would be well again. Jesus came and sat with the outcasts, the rejected, the sick and the marginalized. And with them, he made everything new, despite the mess, failure and pain of their lives. He did not try to fit them into the present system but made them and us, into new wine poured into new wineskins.

Wondrous Creator, you have no limits

your creativity is based in love and hope

when we believe we are at a dead end

you renew us and find us new dwellings.

The structure we humans built are exclusive

rules and walls that shut unwanted people out

we strive and struggle to be the winning best

while you inhabit the exiled, lonely spaces.

Help us to live as the people you have come for

help us to see out wounds and scars as invitation

to be vulnerable and ready for your renewal

to be refshioned by your hope and love. Amen.