Hosea 2: 16b, 17b, 21-22 2 Cor 3: 1b-6 Mk 2: 18-22
I am not a believer in the notion of “new and improved”. I was one of the last people to give up my wood driver in golf and the more bells and whistles a gadget has the less inclined I am to purchase it. I am a fan of KISS (keep it simple stupid). Yet in this Sunday’s gospel Jesus challenges me to renew my faith and not take it for granted. He tells his disciples...”No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins”. I wonder how many times we try to make sense of our lives and the experiences we are having by applying the same faith that we had as children. I used to use the phrase “no problem” a lot. In recent years I have realized that there is always a problem. Something always disturbs my vision of what paradise should look like. Now I can see these problems as setbacks or I can see them as opportunities. I can go about my life always being disappointed or I can realize that in order to have faith I have to have challenges that help me grow in it. It has been my experience that God takes me to my limits so that I will finally allow God to step into my life. How I see challenges depends upon my view of God. When I continue to hold the same view of God as I had when I was younger then I believe that God can only be found in tranquility and perfection. Yet life is full of chaos. If I hold onto my old notion of where God is to be found I will be disappointed and my relationship with God could be ruined. If I can renew my belief that God is present even more in the chaos I will see the chaos as an opportunity to grow closer to my God. Somewhere along the line we have gotten the impression that in our walk with God we have the right to know where we are going. I’ve heard it said that if you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans. Instead of waiting for those heavenly moments of peace and quiet, which usually come after we are dead, we need to ask God simply to bless this mess. We have a God that is willing to go with the flow yet we are the ones who are unyielding. We are much like the Pharisees who complained to Jesus that his disciples did not fast. Jesus explained to them that the wedding guests don’t fast while attending the banquet. Do we see our lives as a banquet and appreciate the blessings we are given? A buddy of mine shared an experience he had recently. He and his family were watching old videos he had taken when the children were younger. He was struck by the thought of how wonderful those days were but at the same time he was saddened when he realized that he hadn’t appreciated them at the time. The song is correct; these are the good old days. We need to renew and improve our picture of what God’s banquet looks like. The sad thing for both the Pharisees and us is that Jesus was standing right in front of them in the mess of their lives and they couldn’t see him because they were unwilling to change their expectations. Maybe “new and improved” is a good thing when it comes to our faith. Maybe we need to stop waiting to meet God on our terms and learn to see God each day in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. May God bless this mess.