Fresh Wineskins

But Samuel said: “Does the LORD so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the LORD? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams. For a sin like divination is rebellion, and presumption is the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he, too, has rejected you as ruler.”

This is what Samuel said to Saul as written in 1 Samuel 15:16-23.   Burnt offerings and sacrifices just don’t cut it.  They are poor substitutes for the real deal; that is, obedience to God.

Going to Church to witness our sacrifice on the altar is an empty gesture unless it is accompanied by changed behavior on our part.  That means listening to and abiding by Jesus’ commandment, especially to love God and our neighbor.  Otherwise, we have simply "submitted the fat of the rams” instead of embracing and following the Lamb.

Today we hear in our Gospel that Jesus said: “No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.  Likewise, 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.” (Mark 2:18-22)

When we follow Jesus – our new wine – we must decide to truly follow him by word and example; otherwise, we remain old wineskins that will burst and be ruined.  In 2020 let’s live by “out with the old, and in with the new.”

Deacon David Pierce