Torn Wineskins

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus and objected, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. 

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)

Are we open to new opinions or the opposite point of view?  Are we so biased we will reject that which doesn’t agree with our stance?  Most of us are like the old wineskins into which new wine [ideas and information] are poured.  If we are not careful, we will burst with anger and even hate when forced to consider we are wrong and are listening to or watching only that which conforms with our views.  

We tend to be old cloaks repaired with unshrunken cloth [old ways of thinking].  Our tears – our biases – get worse.  They intensify.  We are ruined.  Therefore, we must become new wineskins.

Deacon David Pierce