Hebrews 5:1-10
Psalm 110:1-4
Mark 2:18-22
I can imagine someone with new wine, looking for a place to put it. I cannot imagine someone with a new piece of cloth looking for a cloak that needs patching. Jesus has something new: the truth, the fullness of truth. It is new to us, although it is older than the universe. It is always new because it is eternal. Jesus not only has something new, he is something new. He is the new wine. He is the new cloth. He cannot change himself to fit the world. He must change the world to fit him.
There is a sense in which we are old, worn out. There is no better sign of youth than joy. A young person without joy seems old. An old person with joy seems young again. We are old because we lack joy. Jesus comes and he cannot just be more of the same. His joy is perfect. It is a bit much for us old grouches.
Now we can see a metaphor that Jesus might have used in the 21st century: nobody hates new things like old people. As much as the oldest grouch in the world hates the idea of Twitter, someone without joy hates the idea of a Savior. If we want to imagine how the Pharisees felt about Jesus, we should watch Andy Rooney talk about Facebook.
When Jesus came, and he is new, he insisted that his disciples rejoice while he was with them. No fasting for his disciples, at least not yet. Not until there could be a joyful fast. Indeed, this is the mark of a Christian: a joyful fast, joyful suffering, joyful life. A martyr is not someone who died for Christ; all sorts of people have died for all sorts of stupid things. A martyr is someone who died joyfully.
Whether you are 8 or 80, if you are going to be a Christian, you must be young, you must be filled with joy. Not a fake joy, not an imaginary joy, but a real joy given to us as the first fruit of the Holy Spirit, as the first commandment of God’s will for us in Christ: “Rejoice always.” Only then will we be new wineskins able to hold this new wine.
Daily Homilies
Showing posts with label Rebirth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rebirth. Show all posts
April 16, 2012 - Monday of the Second Week of Easter
Today's Readings
Nicodemus comes to Jesus secretly, at night. He tells Jesus that he knows that he comes from God. He actually says a little more. He says, “We know that you have come from God.” Who are “we”? From his words, it seems that Nicodemus either came with a contingent or at least representing a contingent. This was an opportunity for Jesus. Nicodemus comes offering the friendship of some of those in high places. He is telling Jesus that he has supporters in high places.
Jesus does not seem to take full advantage of the offer. Instead of discussing possible political strategies with Nicodemus, he answers with an obscure teaching about being born again. Nicodemus is open to the teaching and tries to understand what Jesus means. Clearly Jesus is not saying that we need to be born again as we were born the first time. Being physically born is a process that a person can only go through once. Jesus clarifies that he is not talking about a physical birth. He means that a person must be born again by water and the Holy Spirit.
What exactly does that mean? When a person is born, their life changes entirely. The first 9 months of life are a certain experience, then birth changes everything. The life of a newborn is very different than the life of child about to be born. If we could interview a child about to be born and asked them whether they would like to give up the warmth and comfort of the womb for a harsh, cold world, they might be reluctant, but no adult would want to go back to the way life was before they were born.
So too it is for us and being born again. When we were born physically, our physically life changed. When we are born again of water and the Holy Spirit, our spiritual life changes. There is a difference, however. We had no choice about being born physically, and once we were born, we grew up as a matter of course. It just happened. We may or may not have chosen to be baptized, but growing up spiritually is our choice. If we choose to be spiritual infants, still in diapers, we will remain immature. If we want to become mature Christians, saints, we need to go beyond being born again: we need to grow up again.
Nicodemus comes to Jesus secretly, at night. He tells Jesus that he knows that he comes from God. He actually says a little more. He says, “We know that you have come from God.” Who are “we”? From his words, it seems that Nicodemus either came with a contingent or at least representing a contingent. This was an opportunity for Jesus. Nicodemus comes offering the friendship of some of those in high places. He is telling Jesus that he has supporters in high places.
Jesus does not seem to take full advantage of the offer. Instead of discussing possible political strategies with Nicodemus, he answers with an obscure teaching about being born again. Nicodemus is open to the teaching and tries to understand what Jesus means. Clearly Jesus is not saying that we need to be born again as we were born the first time. Being physically born is a process that a person can only go through once. Jesus clarifies that he is not talking about a physical birth. He means that a person must be born again by water and the Holy Spirit.
What exactly does that mean? When a person is born, their life changes entirely. The first 9 months of life are a certain experience, then birth changes everything. The life of a newborn is very different than the life of child about to be born. If we could interview a child about to be born and asked them whether they would like to give up the warmth and comfort of the womb for a harsh, cold world, they might be reluctant, but no adult would want to go back to the way life was before they were born.
So too it is for us and being born again. When we were born physically, our physically life changed. When we are born again of water and the Holy Spirit, our spiritual life changes. There is a difference, however. We had no choice about being born physically, and once we were born, we grew up as a matter of course. It just happened. We may or may not have chosen to be baptized, but growing up spiritually is our choice. If we choose to be spiritual infants, still in diapers, we will remain immature. If we want to become mature Christians, saints, we need to go beyond being born again: we need to grow up again.
August 3, 2011 - Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
About a year after the plagues of Egypt and the splitting of the Red Sea, the Israelites thought that God would be unable to take over the land to which he brought them. These people had walked with the water like a wall to their right and to their left, but they thought that the Amalekites looked pretty scary, too tough for God. Did they think that he was only a god of running away and not a god of conquering? Did they think that he was just lucky the first time around?
The Israelites were promised a land flowing with milk and honey, and the scouts found that the land was exactly what they had been promised, but they were too afraid to enter the promised land. I myself, when I think of it, have often failed to conquer a land I have scouted out. Perhaps you also have had this experience. I have several times in my life reconnoitered the Kingdom of Heaven: on a retreat, in a dream, in prayer, I have caught a glimpse of what is possible. The Kingdom is beautiful, and wonderful, and everything we have been promised, more than words can describe, yet I continue to stand in the desert, afraid to conquer, afraid of all the Amorites and Hittites that stand in my way.
God’s solution is perfect. The Israelites will wander in the desert for 40 years, until all those who remember Egypt have died. It was the memory of slavery that prevented them from marching in bravely. The entire people will be renewed when a generation is brought up in the desert. We too, before we can enter into the land we have glimpsed, must be renewed. We were slaves to this world, and that slavery has ruined us. We have been freed, but we can never be a free people until there is a renewal, until the old generation, our old self, has dropped dead in the desert.
The next generation will grow up in the desert with no memory of how “great” we had it in Egypt. The new generation would never return to slavery; they are free from their birth. Unlike the Israelites, this renewal will not take place through physical birth but by spiritual rebirth. We have to be born again so that we can be raised again in the desert. By this renewal of our minds, we will have the faith to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
About a year after the plagues of Egypt and the splitting of the Red Sea, the Israelites thought that God would be unable to take over the land to which he brought them. These people had walked with the water like a wall to their right and to their left, but they thought that the Amalekites looked pretty scary, too tough for God. Did they think that he was only a god of running away and not a god of conquering? Did they think that he was just lucky the first time around?
The Israelites were promised a land flowing with milk and honey, and the scouts found that the land was exactly what they had been promised, but they were too afraid to enter the promised land. I myself, when I think of it, have often failed to conquer a land I have scouted out. Perhaps you also have had this experience. I have several times in my life reconnoitered the Kingdom of Heaven: on a retreat, in a dream, in prayer, I have caught a glimpse of what is possible. The Kingdom is beautiful, and wonderful, and everything we have been promised, more than words can describe, yet I continue to stand in the desert, afraid to conquer, afraid of all the Amorites and Hittites that stand in my way.
God’s solution is perfect. The Israelites will wander in the desert for 40 years, until all those who remember Egypt have died. It was the memory of slavery that prevented them from marching in bravely. The entire people will be renewed when a generation is brought up in the desert. We too, before we can enter into the land we have glimpsed, must be renewed. We were slaves to this world, and that slavery has ruined us. We have been freed, but we can never be a free people until there is a renewal, until the old generation, our old self, has dropped dead in the desert.
The next generation will grow up in the desert with no memory of how “great” we had it in Egypt. The new generation would never return to slavery; they are free from their birth. Unlike the Israelites, this renewal will not take place through physical birth but by spiritual rebirth. We have to be born again so that we can be raised again in the desert. By this renewal of our minds, we will have the faith to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
January 17, 2011 - Memorial of Saint Anthony, abbot
I can imagine someone with new wine, looking for a place to put it. I cannot imagine someone with a new piece of cloth looking for a cloak to patch with it. The easy solution to the problem would be to wait for the wine to get old or find an old piece of cloth. Jesus does not take the easy solution.
Jesus has something new: the truth, the fullness of truth. It is new to us, although it is older than the universe. It is always new because it is eternal. Jesus not only has something new, he is something new. He is the new wine. He is the new cloth. He cannot change himself to fit the world. He must change the world to fit him.
There is a sense in which we are old, worn out. There is no better sign of youth than joy. A young person without joy seems old. An old person with joy seems young again. We are old because we lack joy. Jesus comes and he cannot just be more of the same. His joy is perfect. It is a bit much for us old grouches.
Now we can see a metaphor that Jesus might have used in the 21st century: nobody hates new things like old people. As much as the oldest grouch in the world hates the idea of Twitter, someone without joy hates the idea of a Savior. If we want to imagine how the Pharisees felt about Jesus, we should watch Andy Rooney talk about Facebook.
When Jesus came, and he is new, he insisted that his disciples rejoice while he was with them. No fasting for his disciples, at least not yet. Not until there could be a joyful fast. Indeed, this is the mark of a Christian: a joyful fast, joyful suffering, joyful life. A martyr is not someone who died for Christ; all sorts of people have died for all sorts of stupid things. A martyr is someone who died joyfully.
Whether you are 8 or 80, if you are going to be a Christian, you must be young, you must be filled with joy. Not a fake joy, not an imaginary joy, but a real joy given to us as the first fruit of the Holy Spirit, as the first commandment of God’s will for us in Christ: “Rejoice always.”
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