Daily Bread Luke 5
Daily Bread Luke 5
A Discussion about Fasting
33 One day some people said to Jesus, “John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?”
34 Jesus responded, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. 35 But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
36 Then Jesus gave them this illustration: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment.
37 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. 38 New wine must be stored in new wineskins. 39 But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”
Observation:
Jesus begins his earthly ministry by calling his disciples and telling them that they are going to fish for people. Then Jesus demonstrates how these new disciples will be made. He heals a man with leprosy and also a paralyzed man. Jesus not only preaches the Word of God, he lives it out.
The Pharisees object to Jesus telling the paralytic his sins are forgiven before he is healed. But we see the irony in the fact that here is Jesus healing people in the power of God, and yet they are caught up in the fact that he pronounced that this man’s sins were forgiven. As we say today, “They can’t see the forest through the trees.
Finally, Jesus responds to their objection that Jesus’ disciples were not fasting, by saying the wedding guests do not fast when the groom is in the house. Again the Pharisees are just totally missing the point of who Jesus is. They are so caught up in the rules that they completely miss out on the one who is before them.
Application:
This passage points out that the purpose of the disciplines is to lead people into the power and presence of Jesus. The disciplines are a means to the grace of God in Christ Jesus that empowers us to the kind of life where the kingdom kind of life will flow out from us.
During Lent often people fast for various reasons for various kinds of things. But the reason for giving up anything is to lead us into a deeper relationship with our Lord. The point is often when we are so immersed in earthly activities we forget to cultivate our awareness of what is happening in the spiritual realm.
As Christians we always have to be careful not to get back into the old wineskins of activity without purpose. The new wine of Christ is always available to us, and out of the new wine we develop new wineskins to contain. But we never make the mistake of confusing the wine with the wineskins. Church forms are there to help us transmit God’s grace, but they change with each age as God makes the Gospel relevant through bride of Christ, the Church.
Prayer:
God may our spiritual disciplines lead us to the New Wine that Jesus came to bring. May we throw out the old wineskins that do not contain this New Wine. Jesus help us every Sunday to celebrate that you the groom are with the bride of Christ as we worship you and preach the Good News to all people. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
A Discussion about Fasting
33 One day some people said to Jesus, “John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?”
34 Jesus responded, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. 35 But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
36 Then Jesus gave them this illustration: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment.
37 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. 38 New wine must be stored in new wineskins. 39 But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”
Observation:
Jesus begins his earthly ministry by calling his disciples and telling them that they are going to fish for people. Then Jesus demonstrates how these new disciples will be made. He heals a man with leprosy and also a paralyzed man. Jesus not only preaches the Word of God, he lives it out.
The Pharisees object to Jesus telling the paralytic his sins are forgiven before he is healed. But we see the irony in the fact that here is Jesus healing people in the power of God, and yet they are caught up in the fact that he pronounced that this man’s sins were forgiven. As we say today, “They can’t see the forest through the trees.
Finally, Jesus responds to their objection that Jesus’ disciples were not fasting, by saying the wedding guests do not fast when the groom is in the house. Again the Pharisees are just totally missing the point of who Jesus is. They are so caught up in the rules that they completely miss out on the one who is before them.
Application:
This passage points out that the purpose of the disciplines is to lead people into the power and presence of Jesus. The disciplines are a means to the grace of God in Christ Jesus that empowers us to the kind of life where the kingdom kind of life will flow out from us.
During Lent often people fast for various reasons for various kinds of things. But the reason for giving up anything is to lead us into a deeper relationship with our Lord. The point is often when we are so immersed in earthly activities we forget to cultivate our awareness of what is happening in the spiritual realm.
As Christians we always have to be careful not to get back into the old wineskins of activity without purpose. The new wine of Christ is always available to us, and out of the new wine we develop new wineskins to contain. But we never make the mistake of confusing the wine with the wineskins. Church forms are there to help us transmit God’s grace, but they change with each age as God makes the Gospel relevant through bride of Christ, the Church.
Prayer:
God may our spiritual disciplines lead us to the New Wine that Jesus came to bring. May we throw out the old wineskins that do not contain this New Wine. Jesus help us every Sunday to celebrate that you the groom are with the bride of Christ as we worship you and preach the Good News to all people. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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