I Am The Way, The Truth, And The Life Of The Party | January 18, 2016

January 18, 2016

One of my favorite things to teach my teens is about Sundays in Lent. It blows their mind that they are not only “allowed” to break their Lenten fast on Sundays, but kind of encouraged to, because no matter what the season, we celebrate resurrection or Easter every Sunday, sometimes with toned down Gloria’s and Alleluias, but indeed every Sunday IS resurrection day! Today’s gospel runs in that same vein.

The eagle eyed Pharisees had already started their H.R. file of write-ups against Jesus. This time they observed that he and his disciples did not fast properly like John’s disciples did. How perfect for them to have chosen John to compare and contrast Jesus, because John was the only one who truly understood who Jesus was and had been shouting it at the top of his wookiee outfit wearing, bug eating, desert rat lungs for a long while. They obviously missed John’s message. I know a lot of times I miss the message that is being yelled into my heart because I am distracted by what others are doing to not doing. Ugh.

Jesus loves a good set up and the Pharisees often seem to be the ones that provide him with one. Let that be a lesson to us that scrutiny and negativity can be avenues for grace and teaching to flow if we live in the spirit and allow God to do His work in us. Jesus basically told them that the whole reason for fasting is to come to the feast hungry and ready to be filled, but HE WAS THE FEAST and while he was present there would be no need to fast. Basically, I am the way, the truth, and the life OF THE PARTY, says the Lord!! So don’t refuse my food for your soul, don’t refuse my living water, don’t refuse the abundant wine of joy that I serve, don’t refuse to dance to the music that I sing, don’t refuse to listen to the stories that I tell, don’t refuse the invitation to the party, don’t refuse the banquet that I have set before you. There will be a time when fasting will be necessary to train your will, to discipline your appetites, to teach you how to wait patiently, to show you what famine feels like so that you will long for the feast of heaven, but that time is not right now because the party is here! I just LOVE party Jesus!

A little side note…he is trying to teach them that a new covenant is being offered to them and HE is that new covenant, but he uses two analogies for that concept. The first is directed toward women as he uses a very feminine image, “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.” Women would understand this reference to garments because they sew. The second analogy is directed to the men using a very masculine image, “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.” Men would understand this reference because they drink. Everyone is invited to the Jesus party!!! He made it very clear with both analogies and I can just imagine how special the women must have felt that Jesus was also reaching out to them with a message of hope and love. I just LOVE equal opportunity Jesus!

Today’s gospel reminds us that Jesus wants us to have life to the fullest and the only way we can truly do that is with him at the center of our hearts. Life with Jesus is a party and we will always be satisfied if we but stay close to him. Let’s fast from the things that are not of God and feast on the things that bring us closer to him, such as scripture, prayer, Eucharist, and love, love, love, love, love. Party on friends!!!

Reading 1 1 SM 15:16-23

Samuel said to Saul:
“Stop! Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”
Saul replied, “Speak!” 
Samuel then said: “Though little in your own esteem,
are you not leader of the tribes of Israel?
The LORD anointed you king of Israel and sent you on a mission, saying,
‘Go and put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction.
Fight against them until you have exterminated them.’
Why then have you disobeyed the LORD?
You have pounced on the spoil, thus displeasing the LORD.”
Saul answered Samuel: “I did indeed obey the LORD
and fulfill the mission on which the LORD sent me.
I have brought back Agag, and I have destroyed Amalek under the ban.
But from the spoil the men took sheep and oxen,
the best of what had been banned,
to sacrifice to the LORD their God in Gilgal.”
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.”

Responsorial Psalm PS 50:8-9, 16BC-17, 21 AND 23

R. (23b) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.
I take from your house no bullock,
no goats out of your fold.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or do you think that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

Responsorial Psalm HEB 4:12

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of God is living and effective,
able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MK 2:18-22

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.”