New life in Christ

Introduction
We will be trustworthy stewards of God’s mysteries if we live according to the Gospel and serve God and people, rather than seek security in outward observances and lip service.
We are created anew in Christ, the Lord and the new beginning of all. With Christ, we have to renounce all compromises with the old in us and live in the new spirit of Christ. How well have we accepted the renewal that Vatican II asks of us?

1 Reading 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Brothers and sisters
Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Now it is of course required of stewards
that they be found trustworthy.
It does not concern me in the least
that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;
I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me,
but I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the one who judges me is the Lord.
Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time,
until the Lord comes,
for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness
and will manifest the motives of our hearts,
and then everyone will receive praise from God.

Responsorial Psalm 37:3-4, 5-6, 27-28, 39-40
R. (39a) The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Trust in the LORD and do good,
that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.
Take delight in the LORD,
and he will grant you your heart’s requests.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Commit to the LORD your way;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make justice dawn for you like the light;
bright as the noonday shall be your vindication.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Turn from evil and do good,
that you may abide forever;
For the LORD loves what is right,
and forsakes not his faithful ones.
Criminals are destroyed
and the posterity of the wicked is cut off.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

The salvation of the just is from the LORD;
he is their refuge in time of distress.
And the LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Alleluia John 8:12
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Luke 5:33-39
The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,
and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;
but yours eat and drink.”
Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
then they will fast in those days.”
And he also told them a parable.
“No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.
Otherwise, he will tear the new
and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins,
and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,
for he says, ‘The old is good.'”

Commentary
Differences are threatening. The disciples of John and the Pharisees fast, do penance, and pray long and hard. The scribes and the Pharisees are used to seeing them do so, and are comfortable with their style of discipleship. But when they find the disciples of Jesus going around eating and drinking, and even breaking the Sabbath by threshing wheat (Matt 12:1-2), they are disturbed and challenged. They find it hard to resolve the cognitive dissonance caused by this new style of discipleship.
As Tony De Mello once observed, the Good News is rejected not because it is good, but because it is new. We are so habituated to one style of living that anything new is threatening to our security and familiar way of ordering life. Jesus invites us today to have spiritual flexibility so that God can continue to surprise us and we can continue to learn new ways of being.

Blessing
We must ask ourselves from time to time how faithful we are to the gospel. It is easy to become fossilized. The Gospel wants us to stay young and ever new. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!