that your disciples eat and drink?” Then Jesus said to them, “You can’t make wedding guests
fast while the bridegroom is with them. But later, the bridegroom will be taken from them;
and they will fast in those days.” Jesus also told them this parable: “No one tears a piece
from a new coat to put it on an old one; otherwise the new coat will be torn, and the piece
taken from the new coat will not match the old coat. No one puts new wine into old wine
skins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed
as well. But new wine must be put into fresh skins. Yet, no one who has tasted old wine is eager
to drink new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.’”

Reflect

“New life.” Jesus is offering us a new life. The challenge is to accept it. It may appear simple but it
is not an easy challenge. It is never easy to break away from the things we have been used
to doing. It is difficult to depart from our old self. Peter, James and John left everything
(cf. Lk. 5:11), implying that they also left their old selves behind so that they could accept the new
life offered to them by the Lord. Today’s Gospel passage ends with Jesus telling that no one
who tasted the old wine would be eager to drink the new wine. It is a human tendency to stick
to the things one has been used to rather than trying new things. Likewise, people would normally
have difficulties embracing change because change would also entail unfamiliarity, uncertainty and
even vulnerability. Hence, to be open to change would also mean holding on to faith. Our journey
of faith now challenges us to continue walking even through uncharted paths. Jesus is walking with
us. Like the wedding guests, we shall not want because the bridegroom is with us.

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