Friday of the 22^nd Second week in Ordinary Time (C)

1 Cor 4:1-5.   Ps 37.   Lk 5:33-39

Deacon Jim McFadden

         Jesus’ parable of the the old wineskins/new wineskins is a call to metanoia, namely changing  of one’s mind from an egoic consciousness to one where  we interpret everything through the lens of Christ crucified.  This is not an easy transition; indeed, it will feel like we’re dying as we let go of our baggage, much like the Robert DeNiro character in The Mission, who tried to scale the cliff burden with his conquistador gear.

            Most of us begin our story from what the German theologian Urs von Balthasar called the Ego-drama, in which the play, my life, is all about me: I’m the play-write, the director, the lead actor.  So, the drama revolves around me with all my ambitions, agendas, and obsessions.  Jesus describes this “closed mind”  as an old wineskin, which refuses to learn new things unless it bolsters his preferences. Such rigidity blocks off the movement of the Holy Spirit as we try to control how God can relate to us. 

            The metaphor of the old wineskins is very enlightening.  In Jesus’ time, wine was stored not in bottles, but in wine skins.  New wine poured into skins was still fermenting.  The old wineskins would become rigid and they’d easily burst as they became hard with age.  New wine had to be poured into new wineskins.

            Back to Balthasar, the only way we can receive the Good News of Jesus is to change our consciousness, to embrace the Theo-drama, in which God is the center of my life, my life revolves around Jesus and he is in control: he is the play-write, the director, and the lead actor.  I, too, have a role, but it is secondary, but important role to his purposes.  This is the great inflection point, to use today’s nomenclature: namely, I will only experience liberation, genuine freedom –I will only become fully human—when I realize that my life is not about me. 

            Well, if it’s not about me, who is it about?  Our life is about the Theo-drama; specifically, it’s about Jesus, who is the sole and universal savior of the world.  He is Immanuel, God among us.   We cannot enter into an authentic ‘I-thou’ relationship with him if we hold rigidly to the past and expect him to relate to us on our terms.  That means we have to die to our False Self, our old wineskins, and be open to the gentle movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Jesus wants our minds and hearts to be like his—to be like new wineskins, open and ready to receive the new wine of the Holy Spirit. 

            And, when we make this transition do you know what we’ll experience?  As St. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Galatians, we’ll experience the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control” (Gal 5:22-23).

            So, brothers and sisters, are we eager to grow in the knowledge and understanding of the of God’s word and plan for our life?  Are we ready to make Jesus the center of our life?  Amen.