Today's Reading:O.T. - Proverbs 18
N.T. - Mark 2:1-22
Focus Verses: Mark 2:21-22
21"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."
Insight:
Jesus healed a lame man and pronounced forgiveness for his sin. The teachers of the law asked, "Why does this guy talk like that?" Jesus spent time with ordinary people caught up in the sins, snares, and struggles of life. He gives them hope and calls them to follow him. The Pharisees asked, "Why does he eat with sinners?" Jesus and his disciples ate and drank and did not withdraw from world. This was unlike the teachers, prophets, and religious groups they were accustomed to. It was even different from John the Baptist. So the curious people asked Jesus, "Why don't you and your disciples fast?"
Jesus was not trapped by tradition, religion, or the expectations of the people who were. Jesus' words and actions were always stretching people and tearing them away from conformity to old ideas and practices that fell short of true Kingdom values and perspectives.
Response and Action:
I cannot follow Jesus--doing what he says and living as he lived--without ripping myself away from comfortable conformity with the world or with religion. I need to break from empty traditions and fruitless routines that may seem acceptable and righteous but, in actuality, are keeping me from living the life Jesus calls me to live.
O Lord, give me the courage to be different. Help me to hold on to Jesus and leave behind empty habits and practices that become a hindrance to authentic faith and life. Give me the wisdom and grace to recognize the routines and traditions that feed my spirit and serve to help me know and follow Jesus. Show me your ways, O God, teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Amen.
Proverbs: 18:15
"The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out."
Resources:
The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others
by Scot McKnight
The Spirit of the Disciplines
by Dallas Willard
