It's A New Day
It may require new paradigms, perspectives, and postures.
Jesus didn’t come to uphold the status quo. He didn’t come to trash all tradition, either. But with his arrival came difference.
That difference startled people. Jesus called the unexpected — a tax collector, Levi — and then went to eat at his house with a table full of outsiders. The religious critics were quick to ask why he would share a meal with such people. Jesus’ answer comes cross as less of a defense and perhaps more of a mission statement. It will certainly serve as his mode of operandi: I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners.
And then, as if anticipating more objections, Jesus began speaking about newness. Why don’t his disciples fast like others? Because something new is happening. New wine needs fresh wineskins. He’s not just adjusting religious habits — he’s pointing to a transformation so deep that the old categories can’t hold it.
Jesus isn’t reckless with tradition, but he doesn’t let it become a barrier to mercy, calling, or joy. With him, something new is always breaking in—and the question is whether we’re open enough to hold it.
Mark 2:13-22
Jesus went out beside the lake again. The whole crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he continued along, he saw Levi, Alphaeus’ son, sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Levi got up and followed him.
Jesus sat down to eat at Levi’s house. Many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples. Indeed, many of them had become his followers. When some of the legal experts from among the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, “Why is he eating with sinners and tax collectors?”
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners.”
John’s disciples and the Pharisees had a habit of fasting. Some people asked Jesus, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but yours don’t?”
Jesus said, “The wedding guests can’t fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they can’t fast. But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
“No one sews a piece of new, unshrunk cloth on old clothes; otherwise, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and makes a worse tear. No one pours new wine into old leather wineskins; otherwise, the wine would burst the wineskins and the wine would be lost and the wineskins destroyed. But new wine is for new wineskins.”
Psalm 32:1-2, 8-11
The one whose wrongdoing is forgiven, whose sin is covered over, is truly happy!
The one the Lord doesn’t consider guilty—in whose spirit there is no dishonesty—that one is truly happy!
I will instruct you and teach you about the direction you should go. I’ll advise you and keep my eye on you. Don’t be like some senseless horse or mule, whose movement must be controlled with a bit and a bridle. Don’t be anything like that! The pain of the wicked is severe, but faithful love surrounds the one who trusts the Lord. You who are righteous, rejoice in the Lord and be glad! All you whose hearts are right, sing out in joy!
Prayer
God,
Open my eyes. Actually, they’re quite open. It’s my heart, Lord. Open my heart.
By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.