Mark 2 18-22 Reflection | Jesus the Bridegroom

Mark 2 18-22| The disciples of John and the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to him and objected, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins. 

Gospel Reflection| Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving are the Jewish religion's three basic piety practices. All the masters taught their disciples to observe these pious practices. In today's Gospel, we see, "the disciples of John and the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. The Jewish law required fasting only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, but the Pharisees fasted twice a week as a mark of devotion. The disciples of John the Baptist imitated John's ascetic lifestyle and fasted as a sign of repentance. But Jesus' disciples did not fast, not only that; they spent their time with sinners by eating and drinking.

In the previous part of this Gospel, the Pharisees questioned Jesus' disciples about the behavior of their master. Today we see, they question Jesus about his disciples, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" The answer came from was something new to him. Jesus revealed one of his identity; he is a bridegroom. "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day."

In the Old Testament, we see God had revealed his love for his chosen people as a spousal love. Let us look at one of two those verses: "For he who has become your husband is your Maker; his name is the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 54:5). "I will espouse you to me forever: I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy; I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the Lord" (Hosea 2:20-22). Later, to show the love of Christ with the Church is used with the relationship between the bridegroom and the bride. Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us, "the Church is the spotless bride of the spotless lamb. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify her. He has joined her with himself in an everlasting covenant, and never stops caring for her as for his own body" (CCC 796).

So, as in the Old Testament, the prophets showed the Love of God to Israel through the bridegroom's simile, and in the New Testament, the New Israel, the Church is the bride of Christ.
With two parables, Jesus shows the love a disciple needs to be his disciple. Like a new cloth never sews with an old cloth, the disciple never goes to their old life. The old life is put off when someone encounters Jesus embrace the new life he bestows. The new wine is the Holy Spirit and it cannot be poured out into humanity's old nature. Jesus reveals that room must be made for that new wine in fresh wineskins, that is, human hearts that are transformed and ready to be expanded according to the kingdom's hidden growth.