Homily for July 7, 2018.
“The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” Matthew 9:15.
The saying goes that in good times remember there were bad times, and in bad times, be consoled by the good times. Be grateful for the good times, cherish the pleasant moments but remember that the earth itself is round. It keeps turning around like a circle. Neither the good times nor the bad times will last forever. In the day of plenty, save for the day of empty but even on the day of empty, thank God for the day of plenty.
Jesus’ disciples were accused of impiety on the basis of their apparent failure to fast. There are two possible scenarios here; one, the disciples of Jesus were actually fasting but following Jesus’ instruction in the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 6:17-18 says: “When you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret). The second possibility was that they were really not fasting.
In defense of the disciples, Jesus did not say whether fasting is good or bad. His comment wasn’t even about the nature of fasting at all. He neither condemned fasting nor upheld it. If it was the case that the disciples were fasting secretly, Jesus’ response served like as diversion from the issue. (As if to say: “that is not your concern.”) And the lesson this passage would teach us is that there is just no point comparing ourselves with anyone else.
All that Jesus had to say about fasting points to the words of the book of Ecclesiastes: “For everything, there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; … a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-4.
For Jesus, that wasn’t the right time to fast. Not that there was anything wrong with fasting but that everything, no matter how good, has its season. New wine is good, old wine is also good. Some prefer old wine, some will rather take fresh wine. But then, there is a type of bag (season) for old wine and a different bag for new wine. There is a timing for everything.
When the time is not right, no matter the efforts we put into a particular venture, it will not just work. We even run the risk of losing both wine and skin. In today’s first reading, Amos prophesied about a time of restoration for the Israelite Nation. This restoration was not to take place until hundreds of years later when God eventually gave the world the gift of His Son Jesus Christ.
Dear friends, we need to understand that the God we serve is a great planner. Whatever He intends to do is in His special calendar. So when we pray, let us never forget to include the phrase: “Your will be done.” This implies: “according to your own timing,” “whenever and however it suits your plan.”
There are a lot of things I would have loved to do even in spreading the message of God further but in the last few days I have had to ask myself: “am I running faster than God?” Maybe, the time isn’t right. Maybe that which looks like something good right now may just be new wine which I am trying to pour into an old wine skin. Today’s message seems like a personal note to me to cool down and let things just take their course. If the guests cannot fast now, the time will come that the guests will have no choice but to fast.
Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, teach me patience and increase my understanding of timing from your angle. Amen.
*Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Saturday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: Amos 9:11-15, Psalm 85:9-14, Matthew 9:14-17).*
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