Title: New Things in Jesus Christ (Just...
Contents
What is new is in Jesus Christ (Mark 2:18-22) 2001.01.14.
After a new millennium, the new year of 2001 has dawned and two weeks have passed since the beginning of a new future. Fear and concern for the future world, which we can never know, take hold of our hearts and minds. Various changes are expected in various fields in the new year, but among them, various mental and moral confusion is expected as the traditional order and values collapse. In this vortex, humanity will face many challenges and problems that it has never experienced before.
In today's text, someone asked Jesus a question. John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but he asked, "Why do your disciples not fast? Questions also have different kinds of questions. One is a question asked to find out because you really don't know, the second is to show off your skills, and the third is to test your opponent and put them in trouble.
The question in today's text also has a lot of character that tries to test Jesus. Even Jesus told them today that they do not fast while the bridegroom is with them, but on the day the bridegroom is taken away, they will fast even if they say not to fast. He said that new wine should be put in new wineskins, but if you put it in old wineskins, you will throw away the wine and also the wineskins.
The new wine is the power, mystery, mystery, joy, love, peace, abundant life, freedom and salvation contained in the gospel.
This parable is a simple yet truly refreshing, spiritually shocking parable. So, what is new wine and what does new wineskin refer to here? The new wine means the gospel that Jesus Himself came into the world to teach and preach. It means the power, mystery, mystery, joy, love, peace, abundant life, freedom and salvation contained in the gospel. Specifically, it means the power of salvation. When Jesus came into the world, he performed the first miracle in Ghana, where he attended a wedding feast and turned water into wine. The Christian faith has shown us that a life full of joy like a banquet, a life that changes like water into wine, and that the latter is tastier and better than the first.
Jesus came in a seemingly insignificant form. He was a country man who grew up in Nazareth. He was born as the son of a carpenter and worked as a carpenter. I didn't study much, and the characters weren't particularly outstanding. He never wrote a single book. But his teaching surprised many and was enough to give spiritual stimulation and fresh shock. If you are listening to his words, 'Can I live like this?' It made me ponder and raise questions about traditional teachings and formal religious life.
He said that He came to preach the gospel to the poor, to give freedom to the captives, to give sight to the blind, and to set the oppressed free. Jesus said that just as doctors are not for the healthy but for the sick, so I came not for the righteous but for sinners. He said that I came not to be served, but to serve. He exemplified service, not only verbally, but actually by washing the dirty and stinky feet of his disciples.
Also, the Lord said, 'I give peace, and the peace I give is not like the world gives.' And he said, 'Therefore, do not be anxious and do not be troubled' (John 14:27). Truly, the words of Jesus were amazing. It was a novel, powerful, and vital word that was different from what the Pharisees and scribes had ever heard. But it was too daunting for the Jewish religious leaders of the time or the Pharisees steeped in old traditions to understand and accept. It was a bit difficult to accept in North Korean language. And finally, Jesus came into conflict with them, which led to the cross.
New wine in new bottles
Dear all! So what does it mean to say, 'New wine must be put in new bottles'? It means that new bottles must be prepared to receive the gospel, which is like the new wine of Jesus. An old bottle cannot hold new wine. Since it can't expand any more, if you put new alcohol in it, the bag will burst, and the new alcohol will be useless and the bag will also be damaged.
People who are caught up in their own stereotypes and prejudices like old troops are prone to fall into a life of formality, habit, and hypocrisy in their religious life. So, although there is a form of godliness, there is no life and power of godliness. This prevents us from facing the truth with new attempts, new ideas, and new attitudes. Creative life is exhausted.
In the book "Jesus, the Son of Man," written by Khalil Gibran, 77 people of that time painted Jesus, and among those 77, there are enemies of Jesus and some friends. Among them are priests, prostitutes, publicans, poets, etc. What they have in common when they talk about Jesus is that they are not talking about a Jesus who is locked in a doctrinal frame, a Jesus who has been plastered, but a living Jesus with blood and tears.
One of the 77 of them, Mary Magdalene, met Jesus three times. Among them, the story of meeting Jesus for the first time is as follows.
?쏷he first time I saw him was in June. He was walking in the middle of a wheat field, and just then I was passing by with my little girl on my errand. The rhythm of his steps was different from that of the others, and his The movement of his body was not like anything I had seen before. People didn't walk on the ground like that. I still don't know if he walked fast or slow.
It was in August that I saw him again, looking out of my window. His body was alone, and each part seemed to love every other part. I walked to him in my incense-sprayed robe and the gold shoes that a Roman officer had given me. Then he approached him and greeted him, "Hello."
So he also said, "Hello Miriam." And he saw me. His night eyes saw me differently than any other man has ever seen. I suddenly felt like I was completely naked. I was ashamed. But he just said 'hello'. I said to him, "Aren't you going to come to my house?" did. So he replied, "Have I not already been to your house?" did. I didn't know what he meant then. But now I know. I told him. "Would you like to have a drink with me and take a position?" So he said, "Yeah, Miriam. But not now."
Not now, he said. But in those two words were the voice of the sea, the voice of the wind and the tree. And when he spoke those words to me, it was life speaking to death.
Because, you guys get it, I'm dead. I was a woman who divorced her soul and each other. I was living apart from this self that you see now. I belonged to everyone, but I was nobody's. People called me a prostitute, a woman with seven demons. I was a cursed body.
But when his dawn eyes looked into my eyes, all the stars in my heart went out of light, and I became Miriam, mere Miriam. Forgotten in the land she had previously known, she became a woman who found herself in a new place.
Then he looked into me. The daylight of His eyes poured upon me. He said, 'You have many lovers, but I am the only one who loves you. Others are loving themselves while being close to you. I love you. Others see in you a beauty that will fade away more fleetingly than your own life, but I see in you a beauty that never fades, a beauty that is not afraid to intrude, even when the fall of your life comes, to look at yourself in the mirror. Only I love what is hidden within you.'
I do not know. But on that day the setting sun of his eyes slew the dragon within me, and I became a woman. I became Miriam, Mitchell's Miriam."
How can I make a fresh start?
How can we all have a fresh start in the new year? will ask you a question. And I try to keep certain principles and rules of religious piety in my own way. In doing so, we again find ourselves in the old shell and settle there. It's nice to end up with that, but when that happens, you don't see the new as new and you miss out on the new.
Then what is new, and how can we make it appear in our lives? When we talk about new things, even things of the same kind, things that have not been used before, things that have not been experienced before are new things. When we talk about people, we use the terms new wife, new baby, and new sister to refer to someone we have never seen, met, or dealt with.
What's New in the Bible
What is new in the Bible is life, love, healing, repentance, and creation. Although the story of the 77 encounters with Jesus in Gibran's book is speculative and imaginary, they are all telling the new truth as it is, without distorting it. All of them saw and experienced the new thing in Jesus, the Son of Man.
They could see the new as the new because there was nothing covered. There were too many veils from which to see new things for those who believed in Judaism at that time. Today's text speaks of such a religious prejudice. Religious prejudice is self-righteousness, which means seeing and interpreting everything from your own heart. If it doesn't fit, everything is subject to condemnation.
In the case of Mary Magdalene, although she was a forsaken woman of her time, she had no religious prejudices. Instead, there was purity. Such innocence made it possible to see and accept new things. Maria was always sensitive to how she looked in the mirror in order to be seen as an attractive woman to men. For each wrinkle increase, his frustration was great. He was far from himself.
Such he saw in Jesus, the Son of Man, a beauty that would never disappear, a beauty that, even when the fall of his life came, he was not afraid to look at himself in the mirror and was not invaded. Such beauty was found in the love of Jesus. Such beauty was new to Mary. After he saw his beauty in Jesus, the Son of Man, he did not have to live the tormented life of living a false beauty.
But there were no such life changes for the religious leaders of that time. They were following the strictest religious forms and laws, but they did not have the new life they were supposed to have. What the evangelists tell us about the reason is that they could not see the new as the new. Everything new to them became a source of condemnation, conflict, and hostility.
They comforted themselves by sticking with them, knowing that they didn't really answer the problems of their lives. They thought that keeping those things would buy them God's favor.
To them, the love, freedom, fulfillment, and fullness manifested in Jesus, the Son of Man the Son of God was seen as destroying the piety of their religion. They did not have the eye to discern or see what was new. They were completely self-centered. I tried to understand and accept everything around the axis of self-righteousness.