Friday, September 4, 2015



Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

(Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 5:33-39)

Years after the office was computerized, a typewriter was kept near the secretary’s desk.  It seemed to mostly take up space, but the secretary said she used it from time to time.  Now almost thirty years later, the old typewriter is gone.  If Jesus walked the earth today, he might use the typewriter as he used cloth and wine in today’s gospel.

With Jesus the long-anticipated Kingdom has come in its fullness.  It is fitting that his disciples eat and drink because the Kingdom is like a banquet where everyone celebrates.  Jesus illustrates the unmitigated joy of the Kingdom by showing that there is no mixing new joy and the old yearning.  It would be like putting a patch from new cloth on old trousers or putting fresh wine in old wineskins.  In both cases the new would be too much for the old.  It is like the computer that has completely replaced the typewriter.

But still for some the coming of the Kingdom is too good to be true. They are content with drinking the wine from the old wineskins.  They would prefer the straight-forwardness of the typewriter.  They are like the Jews whom Jesus is critiquing.  They may be good people, but they are missing out on all the comfort of the Father’s love found in Jesus.