First Reading - 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Gospel - Luke 5:33-39
In the first reading, St Paul says that those who serve Christ must be regarded as “servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” A steward is not the owner. A steward receives something from another and is entrusted with the responsibility of caring for it faithfully.
This is an important reminder for us. Our life, our vocation, our gifts, our responsibilities, and even our faith are not possessions that we can control as we wish. They have been entrusted to us by God. Therefore, what matters most is not how others judge us, but whether we are faithful to what God has entrusted to us.
Paul even says that he does not judge himself. The final judgment belongs to the Lord, who will bring to light what is hidden in people's hearts.
This connects beautifully with today's Gospel.
Some people approach Jesus and ask why his disciples do not fast in the same way as the disciples of John and the Pharisees. Their question comes from comparison. They are looking at what others are doing and measuring Jesus' disciples according to an established religious practice.
But Jesus points them toward something deeper.
He says, “No one tears a piece from a new garment to put it on an old garment.” And then he gives the image of new wine and old wineskins.
The problem is not that the old is necessarily bad. The problem is that the new wine cannot be contained in wineskins that are no longer capable of stretching.
Jesus is bringing something new. He is not simply giving people another set of religious rules. He is bringing the fullness of God's mercy, the newness of the Kingdom, and ultimately a new relationship between God and humanity.
Therefore, the question is not simply, “What have we always done?” The deeper question is, “What is God doing in my life now?”
Sometimes we can become like old wineskins. We continue to pray, but without allowing prayer to change us. We participate in religious practices, but our hearts remain unchanged. We know the teachings of our faith, but we become impatient, judgmental, or unforgiving toward others.
We can even become so attached to our way of doing things that we no longer recognize the new work God is trying to accomplish in us.
Jesus invites us to become capable of receiving the new wine.
This does not mean abandoning everything from the past. Christian faith is not about rejecting everything that came before us. Rather, it means allowing Christ to renew what has become rigid within us. Tradition, prayer, discipline, and religious practices have value when they lead us into a deeper relationship with God. But they should never become substitutes for conversion of heart.
That is where the first reading becomes especially important.
Paul calls us “servants” and “stewards.” A steward must remain faithful, but faithfulness does not mean remaining unchanged. True faithfulness means being attentive to the Master and ready to receive what he asks.
Sometimes we think that being faithful means simply preserving what we have received. But Christian faithfulness also requires listening, discerning, growing, and allowing God to lead us forward.
Perhaps we need to ask ourselves today: Where have I become an old wineskin? Where have I become too rigid? Where am I refusing to change because I am comfortable with the way things have always been?
It could be in our relationships, our community, our ministry, our prayer, or even our understanding of another person.
Sometimes God wants to pour new wine into our lives, but we are afraid because new wine requires new wineskins. It requires a heart capable of forgiveness, patience, humility, and openness.
At the same time, Jesus warns us that not everything new is automatically better. The Gospel is not encouraging us simply to follow every new idea or every passing trend. The newness Jesus brings is the newness of God's Kingdom. It is a deeper conversion, a deeper love, and a deeper relationship with God.
Therefore, we need both fidelity and openness: fidelity to Christ and openness to the ways in which Christ continues to transform us.
St Paul reminds us that ultimately the Lord is the one who judges the heart. We do not need to spend our lives proving ourselves to others or comparing ourselves with them. Our responsibility is to remain faithful to what God has entrusted to us and to allow him to shape us.
Today, let us ask the Lord for the grace of a renewed heart. May we not become so attached to our habits, our opinions, or our ways of doing things that we have no room left for God's grace.
May Christ make us like new wineskins—humble enough to learn, flexible enough to change, faithful enough to persevere, and open enough to receive whatever new work he desires to accomplish in us.
And when the Lord comes, may he find in us not merely people who have preserved the faith outwardly, but faithful stewards whose hearts have truly been transformed by the new wine of the Gospel.
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