“Breaking out of the mold”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Luke 5:27-39 (Forward, p. 60) CEV p. 1062
The English language has a multitude of idioms that depict this idea. Breaking out of the mold (mould) has the sense of doing something in a brand new or unaccustomed way. Colouring outside the lines is used to describe a person who is not bound by what is already established, who doesn’t follow the ‘rules’ or usual strictures, who behaves in creative or unconventional ways. And thinking outside the box denotes thinking differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective, having a new or novel way of looking of things.
All of these terms could well be used to describe Jesus’ behaviour and teaching as found in today’s passage. To start with, choosing Levi (also called Matthew) to be a disciple is most odd, most irregular. Not only was a tax collector basically an outcast, persona non grata, in terms of the wider society, but including such a one as himself was likely to create discomfort and tensions among the other, more respectable disciples. His sort was particularly odious, both because they worked for the hated oppressors, the Romans, and because they were notorious for their greed and predatory business practice. His sort was seen as trailers and quislings, people ready to ‘sell out’ his own people for the sake of a dollar. And so, Levi’s presence there among the disciples was probably unwelcome, and probably disruptive, like a bull in a china shop.
Furthermore, that Levi might actually respond to Jesus’ invitation was also most unexpected. After all, he made good money from his unscrupulous exactions. The sense of being an outcast, socially ostracized, was probably a small price to pay for his wealth, security and life of ease. And what is perhaps more to the point: his Roman masters, his bosses, could not have been too happy with his decision to simply walk away from his money table and his accounts, leaving all of this exposed and open to chance—or robbers!
And, that Jesus would actually choose to frequent the company, and eat with, not only Levi but also a bunch of his equally unsavoury friends and colleagues, was equally unexpected. Seeing as meals were seen as a foretaste of the kingdom of heaven, especially by the Pharisees, Jesus’ action in welcoming such undesirables as these would seem to indicate that He thought these folks were also welcome, and part of, that kingdom. Well, that was certainly thinking outside the box.
But then, to this little encounter, Jesus adds some sayings—as if to press the point home. He mentions the case of applying a patch to old clothes. In a day before sanforizing, a patch of new cloth would simply shrink, tearing the existing cloth and making the hole much bigger than it was before. And, with new wine, one knows better than put it in old wine skins. The new wine is effervescent, still fermenting and expanding, and so would burst the still and unyielding old wineskins. No, what is needed is something new, new wineskins, that can grow and expand along with the new wine. Jesus is saying two things. Firstly, that the old and the new are not always compatible, and secondly, that there needs to be room for growth and change, room for new perspectives and initiatives. Room to break out of the mold, colour outside the lines, and think outside the box.
Finally, Jesus says something entirely perplexing, at least to our modern mind. He alleges that some folks would actually prefer the old wine, choose the old wine, over the new, claiming that it takes better. We moderns would say, ‘but of course, the older, more aged wine would taste better.’ However, since Biblical times, there has been immense change in viniculture’s methods. In Biblical times, glass bottles were very expensive and usually far beyond the reach of the ordinary folks, and so wineskins were used instead. What happened, sadly, with wine skins is that their porous material allowed the alcohol to gradually escape, leaving just the rather untasty, unsavoury dregs behind. So, Jesus is saying, in essence, it is only ‘those old drunks’ that don’t know better, that choose the old. These folks have lost all sense of what is really the good stuff, that is, the new stuff.
But here, we in the modern church, are faced with a very difficult conundrum. We are charged to ‘keep the faith of the fathers’, to preserve and pass on the gospel as we have hitherto received it. Anyone of a more traditional bent or background finds the new, the novel, the unexpected, quite beyond their comfort zone. So, how do we respond to Jesus’ words? How do we apply them or carry them out?
I would suggest that while the ‘faith once received’, the gospel, doesn’t change, the ways that we express it and proclaim it certainly can, and should. And likewise, without changing any moral absolutes, the way that it is applied can also change with the times and situations. Even so, it is still hard to know how and when this should happen. Here, we really need to seek the council of each other and the wider church, and even more to the point, to study the Scriptures and seek the will of God in prayer. God can, and will, guide us in these difficult and perplexing questions—if only we let Him. Amen.
Forward notes: ”The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’” (verse 30)
“I’ve often had a fantasy that Jesus would show up at one of New York City’s famous restaurants and dine with someone considered a media outcast. Folks at other tables would ask, ‘Jesus, how could you eat and drink with that sinner?’ Who knows, they might even share their thoughts on Twitter or post something on Instagram about Jesus dining with his outrageous guest.
“I think we fail to understand how shocking Jesus’s behavior was in his day—just as it would be today if Jesus showed up with a scandalous person at our favorite restaurant. But Jesus knows what he’s doing, and he is playing the long game. As he says in Mark 2:17, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’ So how does that happen? It begins by sitting down and sharing a meal together.”
Moving Forward: “Would Jesus be sitting with you? Or would you be the one gawking and gossiping about Jesus dining with another?”