Matthew 9:14-17

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,

“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,

but your disciples do not fast?”

Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn

as long as the bridegroom is with them?

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,

and then they will fast.

No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth,

for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.

People do not put new wine into old wineskins.

Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.

Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you have united me and espoused to yourself through your Son and the gift of your Spirit. I am yours and you are my God. Speak tenderly to me and guide me by the hand to your eternal embrace.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Amos and the First Stage of Restoration: The First Reading is taken from the conclusion of the Book of Amos, which we have read this week. It is a book full of divine judgment upon Israel. It condemns injustice and false religion. But it ends with a prophetic message of hope. Amos promises that one day, after the exile of Israel and Judah, God will raise up the “fallen hut” of David. David’s hut – his kingdom – was divided after the reign of his son Solomon and both kingdoms – Israel and Judah – were sent into exile before they would be restored through David’s descendant, Jesus Christ. “In spite of all the destruction to follow, Amos knew that the Lord would preserve a ‘remnant of Joseph’ who would persevere in practicing justice (5:14-15). This remnant on the side of the oppressed provides the seeds of hope for Israel's future” (Duggan, The Consuming Fire, 249). The restoration of David’s house takes place in two stages and the way that the Acts of the Apostles quotes Amos on two occasions corresponds to this two-stage sequence. The first text from Amos quoted in Acts is found in Stephen’s speech, which applies Amos’ critique of arid ritualism to the idolatry of the ancients in the wilderness (Acts 7:42-43; Amos 5:25-27). Stephen, like Amos, exposes the falsity of ritualized Temple worship. “The high priest and elders in [Stephen’s] audience interpreted his words and reacted in a manner consistent with Amaziah’s expulsion of Amos [...]. Just as Amos’ words declared an end to the empty cult in Bethel so that God could restore a humble remnant by obedience to his word, so Stephen’s speech announced the bankruptcy of empty Temple ritual to be replaced by personal submission to the Lordship of Jesus revealed in the power of his Resurrection (Acts 7:51-60)” (Duggan, The Consuming Fire, 250). Is my worship of God empty because of my sin or full of the Spirit of God? 

2. Amos and the Second Stage of Restoration: The second text from Amos in the New Testament is quoted during the Council of Jerusalem in A. D. 49. “In his speech advocating the admission of the Gentiles into the fold of God’s people on equal terms with the Jews, James, the kinsman of the Lord and elder of the Jerusalem community, quotes the vision of restoration that concludes the book of Amos (Acts 15:16-17; cf. Amos 9:11-12)” (Duggan, The Consuming Fire, 250). God restores the fallen hut and house of David far beyond the physical limits of Israel and Judah and includes all the nations (Amos 9:12). How am I preaching the Gospel and welcoming those I encounter into the Church, the beginning of the Kingdom on earth?

3. The Restoration of God’s People: The theme of the restoration of God’s people is also present in the Gospel: Jesus is the divine Bridegroom who comes to his people as to his bride and, after his Resurrection, goes away to prepare a place for her in heaven. Jesus does not come simply to restore the old order (the old wineskins), but comes to make all things new. He brings the Old Covenant to fulfillment by establishing a new, everlasting covenant in his blood. He is the Messiah who brings New Wine to his people (see Amos 9:13-14). In the Eucharist, we share in the wedding feast of Jesus, the Lamb of God. We partake of the New Wine, which is Jesus” Blood. The Mass is where we receive the Bread of Life, the “hidden manna” (Revelation 2:17). Jesus the Bridegroom has given us, his bride, the gift of the hidden manna and the new wine, for he himself is the hidden manna and the new wine.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are my bridegroom. You have given me the gift of new wineskins – the New Covenant – and filled them with the new wine of salvation. Help me to appreciate each day these gifts that you have given to your Bride, the Church. Wash me clean in the water of the Spirit and in your Blood.

Living the Word of God: Do I struggle to see Jesus as my bridegroom? What good qualities should characterize my nuptial relationship with God? How can I be a better bride?