Friday 5 September 2025. Readings: Colossians 1:15-20, Ps. 100:1-2, 3,4, Luke 5:33-39
“No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.” (Luke 5:36)
According to an Early Church Father, St. Cyril, “Christ needed not fasting for the perfecting of virtue since, as God, He was free from every yoke of passion. Nor again did His companions need fasting, but being made partakers of His grace without fasting, they were strengthened in all holy and godly living. For when Christ fasted for forty days, it was not to mortify His passions but to manifest to carnal men the rule of abstinence.”
So long as the Jews failed to recognise Jesus as God in human flesh, Jesus seemed to them as a law-breaker. To this day, the world continues to grapple with this truth. Did God really take our human flesh? How could Jesus be fully human and fully God at the same time? Surprisingly, even amongst Christians today, many seem more comfortable addressing Jesus as the Son of God but not as God Himself.
Remember, for calling Himself God, the Jews (old wine) felt Jesus was blaspheming, they hated Him, argued with Him, and eventually killed Him, but Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, proving that He is truly God. If you still don’t believe Jesus is God, how do you claim to be a Christian (new wine)?
Christians who think that Jesus is less than God are confused; they are like new wine inside old wineskins. As Jesus put it, “no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilt, and the skins will be destroyed.” (Luke 5:37).
In today’s first reading, St. Paul throws light on the new wineskin when he said: “He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth…” (Colossians 1:15-16). Until you fully understand the Incarnation, you cannot understand anything of your Christian faith.
Let us pray: Almighty, ever-living God, open our eyes to recognise you that we may be true Christians. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. May God’s abundant blessings be upon us all. (Friday of week 22 in Ordinary Time. Liturgical Colour: Green. Bible Study: Colossians 1:15-20, Ps. 100:1-2,3,4, Luke 5:33-39)
@Rev. Fr. Evaristus E. Abu