A Church That Imitates Jesus
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
Jesus said, “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.” —Matthew 9:17
Drawing on Jesus’ teaching about the importance of new wineskins, Richard Rohr reflects on how difficult it is to be truly open to something new:
Christians have often preached a gospel largely comprised of words, attitudes, and inner salvation experiences. People say they are saved, they are “born again,” yet how do we really know if someone is saved? Are they actually following Jesus? Do they love the poor? Are they free from their egos? Are they patient in the face of persecution?
It’s not enough to talk about some kind of new inebriating wine, some new ideas. Without new wineskins—changed institutions, systems, and structures—I would argue that transformation cannot be deep or lasting. As Dorothy Day wrote in her inimitable style, “We need to overthrow … this rotten … industrial capitalist system which breeds such suffering.” [1] Personal “salvation” cannot be divorced from social and systemic implications.
It’s easier to talk about the wine without the wineskins, to talk about salvation theories without any new world order. Unfortunately, Christianity has not always had a positive impact on Western civilization and the peoples it has colonized or evangelized. So-called Christian nations are often the most militaristic, greedy, and untrue to the teacher we claim to follow. Our societies are more often based not upon the servant leadership that Jesus modeled, but on the common domination and control model that produces racism, classism, sexism, power seeking, and income inequality.
That’s not to say our ancestors didn’t have faith, that our grandparents weren’t good people, or that the church hasn’t done much good. But, with notable exceptions, we Christians didn’t produce radical change in culture or institutions or operate all that differently. Christianity has shaped some wonderfully liberated saints, prophets, and mystics. They tried to create some new wineskins, but often the church itself resisted their calls to structural reform. Take, for example, Saint Francis of Assisi, the father and founder of my own religious community. He was marginalized as a bit of a fanatic or eccentric by mainline Catholicism, as illustrated by no Pope ever taking his name until our present Pope Francis.
Even today many Christians keep Jesus on a seeming pedestal, worshiping a caricature on a cross or a bumper-sticker slogan while avoiding what Jesus said and did. We keep saying, “We love Jesus,” but more as a God-figure than as someone to imitate. It seems the more we talk about Jesus, the less time we have to do what he said.
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Sara Young; Jesus Calling: January 8
Softly I announce My Presence. Shimmering hues of radiance tap gently at your consciousness, seeking entrance. Though I have all Power in heaven and on earth, I am infinitely tender with you. The weaker you are, the more gently I approach you. Let your weakness be a door to My presence. Whenever you feel inadequate, remember that I am your ever-present Help.
Hope in Me, and you will be protected from depression and self-pity. Hope is like a golden cord connecting you to heaven. The more you cling to this cord, the more I hear the weight of your burdens; thus, you are enlightened. Heaviness is not of My kingdom. Cling to hope, and My rays of Light will reach you through the darkness.
RELATED SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 46:1 NLT
Psalm 46
For the choir director: A song of the descendants of Korah, to be sung by soprano voices.[a]
1 God is our refuge and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
Romans 12:12 NLT
12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
Romans 15:13 NLT
13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
