The New Way - Mark 2:18-22

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”

19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” (Mark 2:18-22 New International Version)

This passage in the Second Chapter of Mark is the climax and summary of the three previous stories about Jesus' new teaching on inclusion and community over the letter of the law and religious practice. The opening statement of the Gospel, that Jesus is the Messiah, God's chosen king to bring about the new eschatological era for Israel, is reiterated with the previous stories illustrating the new covenant he brings and how it differs from the old. Zealous pursuit of the letter of the law and religious ritual is characterized as the old way while a focus on community, inclusion and principles of mercy and justice behind the Law are portrayed as a totally new way and not merely an addition to the existing ethos which is to be abandoned in favour of the new.

All three synoptic Gospels share this story and all three place it directly after the story about the calling of Levi and the Pharisees' criticism of Jesus and his disciples for eating at Levi's home with tax collectors and sinners.  It seems clear that this passage is a continuation of this story with the question about Jesus' disciples not fasting suggesting that instead of taking part in the regular fasting period of the disciples of the Pharisees and John the Baptist, the disciples of Jesus were eating with tax collectors and sinners at Levi's home.

This sets up an opportunity to contrast the vision of Jesus and the vision of the Pharisees.  The writer insists that Jesus' teaching is not just an addition or amplification of the existing, but something completely new.  Jesus' "Way" is compared to new cloth which must be used to make a new garment or a new wine requiring new wineskins.  It can not be used as a patch on the existing way, but requires that it be made into an entirely new garment.  The old way can not be used as a vessel for the new, but requires a new vessel, or both will be ruined. 

Judaic thought of the time, as represented by John and the Pharisees, was one of a community of exclusive holiness.  Only by the people becoming more holy and purging themselves of the unclean, fulfilling their side of the covenant through strict adherence to the 
Law, would God fulfill his side and drive out their oppressors and make them a nation again.  This could only be accomplished through increased zeal in meeting the letter of the law for the purity and holiness regulations and rituals as a community.  This mindset demanded the exclusion and censuring of those who did not, or could not, meet these practices to the level demanded.  We see this in this passage and the preceding stories through the exclusion and condemnation of the disabled, the ill, and those not tithing or meeting the purity practices and rituals.

The new way of Jesus as illustrated by the three preceding stories envisions a community of inclusive compassion.  Laws, practices and individual behaviour are secondary to a whole and inclusive community and to the principles of community, compassion and equality behind the law.  This is illustrated in the previous stories by Jesus going out of his way and even breaking purity laws and religious practice to bring into community those who were excluded and even reviled:

• Absolution of a disabled man who could not fulfill the temple sacrifice forgiven
• Holiness practices disregarded as part of healing a leper
• Fasting forgone in preference to honouring tax collectors and sinners.

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Their hearts, closed to God’s truth, clutch only at the truth of the Law, taking it by ‘the letter,’ and do not find outlets other than in lies, false witness, and death,” Pope Francis 

 https://sojo.net/articles/pope-francis-again-blasts-moral-legalism-religious-leaders

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Pope Francis is someone who understands the community of Mark's teaching of the way of Jesus.  As part of his homily at Mass on April 11, 2016, the Pope criticized those who care more about the letter of the law than people’s individual situations.  This Pope understands that community is more important than "purity".

The fundamental nature of this message as central to the way of Jesus is spelled out by the community of Mark in the portion of the passage where Jesus is related as describing himself as a bridesgroom.  This is a common metaphor in the Tanakh (Jewish Scriptures) where the relationship between God and the people of Israel is described as one between husband and wife.  Recasting Jesus as the husband in this allusion is a reoccurring one in early Christianity and common to the movement.  It is seen in the earlier Epistles of Paul and the much later Gospel of John.  In the Third Chapter of the Gospel of John, John the Baptist is presented as referring to Jesus as both the messiah and a bridesgroom with the crowds who moved away from himself to Jesus referred to as the bride.

The metaphor of God as the spouse of Israel is a common one in the mindset of the Second Temple Period.  It also has a strong eschatological connection.  In the book of Hosea, this marriage ends in a separation or divorce because of Israel's unfaithfulness. The eschatological or messianic age is given as a time when the marriage between God and Israel will be renewed. 

"...a marriage metaphor was often used to describe God’s relationship with his people in the Hebrew Bible. The marriage ended in disaster because Israel was an unfaithful spouse. But in the eschatological age, God will restore Israel to her former position and create a new covenant with them. God in fact does a miracle by restoring the faithless bride to her virgin state and re-wedding her in the coming age... Jesus stands in this prophetic tradition when describes the eschatological age as a wedding celebration and himself as the bridegroom in Mark" Richard D. Patterson   https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/51/51-4/JETS%252051-4%2520689-702%2520Patterson.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwjQ7rah-YfMAhXBtIMKHfv2DH44HhAWCB0wAg&usg=AFQjCNEhyN3tD5sQeU7ydmJWyI7M56gUQA&sig2=TzN7_iMq17iJCOcPSqhhlA

The authority of this new teaching, this new way, is that of the messiah who ushers in the renewed marriage between God and his people, a new relationship where no one is excluded.  The meal with the sinners and tax collectors becomes a wedding feast celebrating this new covanent where those who were excluded and reviled are honoured and no one is turned away.  Legalism and ritual are swept away in an outpouring of community that embraces all.