Homily of Tuesday, Second Week of the Ordinary Time.
Tuesday 20th January, 2026. Fr Emmanuel Aghidi CSSp.
Texts: 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Mark 2, 23-28
Dear friends, today’s Gospel confronts us with a very uncomfortable truth:
God is always doing something new, but we often want Him to fit into what is old.
The people come to Jesus with a religious question: “Why do the disciples of John and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?” On the surface, it sounds pious. But beneath it is a deeper resistance:
“Why are you not doing things the way we are used to?”
And Jesus responds with a powerful image:
“No one pours new wine into old wineskins.” This is not just about fasting.
It is about our hearts.
Jesus reveals that His presence changes everything. When the Bridegroom is present, life cannot remain the same.
Friends, of a truth, the problem with the Pharisees was not that they fasted.
The problem was that they had imprisoned God inside their methods.
How often do we do the same?
We want God to bless our plans, not challenge them. We want consolation without conversion. We want religion without risk.
But God refuses to be reduced to habit.
The moment God pours new wine, new grace, new direction, new calling, something must stretch, something must change.
Old wineskins represent religion without faith. People focused so much on religious practices devoid of faith and as such love. They loved God’s laws but feared God’s surprises.
Dear friends, it is possible to be busy in church and still resist God.
It is possible to be religious and yet not be renewable.
In The first reading, God reminds us:
“Not as man sees does God see.”
While humans look at appearance, God looks at the heart. If we must truly be children of God, then we must truly be transformed in our hearts.
May the Lord bless His words in our hearts. Amen.
