No one cuts up a fine silk scarf to patch old work clothes; you want fabrics that match. And you don’t put your wine in cracked bottles.  Mark 2:21-22 (The Message)

This chapter in Mark talks about some of the events that happened when Jesus was preaching. We are introduced to the paraplegic who was hauled up to the roof by his friends. They brought him to Jesus to be healed but there was such a crowd at the door that they couldn’t get through. Being of a determined mind-set, the friends took out part of the roof and lowered the man down to Jesus. Jesus forgives his sins, and the religious scholars started to point out the blasphemy of Jesus. Only God can forgive sins! So Jesus healed the paraplegic, which increased the number of believers in him.

Then Jesus has dinner with some disreputable people and the scholars and Pharisees griped again, wondering about the example Jesus was setting – to break bread with people so obviously below him. Jesus told them that he was there to heal the broken, and many of those eating with Jesus were given second chances and changed their lives.

While some disciples were trained to fast, the followers of Jesus didn’t fast. When he was questioned about allowing his followers to keep eating, he talked about feasting while the Master of Ceremonies was with them. Fasting could come later when he was no longer earth-bound.

This is when this scripture is found. There is a time and a place for rules and regulations, but we have to live life as it comes to us. We do the best we can with what we have. We don’t use the good silk scraps to scrub our floors, and we don’t pour liquids into cracked jars (unless we want to water the ground).

God makes it clear that everyone is welcome at his table. All we have to do is to come. Those people who are more concerned with how things look than with what needs to be done, are missing the point. There is a saying, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat!” There’s more than one right way to do things. Those who insist on doing things a certain way tend to be more concerned with appearances than efficiency, kindness, justice, or just plain sense.

We do things the way we do them for many different reasons. Some of those reasons make sense to us and some don’t. If someone does something that doesn’t make sense to us, that doesn’t mean it won’t make sense to them. 

While we may have a deep love and concern for other people, that doesn’t mean that we have the right to insist that they follow our rules and regulations. We can pray for them and trust that God will send them along the path created for them. In the meantime, we can use those silk scraps in a quilt and save the cracked bottles for art projects.

Becky Gillette is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and preacher who seeks to take an original approach to life’s lessons. She has recently published her first book, Jessie’s Corner: Something To Think About, which is now available for purchase. Based on several lesser-known scriptures from the Bible, this is a collection of articles which she wrote for a weekly newspaper.