Hello, good people. Welcome to daily bible refresh with doctor Brad

Miller. This is the daily bible study where we come

to you every morning with a fresh reading

of the new of the new testament every single day. We read from the

revised common lectionary. We're in year c,

the epiphany season. We come to you from voice of god

daily.com. We love we we make

the bible, the daily study of the bible, understandable,

relatable, and actionable. We do this

by making an understandable by reading you from the new testament

version only, the new testament reading selected for today

only, from the message translation.

Relatable, we have a couple of points to ponder to think about.

Understandable is we give you an action point, we have a prayer, and we do

so in under 10 minutes or so. Today's reading is

from Luke 533 through 39

from the message. They asked him,

John's disciples are well known for keeping fast and saying

prayers, also the Pharisees, but you seem to spend

most of your time at parties. Why? Jesus said,

when you're celebrating a wedding, you don't skimp on the cake and wine,

you feast. Later, you may need to exercise

moderation, but this isn't the time.

As long as the bride and groom are with you, you have a good time.

When the groom is gone, the fasting can begin. No one throws

cold water and a friendly bonfire. This is

kingdom come. No one cuts up a fine

silk scarf to patch old work clothes. You

want fabrics that match. You don't put

wine in old cracked bottles. You get strong,

clean bottles for your fresh vintage wine.

And no one who has ever tasted fine aged wine prefers

unaged wine. I love

this passage of scripture, it's it's really about a celebration.

It's about the a celebration, if you will, of the of liberation,

of being liberated in Jesus. You might even call it the politics of

joy, where Jesus real challenges religious conventions

about celebration and transformation.

Here's a couple of points to ponder. This is first one is this

revolutionary act of celebration. Jesus' emphasis

is on feasting rather than fasting, and it

challenges the notion that suffering equals spirituality.

In our modern context, this affirms that joy and

celebration are essential parts of what we do

in the family of God, of liberation at work. When marginalized

communities celebrate despite oppression,

it becomes an act of resistance against systems that would deny their right to

joy. Another point is

about breaking through or of

religious control of how we live our lives.

There's a criticism here of Jesus as a partier. There's

a criticism of Jesus's party attendants that reveals

how the religious institutions of his day

often use practices like fasting as a

means to maintain control.

And progressive Christianity recognizes that when religious rules

prioritize conformity over human flourishing,

that's not exactly right. That needs to be challenged. So

sometimes breaking religious norms is necessary

for authentic spirituality. One

more point, and that's about embracing a new paradigm.

The new wine and the new wine bottles or new wine skins

speaks to the necessity of creating new structures,

new understandings. We can't force

liberation theology into oppressive systems.

Sometimes we need to create entirely new

ways of being community together.

Some great points there, I believe. Take them to the heart. Here's your action

step. This has to do with hosting

a liberation celebration. That is gather people

together doing some good for the community and justice work. It might be like

a Habitat for Humanity thing or a food pantry

or some other people are doing some good to help raise the

greater good. It could be a virtual or in person gathering,

but celebrate. Celebrate a win. It might be a small

victory or or some joy in the midst of struggle,

And include the things you do at a party, music and food

and storytelling. And make sure that those

people who are marginalized, the people who are being served have a

voice in it and they have a space and a voice in the

party. And take some pictures and post them on Facebook

or some place or, you know, share the good news

about joy as a part of your

story. Before we pray, I want to tell you about

a Bible study resource that we have for you.

You can find it at our website, voiceofgoddaily.com,

and it's called the ABC 123 Bible

study guide. And it's just like it sounds. It makes Bible study as

direct and straightforward as abc123.

And you can find it at voiceofgoddaily.com. That's where you find the catalog

of all our daily by bible refresh episodes over

700 now, and you also find, transcripts

of our episodes. I hope that it's helpful to you. Let's

pray. God of celebration and change, help us remember

that joy is resistance. When systems want us to despair,

free us from religious guilt that says we must earn our right to

celebrate. Give us courage to break with traditions that no

long that no longer serve and love and justice,

and guide us in creating new ways of being community. New

wineskins for the new wine of celebration. May we find you

in in in the feast as much as the

fast, in laughter and as much as prayer,

in dancing as much as kneeling. Thank you for the

gift of joy that sustains us,

and work for justice. Amen.

Well, hey. Fantastic to be with you again

here today on Daily Bible Refresh. I wish you the

best as you embark upon your day and hope that you'll make the

daily bible refresh a part of your day.

We come to you every morning before 6 AM EST.

You can find everything you need at voice of god daily.com.

We'd love to be with you again tomorrow here in the daily bible refresh.

Invite a friend to to to to join us, please. Until that

time, remember that God's love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up. It's

created new every morning.