FOOD FOR THOUGHT
WINE
DR. JIM DIXON
JULY 24, 2011
JOHN 2:1-11
In two more years, I will have been in the ministry for 40 years. Two years away from 40 years of ministry. In these almost 40 years of ministry, I have had the privilege of performing almost 700 weddings. Sometimes people will come up to me and say, “You married us 35 years ago, don’t you remember?” We all look a whole lot different after 35 years. It has been a privilege to do so many weddings and to see so many couples start out their life together and their love together. I think most of us have a fondness and affection for weddings. Certainly, Hollywood does. We have put together a little montage of movie clips that show weddings from well-known Hollywood movies . . .
There you have some clips from Sense and Sensibility to the Sound of Music—a lot of different wedding scenes. Barb actually picked those movies. We gave them to Marty and to our communications people. I received the montage yesterday. When I looked at it, I saw that one with the couple speaking Italian, and I thought, “What is this?” Barb said, “I have no clue.” Apparently that was Under the Tuscan Sun. Certainly Hollywood loves weddings, and I think we all do. Remember, weddings are sacred to God. I have a sacramental view of weddings, almost a Catholic view. I believe marriage is instituted by God, regulated by His commandments, and blessed by our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe marriages and weddings are to be held in honor amongst all people. Certainly, our Lord Jesus Christ loved weddings.
In our passage of Scripture today, we see Him at a marriage, at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Wine was served, and this really leads us to our first teaching this morning. That is this: in the Bible, wine is sometimes a metaphor for life and for joy. We certainly see this in the context of weddings and the context of marriage. Throughout the Bible and para-biblical literature, wine is a symbol for life abundant and joy in its fullness. This is part of what the imagery is in the wedding at Cana of Galilee.
This was a wedding that Mary, the mother of Jesus, had some responsibility at. We don’t know, but many Bible scholars believe that this was some member of Jesus’ family that was getting married. It may have been that His mother did have some special responsibility and had authority over the servants. Jesus was invited; and not just Jesus, but His whole entourage of disciples were invited. They probably thought, “If we are going to invite Jesus, we better bring the whole group.”
There was this wedding, and the wine gave out. Jewish wedding celebrations sometimes took place over a period of days, and there were many people. But the wine gave out. Mary, the mother of Jesus, came to Him and said, “There is no more wine.” He said, “O woman,” which in the Aramaic was respectful, “O woman, what is that to you and Me? My hour has not yet come. It is not yet time for Me to manifest Myself to the world.” Mary turned to the servants and said, “Listen, whatever He tells you to do, do it.”
There were six stone jars standing there for the Jewish rites of purification, for ablutions. Each jar held 20 to 30 gallons. These were huge jars. Jesus then said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” They filled them to the brim, all six jars. Jesus, by the power that was His as Son of God, changed the liquid molecularly and transformed it into wine. He told the servants to draw out some of it and take it to the steward of the feast—and they took it. The steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine. He marveled at its quality. This was not two-buck-chuck. He said, “Most people serve the good wine first and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine. You have saved the best for last.”
This miracle is difficult. It is very controversial. You see it in the commentaries as they struggle to figure this out. You can look at conservative commentaries and you can look at liberal commentaries, and they treat the passage differently. Some of the most conservative commentaries that are kind of fundamentalistic suggest, “Maybe it wasn’t really wine, maybe it was grape juice. There were 120 to 180 gallons of grape juice.” The problem is that the Greek word in the passage is “oinos.” The word “oinos” always refers to the fermented fruit of the vine. This was alcoholic. This was wine. Frankly, the passage doesn’t make any sense if it is grape juice. You can’t say, “Most men serve the good grape juice first and when men have drunk freely, then the bad grape juice.” Some commentators have suggested, “Well maybe only one of the jars was transformed.” Then you have to ask the question, “Why did Jesus have them fill all six?”
When you look at the liberal commentaries, some of them are almost libertine. It is kind of like, “Wow, Jesus really knew how to throw a great party.” I think, somehow, so many just miss the whole message of the passage. In a sense, it is not about wine, it is about what wine represents.
Remember, we have seen before how the miracles in the Bible are sometimes called wonders (the word “teras”) because we marvel. The miracles in the Bible are sometimes called powers (“dunamis”) because it takes great power to work a miracle. But, other times, as we have seen, miracles in the Bible are called signs (the Greek word “semeion”) because a miracle points to a deeper reality. It is meant to guide us, to direct us to a deeper reality. That is the case in John chapter 2. This miracle is called a sign. This, the first of His “semeions.” This, the first of His signs which He did at Cana of Galilee.
So, we are to understand a deeper message here. The message is that Jesus is the source of life. He is the source of life abundantly, and He is the source of joy in all of its fullness. In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly.” When you look at that particular verse, the word is “perissos;” and this word is often associated with wine, when wine is in great supply. In John 15 Jesus says, “These words I have spoken to you that My joy might be in you and your joy might be full.” The Greek word here is “pleroma,” which is often associated with wine. The message at Cana of Galilee is that Jesus offers life abundantly and joy in its fullness. That is why the wine is produced in an extravagant amount—that we might understand . . . the Church of Jesus Christ through the centuries and through the ages might understand that life abundant and joy in all of its fullness is from Him. Wine has this metaphorical use—it sometimes represents life and joy.
Secondly, sometimes in the Bible, wine represents the New Covenant in Christ’s blood. I think you all know that. You have all come to the communion table; you have all heard the words of the sacrament. You know how Jesus took the cup after supper and when He blessed it, He said, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood, shed for the remission of sins.” He said, “As often as you drink this, you do show forth the Lord’s death until He comes.” He says, “Truly, truly I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom. This cup is the New Covenant in My blood.”
There is a biblical sense in which wine is a symbol of the New Covenant. It is the New Covenant in Christ’s blood. Every time you partake of communion, you should think of the New Covenant. When you partake of the bread and you drink of the cup, you should think of the New Covenant. (We kind of dealt with this when we looked at bread.) There is no room for a superstitious view of communion. It is not meant to be a talisman. The elements are not meant to be magical. You should not have that view of communion. You are supposed to come to the bread and the cup thinking about the New Covenant in Christ’s blood and the richness of its meaning.
I have to laugh out loud sometimes when I look at some of the relics that have circulated in churches and cathedrals through the centuries. In the fourth century, Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, made her pilgrimage to Israel. She brought back relics from Israel to Europe. Then in the time of the crusades, many crusaders brought relics from the Holy Land and from Jerusalem back to European cities. These relics were put in cathedrals and churches. They were viewed as talismans. If you could get near them, if you could see them, if you could touch them, you could be blessed by them. They were viewed as magical.
There was this superstitious view of these objects. They brought back from the Holy Land thorns from the crown of thorns. The crown of thorns, today, is exhibited in San Chappelle in Paris, France. At one time, the crown of thorns was exhibited in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. But so many thorns have been broken off the crown and given to rulers, kings, queens, dignitaries, and clerics that you could make a hundred crowns. But people want these objects, and they think that somehow these objects can bless them.
Throughout church history, they have brought splinters from the cross. It was said that when Saint Helena went into the tomb of the Holy Sepulcher in the fourth century, she found three crosses there still preserved, as well as the trilingual inscription that was on the top of the cross. Splinters from the cross have been given out over the years and parts of the cross exhibited in different churches. There have been enough splinters that you could build an ark with all the splinters; and yet, these are viewed as sacred objects by people.
When Barb and I first went to Israel and came to Nazareth in 1978, there were vendors on street corners selling feathers of the wings of the angel Gabriel. There is nothing in the Bible to indicate that Gabriel even has wings. The Bible talks about cherubim and seraphim having wings, but there is no indication that archangels have wings. If they do, I doubt that the feathers are falling off.
The crusaders brought from the Holy Land the finger of doubting Thomas. I marvel that anybody would want that. I don’t know whether it was the index finger . . . whatever finger he put in the side of Christ . . . and it is viewed as a talisman that has power to bless. This has been true of the stone of Jacob. How many of you have heard of the Stone of Scone? . . . I am amazed that more of you haven’t. The Stone of Scone is the stone of Jacob. The Stone of Scone is used in England and in Britain for the coronation of all kings and queens. Kings and queens of Britain are crowned while sitting on the Stone of Scone (or the Stone of Scune as the Scottish people call it). It is believed to be the stone of Genesis 28 that Jacob used for a pillow when he fell asleep . . . if you believe that. It is viewed as a talisman that the royalty of England might be blessed. It is superstition.
The staff of Moses, the robe of Christ . . . even the cup of Christ, the Holy Grail, the challis—all these things are viewed superstitiously. How crazy it was on October 13, 1247 when the crusaders claimed that they were bringing the blood of Christ to London. They had a sealed certificate from the patriarch of Jerusalem and signed authenticity from the archbishop of the Holy Land. King Henry the Third was so excited. The king of England so excited that he couldn’t sleep all night. It is in the historical record that the blood of Christ was coming to London. They took it to Westminster Abbey. The belief was that it was supernatural and that if you touched it, you could be healed, you could be blessed, you could be empowered, you could be anointed. How crazy.
You are probably thinking, “Wow, what is that all about?” It is about relics and the superstition that surrounds relics. Some people come to the communion table, the Lord’s Table, with these kinds of beliefs. They view the bread and the cup as talismans. I don’t want that to be true of you. There is nothing in the Bible that teaches that. Jesus wants us to partake of communion. It is a sacrament. It is set apart. It is anointed by God. It is regulated by His commandments. It has been blessed by our Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly, communion is a very sacred thing; but there is no magic in the elements of the bread and the cup. As we partake of the bread and the cup, we are to think of the New Covenant. “This is the New Covenant in My blood.”
What is the New Covenant? What is it we are to focus on? In the Greek language there are two words for covenant. It is so important to understand the difference between them. One word is “syntithemi,” the other is “diatheke.” “Syntithemi” describes a covenant that is mutually agreed upon; it is arrived upon by consensus. The terms of the covenant have been crafted by two or more parties; it has been a team effort—“syntithemi.” But that is not the word used in the Bible to describe the New Covenant or the Old. The word in the Bible for the Old and New Covenant is “diatheke.” “Diatheke” describes a covenant in which the terms are declared by a person in authority. It is a covenant with the terms and conditions declared by someone in power, someone in authority. People under that authority can accept it or they can stand against it, but they cannot change it.
The New Covenant has been crafted by God and our Lord Jesus Christ. He has established the terms. These are the terms: “I will die for you. This is My Covenant. I will die for your sin; I will die in your place. I will pay the penalty for the sin of the world. I will die in substitutionary atonement. Then, if you come to me and receive me as your Savior and embrace me as your Lord, I will forgive you, I will save your soul forever. I will bring you to heaven and give you eternal life, and I will include you in my eternal family.” That is the New Covenant. It is a covenant that is based on grace through faith. It is appropriated by grace through faith. When you come to the table, you don’t think of the bread and the cup as magical. You think of the beauty of the New Covenant, and you place your faith in that covenant and in the one who bled and died. You thank Him for being your Savior and Lord.
Wine represents all of this. It represents the New Covenant; it represents His blood; it represents the gospel. Wine is literally a metaphor for life, for joy, for the gospel itself, and for the New Covenant in Christ’s blood. It is a powerful, powerful symbol. Wine. You have those parables in Matthew chapter 9, Mark chapter 2, and Luke chapter 5—the twin parables where Jesus talked about new wine in old wineskins. He talked about the garment that could not be patched, the need for a new garment. In these two little twin parables, Jesus is saying, “The new wine is the New Covenant. The new wine is the gospel, and you can’t put it in old wineskins, you can’t put it in the Old Covenant. You can’t take the gospel and the New Covenant and put it with Judaism. It stands alone. It stands apart. It will burst the old wineskins if you put the gospel of the New Covenant into it. It is not a covenant based on law. It is a covenant of grace and mercy received through faith. You can’t patch the old garment. I haven’t come to patch the old garment, but to give you a new garment that is totally different.” Wine represents that new garment, wine represents the New Covenant, and wine represents the gospel.
We have these metaphorical uses of wine, but I wanted to take just a few minutes as we close to look at what the Bible says about wine and drinking . . . to take a look at what the Bible says to us as Christians living out our lives in this world and seeking to live lives that please and honor Him. What does the Bible say about alcohol? What does the Bible say about wine? What does the Bible say about drinking? There are three teachings from the Bible, and they are all very important and must be understood.
The first teaching is that wine is a gift from God. If you have had an alcoholic in the family, if you have had a mom or dad who abused alcohol, if you have had tragedy and suffering with a parent or sibling or even a child, I think this has got to be a hard teaching. But it is a biblical one. Wine, the Bible tells us, is a blessing from God. It is a gift from God. You see that again and again as you go through the Bible. In Genesis 27, you see Isaac blessing Jacob his son. In his blessing, he prays that God would give Jacob the dew of heaven, that God would give Jacob the fat of the earth, that God would give Jacob plenty of grain and plenty of wine. This blessing was traditional. Again and again in the Bible, wine was seen as a blessing from God. In Joel 2–3, Amos 9, Zechariah 10, and many other passages, wine is described as a gift from God to man. This is true of the Hebrew word, “yayin,” which is used 141 times in the Old Testament. It refers to the fermented fruit of the grape, and it is described as a blessing and a gift from God. This is also true of “oinos,” which is used 34 times in the New Testament, a blessing and a gift from God.
There are passages like Psalms 104:15. What does Psalms 104:15 say? It says this: “As God gave straw to the ox that he might be strong, so God gave wine to man to gladden his heart.” You don’t see a lot of sermons on that verse. I have never preached a sermon on that verse, and I am not doing so today . . . I am just mentioning it. The Bible says identical things in Judges and Ecclesiastes . . . this view of wine as a gift from God to gladden the heart of man.
Part of Israel’s prosperity was in its vineyards. These vineyards were considered to be gifts of God. The Jewish people used wine in international trade; they were able to build the temple on the Holy Mount because of the value of wine in international trade. Twenty thousand vats of wine were traded by the Jewish people to the people of Tyre in order to get the cedars of Lebanon, which were then used in the construction of the Jerusalem temple. Wine was given as gifts, it was given as tithes, and it was given for offerings to God. Deuteronomy 12, Numbers 15, Numbers 28, Exodus 29 . . . again, “yayin,” the fermented fruit of the grape. David’s vineyards were renowned amongst the kings of many countries. Jesus drank wine; it was the fermented fruit of the grape. There is this basic teaching that wine, in the Bible, is viewed as a blessing from God.
But there is a second teaching: its abuse is sin. This is so important. The abuse of this gift is sin. The Bible says this again and again and again. If you can’t use this gift without abusing it, don’t use it all. That is what the Bible says.
You have all heard of Winston Churchill. Winston Churchill didn’t like Lady Aster. They were both royalty, from royal families . . . but they didn’t like each other. They both went to the same party one night in London. They exited the building on an elevator, just Winston Churchill and Lady Aster. Churchill had had too much to drink (Churchill throughout his life ate too much, drank too much, and smoked too much. He lived to 90 because he was a genetic fluke). And so, he is in the elevator with Lady Aster and she says, “Winston, you are drunk.” He said, “Yes ma’am, and you are ugly. But in the morning, I will be sober.” He was a brilliant man, but sometimes caustic and sometimes cruel. Sometimes he used his brilliance for cruelty. There is no sin in ugliness; it is not a sin to be ugly. You can be, by the world’s standards, ugly and yet be so beautiful in your heart. Drunkenness is a sin. Ugliness is not a sin; drunkenness is a sin. The Bible says this again and again and again.
Certainly, if you have had your life semi-ruined, if your family has suffered much pain because of alcohol abuse, you probably feel like Carrie Nation. Carrie Nation sought to establish prohibition in the United States of America. If you have read your history books, you know that on June 7, 1900, she went into the Dobson Saloon in Kiowa, Kansas, and she took her hatchet out and she just destroyed the place. She did that in drinking establishments all over America. They were called “hatchetations,” where she would take her hatchet and just destroy a tavern or a bar. You might feel like that if you or your family have suffered because of alcohol. Certainly, God understands that. This is a gift that is often abused.
Its use is dangerous . . . that would be the final teaching. It is a gift from God, its abuse is sin, and its use is dangerous. So, be careful. There is a tragic story that I am sure is known to many of you. It was a cold January night in 1864 in New York City in the bowery. The bowery was the slum, the impoverished section of New York City almost 150 years ago. On that cold January night in 1864, they found a man dying in his beat-up hotel room. This man was bleeding profusely in a drunken stupor. This man had fallen into the sink and slashed his neck and was bleeding. They called for a doctor that served the bowery. The doctor came and found this man on the floor. He was semi¬-conscious and begging for another drink. “Just give me another drink.” The doctor patched this man up as best he could and sent him to Bellevue Hospital, the place where so many of the tragic street people of 150 years ago were taken. This man died at Bellevue Hospital.
They found in his pocket a note that just had a few words written on it. “Dear friends and gentle hearts” . . . it sounded like the beginning of a poem or maybe the beginning of a song. They wondered, “Who is this guy?” They were stunned when, ultimately, they found out that this was Stephen Collins Foster. He was the most beloved song writer in the United States of America at the time. It was Stephen Collins Foster who wrote “My Old Kentucky Home.” If you watch the Kentucky Derby, you’ll see the whole of the racetrack and all the women with their bonnets on . . . and they are all singing “My Old Kentucky Home,” written by Stephen Collins Foster. All those old songs that were beloved across America: “Oh! Susanna,” “Camp town Races,” “I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair,” “Beautiful Dreamer”—all of those songs were written by Stephen Collins Foster. Dead at the age of 38 because of the tragedy of his constant drunkenness. It is a story all too common.
In this nation, 300 billion dollars a year is spent because of alcohol abuse. Three hundred billion dollars spent on health and damage because of alcohol abuse. Thirty million people in the United States of America over the age of 18 are alcoholics. Only 310 million people in our country and there are 30 million alcoholics over the age of 18. The number of alcoholics under the age of 18 is rising exponentially. Fifty percent of the accidents in the United States of America are alcohol related, and 60 percent of boat accidents are alcohol related. This is a genuine problem.
You might be thinking, “Man, if it is a gift from God, if God gave wine to gladden our heart, if it is a gift from God, how can it be so dangerous?” God gives a lot of dangerous gifts. Even food is dangerous. Food is very dangerous if you misuse it. Food is wonderful, it is a great gift from God; but we are a nation becoming more and more obese because we have little self-control, because everyone wants to “super-size me.” Gluttony is listed right there with drunkenness in the Bible as it talks about sins. Gluttony is a sin too. Food is a gift from God, but its abuse is sin; and it is dangerous. There are people who just kill themselves because of the way they abuse food chronically. Sex is a gift from God. Is it not? It is a beautiful gift from God meant to be opened within the context of marriage, but its abuse is sin. It is also dangerous. That is why venereal diseases are proliferating, becoming a pandemic in our culture—because of so much sexual sin. That is why 41 percent of the babies born in America are now born out of wedlock. More babies would be born out of wedlock if it were not for wholesale abortion. Fifty-five million babies have been aborted since Roe v. Wade, most of them belated efforts at birth control in an increasingly promiscuous society. Yet, sex is a gift from God. Its abuse is sin and it is dangerous. This nation is in desperate need of self-control.
I want to conclude with a little story about the great seal of the United States. I am sure you have looked at the back of a one-dollar bill. You have seen the great seal of the United States, right? You know that that seal was adopted by committee. The seal you actually see, the seal that was officially adopted, was from the third committee. I want to tell you a little story about the first committee that was established by the Continental Congress just hours after the Declaration of Independence was signed. That first committee was charged with crafting the great seal of the United States. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were appointed by the Continental Congress to be the committee to craft the great seal of the United States. But it never happened; it didn’t come out of that first committee because they couldn’t agree.
Benjamin Franklin chose an image from the Bible. He chose an image of Pharaoh—the armies of Pharaoh drowning in the Red Sea after the Israelites had crossed. Above this image he had placed these words: “Rebellion against tyranny is obedience to God.” He wanted that to be the great seal of the United States. (Obviously, he didn’t understand the separation of church and state.) Thomas Jefferson also chose a scene from the Bible. He chose and crafted an image of the glory cloud and the pillar of fire leading the children of Israel through the wilderness. He wanted these words: “He has guided our steps; we are under His providence.” (Obviously, he didn’t understand the separation of church and state.) John Adams came with a third image. John Adams did not pick his image from the Bible; he chose it from Greek mythology. It was the story of Hercules having to choose between the two paths—the path of license and indulgence or the path of virtue and self-control. John Adams believed the future of America hung in the balance. The future of this nation was going to be tied to which path we chose, which path we would walk down. Even though John Adams didn’t choose his image from the Bible, there is a sense in which it was brilliant and also appropriate.
The tragedy is that we live in a nation today with very little self-control. So many gifts are being abused to the demise of our culture and society. Here we are, the body of Christ assembled on a Sabbath, on the Lords’ Day. We are told that the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. The early church established self-control as one of the cardinal virtues. This call goes out to the people of Christ: that we would learn self-control. We are under His grace and under His mercy, but He wants us to learn obedience. We look at wine and we see it as a symbol of life abundant and joy in its fullness. We look at wine, and we see it as a symbol of the blood of the New Covenant by which we are saved. We know, in the Bible, wine is a gift from God and a blessing from God; but its abuse is sin and it is also dangerous. Let’s close with a word of prayer.