What's Wine Got to do With It?

Here’s something that always puzzled me: why, at His last Seder, did Jesus say that He wouldn’t drink wine again?  (Matthew 26:26)  It always seemed significant.  After all, He did say it and it was important enough to be remembered and recorded.  But what it meant was beyond my grasp.  So I did what most of us do when we read something in scripture that we don’t quite understand – we move on.

But today, I’m asking you to pause for a moment.  Come with me as I join Jesus and the disciples in the Upper room.  But be warned, my imagination often gets away from me.

So here we are in the Upper room.  Jesus has just said the blessing over the wine and told us it is His blood.  So far, so good.  Not a happy moment, but one that is necessary.  But here’s where things get strange.

Jesus looks me right in the eyes and says, “I tell you, I will not drink this fruit of the vine again until the day I drink new wine with you in my Father’s Kingdom”.

I nod my head with that blank look on my face, much like the village idiot.  Glancing from one disciple to the other, I see them waiting for the light to dawn.  I continue to nod, feeling dumber by the minute.  Finally I mutter, “Okay then” as I proceed to exit stage left – hoping to find some morsel of information I can understand.

Can you hear the canned laughter as Jesus looks to heaven; like a parent with an incorrigible child? 

Had I searched the scriptures diligently, I would have discovered what Jesus was saying.  In Leviticus 10:9 the Lord instructs the priests not to drink wine when they are coming into the tent of meeting.  Remember, the tent of meeting is the sanctuary.  And the Lord instructed Moses to build it after the pattern of the one in heaven.

So you see, Jesus really was making a bold statement, and it went right over my head.  He told His disciples (and that includes us) that He was about to enter the heavenly sanctuary to minister before the Lord as high priest.

NOW I get it!

Hear and Understand

Do we really understand what we hear?  When we listen to the words of Jesus, do we get the message?

I was on Facebook today and Toby Janicki shared an article by Michael Hidalgo called “4 Things that Jesus Never Said”.  Toby quoted a paragraph that points out how Jesus taught more on living in the here and now than He did about where we go when we die.

While this is an important point, what really caught my eye was the opening paragraph:

In the history of human kind, few people have been as widely quoted as Jesus.  Which also means few have been misquoted as often as Jesus.  I don’t mean we quote verses incorrectly; rather we associate thoughts, opinions, words and phrases with Jesus and the Bible that actually may not be there.

This struck a chord.  You see, a young lady recently asked me to disciple her.  After a few meetings I could see we needed a clear direction of where to take this endeavor.  Can I tell you that there is very little on the market talking about true discipleship?

A few years ago I wrote a study guide for Greg Laurie’s book, “Discipleship: The Next Step in Following Jesus”.  The study was in depth.  It made you look deep into the mirror of the Word.  You came away realizing this is a serious, life-long commitment.  Unfortunately, the book is out of print so the guide doesn’t do a lot of good.

However, Darren Huckey recently wrote an insightful book “The Four Responsibilities of a Disciple”.  My

friend and I have been going through his book one chapter a week.

So this morning I re-read chapter 3 for our next meeting.  In this chapter, Darren discusses the 2^nd responsibility of a disciple – memorization.  Here he makes a valid point. We must do more than just memorize Jesus’ words.  We must understand the meaning of His words.

Darren gives good examples from history where the words of three different theologians are remembered, but the meaning is distorted.  The words are right, but the meaning is changed.  Like the article above points out, we can quote verses correctly, but attach opinions that don’t line up with the Word of God.

As I study the Jewish roots of my faith, I see this is far more the norm than the exception.  Jesus came with a wonderful message, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  Paul continued in that same vein.  We, unfortunately, memorize their words but miss the richness and depth of their message.

God wants to tabernacle with us in the here and now.  Could anything be better than that?