Shroro

The Syriac Orthodox Christian Digest - August, 2005

Marriage, Family, and the Church: The New Wine

By Mike Wingert

Salvation history begins with Adam and Eve, and continues on to the present day. In the begining, God made a series of covenants with mankind, preparing us to reunite with His divine embrace. The first of these begins with Adam and Eve: a blessing of marriage. After this, we see the growth of the family with Noah. Then, as mankind continues to grow, we see God's hand in the establishment of the tribe(s) with Abraham. Thereafter, we see the covenant of the nation develop under Moses. Then comes King David and the foreshadowing of the kingdom, which was to come in full, universally for all humanity with Christ, who brought us the New Covenant.

At the Last Supper, Christ takes the bread and wine, blesses them and gives them to His disciples, saying "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood." (Luke 22:20) The cup, transformed into the blood of Christ, was originally a cup of wine. Wine has an interesting parallel with salvation history.

It was Noah who planted the vinyard and became drunk from wine. (Genesis 9:24) It was Abraham's encounter with Melchizidek the priest of Salem that brought forth the first written account of the bread and wine offering: And Mel-chiz'edek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!" (Genesis 14:18-20)

The same can be said of Moses' time when wine was mixed with the offering of the lamb. (Exodus 29:40) It was also King David who foreshadowed the kingdom of Christ when he brought bread and wine to Saul. (1 Samuel 16:20).

When the time came for Christ to start His public ministry, He opted for a simple, yet extremely meaningful miracle to get things going; He could have done anything, and yet it was water that He turned into wine which heralded the kingdom. (John 2) Wine is symbolic of man. It is very rare that wine would occur naturally; wine is a substance, like man, that must be created. From its creation, it can be used for good or evil, just as human beings. During the days when our Syrian Orthodox monks were also medical doctors, certain types of wine were used to cure various ailments such as cough and glaucoma. Wine can be helpful or festive, yet it also can lead to one's maddening destruction. Wine is as man: a blessing, or a curse. This "New Wine" that Christ gave us is a symbol for the new man. Just as Christ is the New Adam (the New Man), we too can partake in Christ's oneness by partaking in Him, the New Wine.

This is the point of life. The Church is culminated when we gather together to share the Lord's meal and partake in his body and blood. This blood is the New Wine that we must always make a part of us, so that it may shape and profit our souls and bodies. This coming together to partake in the new wine is exactly as the marriage of Adam and Eve and the marriage at Cana, a bonding experience. As we bond, and our marriages and families grow into tribes and nations, soon we will see the emergence of the Kingdom, that Christ has brought with Him, and that we may all become a part. Christ's message is that all in humanity are one; the Father in heaven is OUR Father. It is Christ's commandment that we be made one, as He and our Heavenly Father are one. The Church is the the living bond of Christ and our road to unity with Him. We refer to our elders as "uncle" or "auntie" in Church out of respect, but also because the Church is a family and these people really are out uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.

Living the unity with one another in the Church is a key point we must be mindful of when it is time to partake in the New Wine. Unity of mankind, unity of the Church, and unity of ourselves in Christ is the focus of the Christian life. It is that force which permits the growth of the Church. Just as the Apostles were accused of being filled from new wine (Acts 2:13), so too must we be filled with it every day on our journey with Christ.