Elements of the Passion - Number 4: Wine

On Good Friday I will be leading a Good Friday Meditation at one of my churches called Elements of the Passion. During the meditation I will be taking seven elements that are present in the Passion story and exploring them in turn. (I'm not a scientist so I'm sure that some of my seven are not strictly elements so please humour me!)

I thought that I would share them with you here over the next seven days so here's the fourth which is on wine.

Jesus is Given Wine

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfil the scripture), “ I am thirsty”. A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of Hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had finished the wine, he said, he said, “It is finished”  Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.                (John 19:28-30)

A jar full of wine, does that image ring any bells? It would have done for Jesus. It would have reminded him of happier times at a wedding in Cana when the hosts had run out of wine. And, following some gentle persuasion from his mother, Jesus turned six stone jars full of water into wine. Wine so good that the steward, not knowing where it had come from, called to the bridegroom and told him that he saved the best wine till last.

John’s gospel tells us that turning the water into wine had been Jesus’ first miracle, the start of a journey that had led him to the cross.

Mark’s gospel records Jesus as saying that new wine should be poured into new wine skins. What had he meant by that? Was he saying that he was the new wine and that we are the new wineskins? Is it another sign that salvation is being opened up to all of humanity both Jew and Gentile?

And wine had also been a sign of love and healing. Jesus told his disciples that they should love their neighbours and in the story of the Good Samaritan he showed them what that meant. When the Samaritan finds the traveller who has been attacked he goes to him and pours wine on his wounds before bandaging them. The wine will cleanse the man’s wounds and help to heal them.

And of course on the previous evening Jesus had come to supper with his friends and had given them the cup of wine and said drink this all of you, this is my blood of the new covenant which is given for you and for many for forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Wine had brought cleansing and healing on the road to Damascus and now in an upper room in Jerusalem it was bringing forgiveness and redemption.

So the journey that had started at a wedding in Cana was now coming to an end on a cross at Calvary. The wine was no longer sweet and good as it had been at Cana, it was sour now. It was no longer the taste of happiness and love but the bitter gall of suffering. 

And the question for us is, are we new or old wineskins? When the new wine is poured into us will it be too much for us and just leak away. Or will it fill us and through us be a source of love, healing and forgiveness in the world?