Life of Christ 25
I'm a teetotaler. That
is just an old-fashioned term for someone who doesn't drink alcohol. I do not
mean by this that I only occasionally imbibe, but rather that I never do. In
fact, I'm one of those rare people in existence who never have. I know that
beer smells bad, but I have no idea what it tastes like, let alone wine or
spirits. I do this out of the conviction that drinking alcoholic beverages is
wrong for God's people. This doesn't make me better than those who do - though
I would argue it makes me wiser (Proverbs 20.1) - but it does mean I'm going to
have this story (John 2.1-11) thrown at me about a million times in my life. It
usually goes something like this:
'What? You don't believe
in drinking? C'mon, man! Everybody knows that Jesus Himself turned water into
wine. If it's good enough for Him it's good enough for me.'
I realize that there are many good Christians who disagree with me on this issue. They take the position that the Bible condemns drinking in excess, but not drinking in moderation. They, like I, believe drunkenness is a sin, but they, unlike I, see nothing wrong with enjoying an occasional alcoholic beverage. They point to a long tradition of such behavior being accepted by the Church, and they point especially to passages such as this as evidence that moderate drinking is perfectly appropriate for the Christian.
I realize that there are many good Christians who disagree with me on this issue. They take the position that the Bible condemns drinking in excess, but not drinking in moderation. They, like I, believe drunkenness is a sin, but they, unlike I, see nothing wrong with enjoying an occasional alcoholic beverage. They point to a long tradition of such behavior being accepted by the Church, and they point especially to passages such as this as evidence that moderate drinking is perfectly appropriate for the Christian.
For these reasons,
amongst others, some years ago I decided I needed to study out the issue in
some depth. I compiled a number of different books, and spent a good amount of
time looking at both those books and the hundreds of Bible references to wine
and strong drink. I am confident I have come to a good understanding of what
the Bible teaches on the issue, and while I will not take time to present
everything I learned on this blog at this time, I do want to briefly address
this story from this perspective for it is something that comes up so often.
One of the mistakes we
make in our generation is to take a twenty first century definition and put it
to a first century biblical word or phrase. To us, 'wine' always means an
alcoholic drink. In Jesus' day, this was not the case, as the word was used to
mean grape juice preserved in both an alcoholic and a non-alcoholic manner.
Christians who believe in moderate drinking take the position that the
secret to preserving grape juice over time in a non-alcoholic state was unknown
prior to Thomas Bramwell Welch applying pasteurization to it in 1869. Those
Christians are most assuredly wrong. There are literally dozens of extant quotes
from historical sources that soundly establish a large variety of cultures,
even back in Bible times, knew how to preserve grape juice in a non-alcoholic
manner for a long period of time, and that people used the term 'wine'
interchangeably to refer to both.
The simple truth is that
'wine' in the Bible sometimes means alcoholic wine, and sometimes simply
preserved, non-alcoholic grape juice, and it is my understanding that we
generally figure out which is which by examining the context of the usage.
Is that how Jesus would
have wanted the holy institution of the marriage of this couple to begin? Is
that how Jesus would have wanted to begin His public ministry? Is that how
Jesus would have wanted to enter into the initial training of His few disciples?
Is that the kind of wedding feast He would have wanted His mother to attend?
No, no, no, and again, no! The Word made flesh would never have so contradicted
the written Word of the Old Testament prophets.
For many years we have
had small children in our home, and they drink a fair amount of juice. One of
the cheapest places to buy it in our neighborhood is ALDI, and my wife will
frequently bring home some apple or grape juice from there. Personally, and do
not tell my children please, I refuse to drink it. I find the flavor to be
completely unacceptable. The container says 100% juice, and I assume they are
telling the truth, but I cannot bring myself to imbibe as the taste is so poor.
On the other hand, I
contrast this in my mind with an afternoon walk I took in an orchard some years
back. We had gone together, as is our custom, in the Fall to pick some apples
together as a family. This particular day was unseasonably warm for October in
our region of the country, and the sun was shining brightly. On the way back to
the section of trees to be picked that day we happened to walk by a grape
arbor. Seeing the plump purple grapes hanging down in clusters, on impulse, I
grabbed a bunch, and as I walked I began to eat them. Much to my delight, I
found those perfectly ripened and sun warmed grapes, plucked fresh just moments
ago from the vine, to be absolutely divine. As I walked I began to squeeze
them, one by one, into my mouth, popping them out of the skin, and savoring the
taste until the red juice began to dribble down my chin. I have never forgotten
that taste, and although I've also never been able to replicate it, I have
enjoyed it many times in my mind.
Yes, Jesus turned water
into wine at the wedding feast in Cana. I accept that, and indeed, even embrace
it. It was the sweet beginning to our Saviour's public ministry. But, and if
you will forgive the poverty of the illustration, what He did was replace the
just run out of ALDI 100% juice reconstituted from concentrate with the freshly squeezed blood of perfectly ripened sun warmed grapes plucked moments ago from
the vine.
…and the governor's eyes
lit up, just as mine did, on that October walk in the apple orchard, a few
years ago.
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