New Wine

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I have a dear friend at church who is about to wrap up a wonderful Sunday school series she’s been leading on the food of the bible.  I finally made it last week, and she had a full meal for us. It was such a delight to eat foods together that come from the time of the Bible, especially such tasty ones!

One quandary though I know my friend had been having was that many of the recipes called for red wine to be used in the cooking. She does not drink, for religious reasons. And so she had mentioned to me the previous week that she was having a hard time getting a variety of recipes for the whole series that were wine-free.  It was timely because our pastor had recently given a sermon where he mentioned Jesus’s first miracle, turning water into wine for a wedding. “Why wine?”  she wondered aloud to a group of us ladies in the church kitchen. And in the cool way that the Divine has, I had just been wondering about that very same scripture and thing myself lately! Why  did Jesus make wine,and what does that imply?

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Well, what strikes me is if we turn to scripture, we can see what kind of life we are meant to live when we open our hearts to Love and are reborn in that precious grace:

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”John 10:10

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Cor 2:9

” Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us..” Eph 3:20

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus”.Philippians 4:19

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God gives us the gift of being reborn  in Divine love, not just to get by, not just to life a passable life, but to reclaim the full and amazing life we were meant to live. And in John 2:1-10, where Jesus makes the wine for the wedding they are attending, we are told that he didn’t just make any old wine. He made excellent wine! “Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”  John 2:9-10  A life lived through the grace of Divine Love is rich!  It is to be savored! It is potent! It is precious! It is a precious gift for a reason–we aren’t being told to do behave a certain way to just be spared, we are given new eyes to see the truth of ourselves, each other, and the world–that it is love!

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Water is the basis of all created life. Water cleanses, refreshes, and can be amazingly beautiful.
But the making of wine is a careful process where fruit is cultivated and processed step by step until it’s distilled to it’s truest essence, an essence that just gets purer and more valuable with time. Likewise, the  wine of the Spirit takes a fleeting life and through a steady process of transformation, makes it timeless.

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So whether you chose to drink man-made wine or not, ( or other spirits!) we can all marvel at the new wine of the Spirit that is available to us.
Thank you, God, for loving us so much, you don’t want us just to survive, you want to gift us with the joy and fullness and richness of  your love.  And if you live in town and want to attend my friend’s last class to see what tasty things she’s prepared, drop me a line and I’ll give you the details! And actually  dessert last week turned out to be spiced pears, cooked in honey and red-wine….she said she felt like it would be ok. All I can say is that it was sure delicious!