Tag Archives: wine

He hasn’t had a drink yet (Mark 14:22-25) September 11, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Titus

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 14:22-25
As they ate, Jesus took bread, offered a blessing, and broke it. He handed the pieces to His disciples.
Jesus: Take this and eat it. This is My body.
He took a cup of wine; and when He had given thanks for it, He passed it to them, and they all drank from it.
Jesus: This is My blood, a covenant poured out on behalf of many. Truly I will never taste the fruit of the vine again until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

When we considered these words in Matthew 26, we discussed the importance of stopping to remember the importance of the participating in the Lord’s Supper with other believers. The fact that we should not just let it be another ritual, but we should stop and think about the meaning of the elements used and what they represent as we consume them.

I hope since then, each time you’ve taken the bread and cup in communion, you’ve stopped and thought deeply about Jesus’ sacrifice and the love He expressed for you in giving Himself so that you might have forgiveness for your sins.

Today, I want to focus on a couple of the words He spoke to His disciples that once again I’ve not considered in this way until today. Jesus said, “…I will never taste the fruit of the vine again until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

I’ve often referred to the cup and the bread as symbols of Jesus’ body and blood. I’ve preached about it. I’ve studied it. I’ve shared those symbols as part of the Lord’s Supper and used the words of the rituals written for it many times. I’ve read these words to congregations dozens of times through the years. But today, they struck me in a new way. It’s interesting the way God does that to us sometimes. Here’s what He seems to say to me today.

If you’ll remember, Jesus’ first miracle took place in Cana, a small town in Galilee. His mother, some of His friends and Jesus attended a wedding. These were big events in Jesus’ day, just as they are today. Weddings marked the beginning of new families. Weddings joined man and woman in a ceremony before God that bound them together for life and created the bond instituted by God for relationships that would provide a helpmate to get us through life’s toughest battles. Weddings were important.

Consequently, weddings took a great deal of preparation. Like many weddings today, they included lots of food, music, ceremony, laughter, dancing, and wine. It was a joyous occasion. When the wedding reception in Cana ran out of wine, Jesus helped out and turned the water used to wash the feet of the guests into the best wine in the country. A pretty good miracle, don’t you think?

Wine was a part of almost every meal in Jesus’ day. There were no water treatment plants to remove the pollutants and the Jordan, if you’ve never seen it, is a pretty dirty river. Most people used the rivers to bath, wash their clothes, water the cattle, or do whatever needed done with water. Drinking water came from wells, but even the ground water from wells was not that great. So people drank wine.

But at the last meal Jesus has with His disciples, He announces that He will not drink wine again until He drinks it with them in the new kingdom of God. Have you ever thought about that?

If you look through the rest of the New Testament at all the appearances of Jesus after His resurrection, you’ll find that He eats with some of those to whom He appears, but scripture never mentions that He drinks. He eats bread, He eats fish, but it never mentions that He drinks. I think He’s waiting. He said He would not drink wine again until the day He drinks it new in the kingdom of God.

So what picture does that conjure up for you?

John writes in Revelation about Jesus coming to retrieve His bride, the church. And when He does He takes His bride home to the new kingdom of God. He describes the great wedding feast at which the believers join in the great wedding reception. There is no marrying in heaven, but we will all be wed to Jesus, that intimate relationship most like a marriage than anything else that could describe it here on earth.

And at that feast Jesus will lift His goblet or glass or cup or whatever container holds the best wine that has ever existed and raise a toast welcoming His bride to His home. Then for the first time since the supper which announced the new covenant with those who followed His teachings He will drink from the fruit of the vine. He is waiting for us to join Him before He drinks again. He is waiting for His bride and the wedding feast so He can fulfill the vow He made to His disciples that night. Can you imagine what a glorious feast that will be when we join Him in enjoying a draught from creation’s fruit once again.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

My body and blood (Matthew 26:26-29) June 20, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Leviticus 4-6

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 26:26-29
Jesus: Take this and eat; it is My body.
And then He took the cup of wine, He made a blessing over it, and He passed it around the table.
Jesus: Take this and drink, all of you: this is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. But I tell you: I will not drink of the fruit of the vine again until I am with you once more, drinking in the kingdom of My Father.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

So, I have to ask, how many times have you gone to church, heard the words, and just gone through the motions of taking communion? If you’re like most people, you get into the routine and far too often, the Lord’s Supper become just another ritual instead of a remembrance of His sacrifice for us. So how do we keep it from become routine? How can we make sure we focus on the importance of the symbols the bread and drink that we share together represent and not the action of eating and drinking?

It’s so easy to do. I have to admit that even as a minister, I have been guilty of getting busy with responsibilities, thinking about the next part of the service, and going through the motions. Reciting the words, but not focusing on their personal meaning for me. I wanted to make sure I got the ritual right and didn’t think as much as I should have about what the ritual really meant. Terrible for a minister to do that, huh? But we’re all guilty, whether in the pulpit or the pew, we sometimes let our minds wander and forget just how important this sacred moment really is.

How do we stay focused in the moment? Think about what you’re doing. Don’t let your mind wander. Satan will do his best to distract you with everything he can to take your mind away from the sacrifice Jesus made for us and the symbols of His broken body and shed blood He pointed out to us in this simple act of sharing bread and drink together. Whether your tradition uses wine or grape juice, communion wafers or bread, doesn’t matter so much as remembering the what each of these mean as symbols of Jesus’ personal sacrifice for the redemption of your individual sins.

When we stop and just think about that symbol, bread for His body, drink for His blood, it should cause us to pause and recall the sacrifice He made. I’m not sure we can fully understand what that sacrifice was really like. Many of you have probably seen the movie “The Passion” as I did several years ago and got just a glimpse of what that week was like for Jesus. But seeing His suffering on the screen doesn’t do justice to what the experience was like for Him. We saw Hollywood’s portrayal of the scourging, the crown of thorns pushed down on His head, the beam of the cross lashed to Him as He struggled up the road to Calvary. We experienced some of the sights those in Jerusalem might have seen on those days.

But we have no idea the pain, the humiliation, the cruel punishment inflicted by the Romans, the excruciating agony of the cross. Most of us have no reference points from which to begin to compare the suffering Jesus endured as He faced death as the penalty He paid for us. But from that movie, from studies you might have made of Passion week, from medical reports you’ve heard about crucifixion, when you see the bread in your hand, remember the brutality Jesus endured for you. All that should have been mine and yours as payment for our disobedience to God. As you see the juice in the cup, think about the blood He lost as He felt the whip across His back, crown of thorns on His head, the spear in His side. That blood was shed for my sins and yours so that we would not have to pay with our blood for the sins we commit.

Is it easy to let your mind wander to what’s for lunch as communion is being served? Yes. Is it easy to think of the ballgame starting in a few hours? Yes. Is it easy to think about what will happen at work this week? Yes. But if we try, we can also focus on the bread, a symbol for His body, broken for us. We can focus on the cup filled with the fruit of the vine, a symbol of His blood, shed for us. His sacrifice ushered in a new covenant. One in which we can have a personal relationship with the creator. He promised that if we ask, He will live not just with us, but in us, to help us be the person He created us to be.

Next time you come to the Lord’s table, stop, think about the bread and the wine. What does it mean for you? Really think about it. Don’t let go of the beauty of the moment as you share this special moment with others.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.