The Cups of the Cross: Cana, Gethsemane, and Golgotha - Episode 130

Carey Griffel: Welcome to Genesis Marks, the spot where we raid the ivory tower of the biblical theology without ransacking our faith. My name is Carey Griffel, and welcome to the final episode of my theme of alcohol and wine and the cup in the Bible. I really hope you have enjoyed wandering through the vineyards with me, where we have been tracking this theme through Scripture.

[00:00:35] In this episode, we are going to be finishing up this theme to the extent that we're gonna be tracking through it formally anyway. Today we're gonna be talking about second temple literature that leads up to the Messiah. We're gonna be talking about New Testament context, including the contrast between Jesus and John the Baptist. And of course we're gonna get to the wedding at Cana, the Eucharist, and we're gonna be talking about the different cups that Jesus partook of during his Passion week.

[00:01:08] But let's open with a passage in Isaiah 25. Isaiah 25 will help us see that this messianic imagery of the banquet does not begin in second temple literature, even though it's really expanded upon in Second Temple literature.

[00:01:26] Isaiah 25 verses six through 12 says, quote, " And on this mountain, Yahweh of hosts will make for all peoples a rich feast, a feast of aged wines, fat filled with marrow, filtered aged wine. And on this mountain, he will destroy the face of the shroud, the shroud over all peoples, and the woven covering over all nations. He will destroy death forever and the Lord Yahweh will wipe off the tears from all faces. And he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. For Yahweh has spoken and one will say on that day, Look, this is our God. We have waited for him and he saved us. This is Yahweh. We waited for him. Let us be and let us rejoice in his salvation. For the hand of Yahweh will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled down under him as a heap of straw is trampled down in waters of a dung heap. And it will spread out its hands in the midst of it just as the swimmer spreads out to swim. And its pride will be brought low with movement of its hands. And he will throw down the fortification of the high point of your walls. He will bring it low. He will send it to the ground, to the dust." End quote.

[00:02:51] All right, so this passage has all of the imagery we've been talking about with the rich feast, which has all of the best food and the best wine, but there's also the connection of judgment.

[00:03:04] These two things are absolutely inseparable when we're talking about the Messianic Banquet. We have both the joy and the feasting, as well as destruction and judgment.

[00:03:18] So let's talk for a moment about second temple banquet imagery. This would be basically the eschatological hope of the people, and it's really brought out very strongly in second temple literature. Now, first of all, what is the second temple?

[00:03:35] For this episode, I am going to be drawing on Mark in his book, Wine, Soil, and Salvation in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.

[00:03:46] Scarlata describes the second temple period where we have the reconstruction of the temple after the exile, and we have a lot of literary activity at this time. The monarchy that had started with David was over, but the people were back in the land, although not all of them. The ones who came back tried their best to rebuild the land into what it had been.

[00:04:10] Scarlata says, quote, " Among the few things that remained constant were the vineyards. We are told that the Babylonian armies left some of the poorest in the land to be vine dressers and tillers of the soil. Worship during this time still revolved around sacrifices at the Jerusalem temple, but we also witnessed the rise in synagogues. These provided Jews with a local space in which to gather with the community, to pray and to study. Torah. Synagogues were constructed around Judea and further afield where many of the diaspora had settled. A significant number of the Jews from that period lived outside Jerusalem, which meant that they were unable to offer the prescribed sacrifices at God's altar.

[00:05:00] " This situation led to a rise in annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem for feasts such as Passover. The literature of this period demonstrates competing opinions about different theological topics and what it meant to live as a faithful Jew. The physical fragmentation of the Jewish diaspora was also reflected theologically in the differences that existed between smaller groups and sects. Jews of this period were concerned with the religious topics that received little treatment in the scriptures, such as the resurrection of the dead, or whether the festival years should follow a solar or lunar calendar. They looked forward to the advent of a Messiah or someone who would bring about the restoration of God's kingdom." End quote.

[00:05:50] Now think of the contrast here. Think about why it might be so hard to see the Messiah in the Old Testament, at least as clearly as we'd like to see it. Of course, we understand typology, we understand prophecy, but there really is still a very distinct difference between reading the Old Testament and trying to see the Messiah there versus reading second temple literature where the Messiah and the Messianic age is a common theme in those writings.

[00:06:25] And really, if you think about the different contrast here, the Old Testament writing, at least most of it, is in the land. They have regular worship, they have proper rulership in some form. Things are just kind of going about normal. They're where they're supposed to be, so you're not really thinking about the Messiah and the Messianic age. You upend all of that with the exile and the coming back from the exile, and people are like, okay, what now? This doesn't look like what it did before with David, and it doesn't look like we're getting there either. So what does it take to get to that point? So they're really thinking so much about the Messianic age and what that means and how you get there.

[00:07:11] Scarlata says, quote, " We find an increased fascination with the angelic world demons, evil spirits, and the fall of Satan and his angels from heaven. There is also an increased anticipation of the eschatological kingdom being made present on earth. Many authors of the second temple period looked forward to God's final victory and restoration of his people, which was often expressed through the imagery of new vineyards and an abundance of wine." End quote.

[00:07:45] All right, so a lot of what we have in the second temple period are writings called pseudepigrapha. That's just a fancy word that means false name because these writings are attributed to certain writers who were not actually the authors.

[00:08:03] As Scarlata says, quote, " During this period, it was common for scribes to attribute a text falsely to a figure from the biblical past, such as Enoch or Abraham. This was not intended to deceive their audiences, but rather was a style of writing and storytelling that allowed the authors to explore theological themes through the voices of biblical characters.

[00:08:30] " In this way, the writers could use the biblical text as a basis to expand on issues of faith, ritual practice, or doctrines without compromising or changing what were considered the canonical scriptures." End quote.

[00:08:48] Most scholars who are looking at these types of things understand that this was a period where people before that really hadn't been thinking in terms of a canon of written scripture, but at this point they were. They were thinking, okay, we need some writing that is put down that we transmit to the future. That does not change. And because you were able to do that and you had those core texts, then that allowed a certain amount of freedom to explore and expand on those texts. And while the other writing may have been seen as just as important or canonical by some people, it's just as likely that these extra texts that people understood this is not the same as the canonical literature. There's a difference there. This is just the way that we are playing with the ideas and trying to understand them better.

[00:09:46] So then you have books like First Enoch that we've talked about quite a bit in the past here. If you've never read the book of First Enoch, I do have a little series where I read through it and explain a little bit about it to help kind of set that context of what that book is.

[00:10:04] First Enoch talks about fallen angels and the origin of sin and the proliferation of sin. And Enoch has a vision that really corresponds to what we're talking about in this series here .

[00:10:18] In first Enoch chapter 10, verses 18 to 19, it says, quote, " And in those days, the whole earth will be worked in righteousness. All of her planted with trees and will find blessing, and they shall plant pleasant trees upon her. Vines. And he who plants a vine upon her will produce wine for plenitude, and every seed that is sewn on her, one measure will yield a thousand measures. And one measure of olives will yield 10 measures of presses of oil." End quote.

[00:10:56] This is connected back to the idea of Noah and his vineyard, and as we'll see, is also connected to the idea of judgment . Let's jump ahead to first Enoch 62, where we have the banquet of the Son of Man. Here we have the Son of Man who is enthroned and he hosts a banquet for the righteous while judgment falls on the kings and the mighty.

[00:11:23] Early on in the chapter, we have the son of man, this mysterious figure who is sitting on God's throne himself and he is judging people.

[00:11:32] Let's read from verse seven, onward. Quote, "For from the beginning, the son of man was hidden and the Most High preserved him in the presence of his might, and he revealed him to the chosen. And the congregation of the chosen and holy will be sown. And all the chosen will stand in his presence on that day. And all the kings and the mighty and the exalted and those who rule the land will fall on their faces in his presence and they will worship and set their hope on that Son of Man. And they will supplicate and petition for mercy from him.

[00:12:09] " But the Lord of Spirits himself will press them so that they will hasten to depart from his presence and their faces will be filled with shame and the darkness will grow deeper on their faces. And he will deliver them to the angels for punishment so that they may extract retribution from them for the iniquity that they did to his children and his chosen ones. And they will be a spectacle for the righteous and for his chosen ones. And they will rejoice over them because the wrath of the Lord of Spirits rests upon them and his sword is drunk with them. And the righteous and the chosen will be saved on that day and the faces of the sinners and the unrighteous, they will hence forth, not see. And the Lord of Spirits will dwell over them. And with that Son of Man, they will eat and lie down and rise up forever and ever." End quote.

[00:13:05] Now of course, the book of First Enoch is not canonical, like I just said. What they're doing here is expanding upon ideas and thinking about them. Throughout the book, you have a major concern of the righteous and of the elect and the chosen versus the wicked. And the wicked are often described as the kings and the mighty.

[00:13:28] So, you know, you think about it in this time period of the second temple , and the people are back in the land, but they're not really back in the land. They're being oppressed by people from other lands, the kings and the mighty. So really this is a polemic against that. You know, the people who are being punished aren't necessarily being cast as people who reject God. They're being cast as the people who are oppressing God's chosen people who are of course the Jews.

[00:14:00] Now, what we're gonna see in the New Testament when we get to Jesus is yes, there is level of wrath that rests upon those people who are not choosing Jesus, but there's also this element of Jesus submitting to that people's wrath. But we'll get to that.

[00:14:19] The Book of Jubilees is another book that we've talked about and it parallels the book of Genesis. Jubilees is almost like rewritten Genesis and Exodus.

[00:14:31] In the Book of Exodus during the first Passover, there is no mention of wine, for instance. And so we might wonder, well, how do you get from the Book of Exodus and that celebration of Passover to the New Testament where Jesus is obviously partaking of wine during that Passover meal?

[00:14:49] Well, in Jubilee's 49 verse six, it says, quote, " And all of Israel remained eating the flesh of the Passover and drinking wine and praising and blessing and glorifying the Lord the God of their fathers." End quote.

[00:15:08] So that's talking about the original Passover and suggesting that the people were drinking wine at that time. Scarlata says that this probably is not historical for the time, because in Egypt, if the people were slaves, they probably were not drinking wine. So we don't know exactly how the tradition was changed. We just know that by the time of the writing of Jubilees, they weren't just eating the bread and the meat, they were also drinking wine.

[00:15:40] All right, there's way more stuff I could talk about here in the second temple period, but we do want to get over to that New Testament context, don't we? So I'll just touch very briefly on the books of second Baruch and fourth Ezra. Though the dating of these books is pretty difficult, it seems like these were written after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple. So that might be a little bit outside the realm of second temple literature, but it's close enough.

[00:16:11] So these are both Jewish apocalyptic books, but fourth Ezra does have some Christian additions to it that probably happened pretty early during the second or third centuries. Second baruch, however, is entirely Jewish with no Christian redaction. Fourth Ezra describes the Son of Man in chapter seven verses 28 through 29, as, "My son, the Messiah," who rules for 400 years then dies, after which final judgment comes. So that's obviously not the Christian view of Jesus's eternal rule. Which is interesting because this is the book that has some Christian redaction.

[00:16:58] Second Baruch also speaks of a Davidic Messiah with not always a Son of Man title. And this Messiah leads Israel to victory and dies before final resurrection.

[00:17:10] So in both of these books, we have a very solid Jewish eschatology and very interesting to me that it is using the Son of Man language even though we might think that when Jesus started using that language for himself, the Jews would've stopped using it. But clearly that is not the case. So that does give a little bit of fuzziness with the book of First Enoch and its use of Son of Man and how we can date, especially, a certain portion of the book of First Enoch that we don't see in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

[00:17:47] But anyway, in both of these books, the true sign of the Messiah is that Israel will be restored to a land that produces abundance.

[00:17:58] All right, so then we can jump over to the Dead Sea Scrolls, and we have a lot of material there that is not in the Old Testament literature and is really not from other texts outside of the Dead Sea Scrolls. And here in these texts, we have quite a lot of Messianic hope expressed in them. But one of the most interesting things about the Dead Sea Scrolls is its relationship to the calendar and the temple.

[00:18:28] The people who were at Qumran, which is the location of the Dead Sea Scrolls, were very interested in calendar. They thought that the people in Jerusalem were not following the correct festival calendar. So these people went out into the desert and decided that they would start over and say, okay, we're going to have the real temple here. They didn't build it, but they imagined that they had it, and they fixed their calendar so that the festivals were not just random, like when you have a lunar calendar, things change a lot from year to year. However, if you're basing your festivals on a solar calendar, then you can make sure that every time you celebrate something, it's gonna happen on the same day every year.

[00:19:18] We might think of the difference between our celebration of Christmas, which happens every year on December 25th because it's attached to a solar calendar versus the way that we celebrate Easter, which is based on a lunar calendar, and that changes date every year. So that's kind of like what we have going on here in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

[00:19:42] The people were like, well, we don't wanna keep changing the date every year. That doesn't make any sense. The festival calendar should be set every year. So they wanted to go to that solar calendar, which they thought was original to the beginning.

[00:19:57] In the Dead Sea Scrolls, we also see the celebration of festivals that don't exist in the Old Testament. Seven weeks after Pentecost, the beginning of May, the people of Qumran established a festival of new wine. This is talked about in what is called the Temple Scroll, which doesn't provide any reason or meaning for the festival, but it does instruct the priests on how they're gonna celebrate it.

[00:20:27] After another seven weeks, they would have the new oil festival, which is again, something not in the Old Testament. But these are not entirely without scriptural warrant because the Israelites were commanded to bring all of their first fruits from the land, including the best of the oil and the best of the wine. And this would support the priests working in the temple.

[00:20:51] And we do know that there are other wine festivals in the Ancient Near East. So it is possible that the people of the Old Testament celebrated these things and they just didn't record them and that what the people at Qumran were doing wasn't necessarily brand new. It just doesn't show up in our Old Testament canon.

[00:21:13] Then you have in the Dead Sea Scrolls a document called the Damascus Rule. This is actually found outside of Qumran as well, and it was found before we found the Dead Sea Scrolls. So this had a wider distribution than just the community at the Dead Sea.

[00:21:31] But let me read what Scarlata has to say about it. He says, quote, " The text contains both laws and rules that relate to the community. It traces the history of Israel's disobedience in the past before exile. And argues that the former covenant has ended, but God has offered a new way of salvation. The new covenant has been revealed through their community, by the Teacher of the Law who has made known the proper way of righteousness through Sabbath obedience, festivals, and following the appropriate calendar.

[00:22:07] " The document offers an invitation for all of Israel to join the true remnant within the Qumran community before God's final judgment comes. In the third section of the document, there are warnings of the coming judgment upon the wicked. Offering an extended reproach of the sins of Israel and Judah in the past, the authors highlight their fornication, hatred indecency and pride. The text goes on to say their wine is venom of snakes, the cruel poison of vipers. The snakes are the kings of the Gentiles and their wine is their customs. And the poison of vipers is the chief of the kings of Greece who comes to wreck vengeance on them.

[00:22:56] " The authors quote from Deuteronomy 32 33, where Moses highlights Israel's disobedience, along with the wickedness of gentile nations who produce poison vines and grapes. The venomous wine is interpreted by the Essenes as the Hellenistic culture in which they live, and the poison of the viper is the head of the kings of Greece. The Essenes use Moses' metaphor of wine as venom and apply it to their own context where Greek influence was dominant throughout Palestine.

[00:23:29] " In order for the community to be pure and part of the righteous remnant, the Damascus Rule condemns the Hellenistic culture and calls for complete separation from the venom of the gentiles. The literature from Qumran demonstrates a Jewish sectarian desire to engage with the traditions of Scripture, while also promoting the sectarian's own interpretations and practices. Their use of wine as a community offers insights into their daily life, but also anticipates the coming of Messiah. The Essenes were are willing to innovate with new rituals and create new festivals according to biblical patterns, such as the Feast of New Wine.

[00:24:12] " Their cultic practices also included offerings of wine at the altar as they continued to follow biblical commands. Wine remained an important part of life and worship for a people who considered themselves a righteous remnant. Their writings offer us a rare glimpse into a Jewish sectarian worldview from the second temple period, which reveals an important relationship with wine, both practically and theologically. The biblical tradition of wine as a gift of God remains true for the Essenes who used it in community and worship as they looked forward to an eschatological kingdom where wine will be consumed with Messiah." End quote.

[00:24:54] All right, so what we have here is again, this expectation of abundance with the Messianic age. We have joy and we have the destruction of the wicked.

[00:25:07] Now, what about moving into the New Testament and the context with Jesus? We should have all of these Messianic expectations in our heads when we go to the New Testament. Now, last time we talked about wine and wisdom and discernment, and how wine is not something that is condemned as immoral itself, and even really, drunkenness itself is not the problem. The problem with drunkenness is that it leads to all of the other bad things.

[00:25:39] So let's talk about the contrast between Jesus and John the Baptist.

[00:25:45] Now unfortunately we don't have a whole lot of detail about John the Baptist and what kind of a vow was he taking? Why did he live the way that he did? He's described as wearing clothing of camel's hair, and a leather belt, and he ate locusts and wild honey. We find that in Matthew three. And John also abstained from drinking wine. And it doesn't say outright, but it's very possible that he was following a Nazarite vow.

[00:26:18] Scarlata says quote, "Though it is not explicitly stated, Luke's gospel suggests this type of vow when an angel informs Zechariah that John will be great in the sight of the Lord, he must never drink wine or strong drink. Even before his birth, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit." End quote.

[00:26:40] Scarlata continues with an explanation of the difference between John and Jesus. Scarlata says, quote, " That John would be great in the eyes of the Lord and filled with the Holy Spirit seems to convey the reason for his abstinence from wine. It may seem appropriate for the one who prepares the way for the Son of God and whom Jesus calls one of the greatest prophets, in Luke 7 28, to live a life forsaking wine or alcohol. Yet we are reminded by Jesus that John's particular calling is located within the context of the coming wedding feast or the great banquet that will begin when God's kingdom comes on earth through the wine and work of Christ. John anticipates the coming of the bridegroom, Jesus, which marks a time of preparation but not yet celebration." End quote.

[00:27:39] In Luke seven and Matthew 11, we have people talking about the contrast between John the Baptist who comes not eating, not drinking wine, and Jesus who comes eating and drinking. They call Jesus a drunkard and a friend of tax collectors and sinners, how terrible, right?

[00:28:02] But again, if we're seeing this difference between the bridegroom, Jesus and John, this distinction makes perfect sense. John was the forerunner of the Messianic age and he was pointing to the advent of God's great salvation for all nations. And just like some of the Old Testament prophets who are prophesying in ways that use their entire body to enact a prophecy, that is what John is doing as well.

[00:28:34] Now, of course, the criticism of being drunk that was applied to Jesus was not just about being drunk, but also about being a fool without wisdom.

[00:28:45] Scarlata says, quote, " Jesus responds to the Pharisees by saying that they are like a group of spoiled children who cannot be pleased in Luke 7 31 to 32. They refuse to accept a message of fasting and repentance, but they also reject the good news and celebration of God's coming kingdom.

[00:29:09] "John says they should repent and fast, but they call him a madman because they want to feast. Jesus proclaims that the feast has begun and that the wine of God's banquet is being poured out, but they call him a drunkard and a fool. Yet Jesus responds by saying that wisdom is vindicated by all her children. Or in Matthew's gospel, wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. In Matthew 1119.

[00:29:37] " Jesus' final statement refers to the personification of wisdom that we saw previously in Proverbs and elsewhere. That wisdom is vindicated by her children likely alludes to John and Jesus as bearers of God's wisdom signified through their deeds. Though they lead different lifestyles, both men proclaim a message of repentance and the presence of God's kingdom being restored on earth.

[00:30:05] " Jesus is a child of wisdom, but he is also the embodiment of God's wisdom in John one, one through four. He is like lady wisdom, calling to all in the streets to come and dine at the banqueting table where food and mixed wines have been prepared as we see in Proverbs nine, five. Those who come are satisfied as they pursue the path of wisdom and recognize God's wisdom through the life and works of both Jesus and John. Rather than a drunkard and a fool, Jesus claims to be the voice of wisdom whose actions demonstrate that the wine of the new age is being poured out in celebration as the kingdom of God is revealed." End quote.

[00:30:53] Scarlata points out that Jesus didn't live a life of abstinence because that would conflict with this picture of the Messianic age and the abundance provided. And he drank and ate with sinners and tax collectors to demonstrate that feasting had begun and that he was the fulfillment of these Messianic prophecies and ideas that they had. Not that he was confirming the inspiration of all of the second temple literature that includes such imagery, but there's a reason they had that imagery and there was a reason they were writing and thinking about these things, because all of that comes from the Old Testament and is this stream of history that is happening.

[00:31:39] They knew it. They knew to expect the Messiah and to imagine just how amazing their lives would be when he came. And Jesus was showing that through his actions and through his signs. Most of us are familiar with Jesus's first miracle. The wedding at Cana that we see described in John two verses one through 11. And if you're familiar with these Messianic ideas and the idea of the banquet and the Messiah providing abundance and wine being a really potent image of that, then suddenly it makes all of the sense in the world why this would be the first miracle that Jesus performs. Now, of course, there's a lot we could get into about the context here and everything going on.

[00:32:29] I am going to go ahead and take the time to read this whole section. Reading the first 11 verses of John two. Quote, "And on the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there, and both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine.

[00:32:54] " And Jesus said to her, what does your concern have to do with me, woman, my hour has not yet come.

[00:33:01] " His mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. Now six stone water jars were set there in accordance with the ceremonial cleansing of the Jews, each holding two or three measures. Jesus said to them, fill the water jars with water. And they filled them to the brim. And he said to them, now draw some out and take it to the head steward.

[00:33:24] " So they took it. Now, when the head steward tasted the water, which had become wine and did not know where it was from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, the head steward, summoned the bridegroom and said to him, Everyone serves the good wine first. and whenever they are drunk, the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now.

[00:33:46] " This beginning of signs Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee and revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him." End quote.

[00:33:57] All. Right, so several things to notice here. We have Jesus' mother. She's not named, which is interesting, and he addresses her as woman.

[00:34:07] Now, the way that he speaks here, especially in some translations, it might seem like he is really being a bit abrupt and rude. That is probably not the case, however. We need to see that there is an underlying idiom that Jesus is using here, and I won't go into that deeply, but the way he's talking to her is not rude. He is not being abrupt. He's simply asking her a question.

[00:34:36] We might wonder why he's calling her woman. That also is not a negative or pejorative term for him to use here. Some scholars have suggested that he's connecting Mary here to Eve, the mother of all living. And you know, the gospel of John calls her the mother of Jesus. So the suggestion with some scholars is that this is a direct connection back to Eve.

[00:35:03] You have also the wedding context regarding Mary. You have Mary, the mother of Jesus. You have Jesus. So if Mary is a second Eve and Jesus is the second Adam, then what we have here going on is calling back to the days of creation. This is all just typology and imagery of things people would have in their minds. Most of the time you're not thinking about creation when you're thinking about weddings, right.

[00:35:33] A big question we might have is, what's up with this third day? What is the third day? Well, like with everything, there's several ideas that scholars have. One is that it connects back to Exodus.

[00:35:49] Exodus 1910 through 11 says, quote, " And the Lord said to Moses, go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day. Because on that day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death." End quote.

[00:36:23] So here in Exodus, we have the people surrounding the mountain and they're going to see the power of God in what's happening. And they're being protected from that awesome power. So it's possible that John's mention of the third day is connected to this and revealing the power of God made public in the form of Jesus in this miracle.

[00:36:47] The third day can also be a foreshadowing. In verse 19 of John two, Jesus says, quote, " Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days." End quote.

[00:37:02] In chapter one, we also see another three days. So some people say that the third day here is not really the third day, but the fourth day, and that might recall the fourth day of creation.

[00:37:17] That one feels like a bit of a stretch, and it treats the gospels like they're these chronological narratives, which are probably not the case, especially in the Book of John. John does crazy things with the chronology all over the place.

[00:37:33] But notice that Jesus also mentions the hour, and the hour is very closely tied to Jesus's death and resurrection. So he mentions that and then he transforms water into wine on the third day. We probably ought to be making some of these connections here.

[00:37:54] Then we have the vessels that Jesus used to turn the water into wine. These are purification or baptism vessels. And in John, we have a whole lot of context of water and cleansing and purification, but we don't have a complete baptism story like we have in the synoptic gospels.

[00:38:17] The interesting thing about John is that he takes what's happening in Jesus' life and you see the synoptic gospels and they kind of explain it in certain ways. Then John just takes those same ideas and seems to integrate all of them into the entire gospel narrative. So no baptism story, but we have baptism imagery all over the place.

[00:38:42] We also don't have the same Last Supper image in the Book of John, but all throughout the book we have the context that is just embedded deeply into it, you know? That's why I think it's probably not the case that we should not presume something like, for instance, the idea that John isn't referencing the Last Supper in John six. Because he is embedding the ideas deeply into the entire life and witness and ministry of Jesus.

[00:39:17] Another interesting parallel with the ancient world in this story is that in Greek mythology, you have a story of Dionysus, who is the god of wine, and there's a story about the miraculous provision of wine in three empty kettles. But for Jesus, it happens kind of out in the open. At least he's not really hiding anything, even though the steward has no idea where the wine came from. Jesus isn't hiding what he's doing. Whereas in the story with Dionysus, these empty kettles are supposed to be brought into the building by the priests. They're kind of locked away, and in the morning they come in and they're like, oh look, there's wine.

[00:40:00] Come on. Everybody probably knows that the priests are the ones who are filling the kettles with wine. This isn't like the situation. So anyway, interesting contrast to what we have in John two.

[00:40:12] A lot of people have also connected the signs of Jesus In the book of John to the days of creation. Here we have water, which is very prominent in the creation narrative, and it becomes wine. Basically this is a story of new creation.

[00:40:29] Let's talk about one idea that people have in connection to the story in John two is that John is bringing out a difference between the old wine as old covenant and the new wine as new covenant and the suggestion that Jesus is doing away with the old wine.

[00:40:49] Let me describe that with Scarlata's words. He says quote, " Linders argues that the emphasis of the story is on the inadequacy of the old wine which has run out, and it's like the insufficiency of the law. The regulations of the old dispensation under the Jewish law cannot contain the new wine of the era that Jesus announces. This motif can be seen in the Cana story in several details. The failure of the old wine, the vast supply of the new wine produced by Jesus. The fact that it is superior to the old."

[00:41:26] Scarlata says, "This interpretation, however, is problematic since it presumes that the new wine and old wine are being set in opposition to each other, or that Jesus somehow stands apart from the Mosaic law.

[00:41:43] " The story does not emphasize the failure of the old wine. But rather the focus is on the quality and timing of the wine that Jesus produces." End quote.

[00:41:56] So if we want to say that there's a contrast between the old and the new, what we would need to see in the story is this idea that the old wine is really bad or it's being done away with, but that's really not what we see. It just runs out. And while the new wine is definitely of a higher quality, it doesn't mean the old wine is bad or is being condemned in some way. Like really there's no critique of the old wine, but there is a surprise that the new wine is coming out now.

[00:42:32] The term now is very critical to John's gospel. It signifies the physical presence of the incarnation and Jesus's offering of eternal life in the present.

[00:42:46] Scarlata quotes the church Father Irenaeus, who writes, quote, " That wine which was produced by God in a vineyard and which was first consumed was good. None of those who drank of it found fault with it, and the Lord partook of it also. But that wine was better, which the Word made from water on the moment and simply for the use of those who had been called to the marriage." End quote.

[00:43:17] All right let's talk about the Eucharist here. Yes. I use the term Eucharist. I know a lot of people don't like the term Eucharist because when you use that term, you're thinking, oh, high liturgy church. You're thinking, you have to believe in transubstantiation and all of these ideas that Protestants kind of bulk at. At least modern Protestants do. Guess what? The first Protestants didn't balk at it so much, but that's aside from the point.

[00:43:48] But I'm using the term Eucharist because it's a biblical term. It's a Greek word. What do you want? Like it means thanksgiving, and it is used in reference to this Christian tradition. So we should not bulk at using words that the Bible uses.

[00:44:07] Scarlata says, " The most significant use of wine in the gospels for followers of Christ comes during Jesus's last supper with his disciples, where he institutes the ritual of the Eucharist. The meal is recalled in all four gospels, but the actual words of Christ referring to the bread and wine as his body and blood of the covenant occur only in the synoptics.

[00:44:32] " As we have seen above, Eucharistic allusions are found throughout John's gospel, whether in the wine at Cana, Jesus's command to eat his flesh and drink his blood, or the blood and water that poured from Jesus's side on the cross. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the bread and wine associated with the Passover are reimagined in the upper room as Christ's body and blood in a ritual that would become the principle sacrament of the Christian Church for baptized believers." End quote.

[00:45:05] Now we might ask and wonder what kind of meal this was that Jesus had. And did he observe it in the same way that we have instructed in the Jewish Mishna?

[00:45:16] It's a little bit hard to know. Some of the details are certainly not mentioned, but we have multiple cups that are mentioned and a few other ideas that seem to suggest that there's at least some sort of continuation between what Jesus was doing and what we have recorded in the Mishna, and there we have a description of four cups of wine, unleavened bread, Pascal lamb, and mixed herbs. And I won't describe all of that right now, but certainly we have Jesus eating and drinking multiple cups and he's ascribing what's going on with the second exodus that he is about to undertake through his death and resurrection.

[00:46:00] In the synoptic gospels, consistently, the wine of the Passover meal is associated with the blood of the new covenant, so there's multiple things going on here. We have obviously the idea of Passover, but we also have the context of sacrifice in general. Because the Passover lamb is different from what we see in Leviticus and in covenantal contexts, but it's also apparently related, right?

[00:46:29] We have blood being associated with wine, and wine wasn't used in the original Passover, but it's certainly used in other sacrificial contexts.

[00:46:39] So you know, a lot of people will want to say, is Jesus the Paschal Lamb associated with the Passover, or are we associating this with the Day of Atonement or something else? And I would say it's all of the things. You can't just choose one over the other because they're conflating these terms, and I get that we want things really neat in separate boxes, but that's not what we get here.

[00:47:06] Let me go ahead and read from Scarlata again. He says, quote, " At the Last Supper, Jesus takes the cup of wine, which carries with it so many layers of symbolism and meaning from the law and the prophets, and reinterprets it as the covenantal cup of his blood for his followers to consume. The act of drinking becomes a sign of unity with Christ and unity with all the believers in the body of Christ.

[00:47:35] " Through the signs and symbols of the Passover in Egypt, Jesus also assumes the role of the spotless lamb whose blood was spread on the doorposts to protect the Hebrew slaves from the plague of the firstborn. The blood of the paschal lamb in Exodus was for protection and symbolized deliverance, liberation, and freedom. The first Passover makes no mention of the forgiveness of sins when God gives his instructions to Moses. The blood of the lamb on the doorpost signifies a defense or shielding from the judgment of the Lord upon the Egyptians and their gods, demonstrating his absolute power and sovereignty.

[00:48:18] " The blood of the Paschal lamb is a protective sign that preserves the people from death, particularly the death and judgment, which were brought upon Egypt. In the book of Leviticus, however, we find that the blood of sacrifice is primarily for atonement, cleansing, and the forgiveness of sins. These occur through offerings made on God's holy altar within the tabernacle and later the temple.

[00:48:46] " The most significant effect of the sacrificial blood was its power to purge and purify the tabernacle slash temple space and was necessary to cleanse God's home. This happened through daily offerings, but once a year on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the high priest would present blood offerings in the Holy of Holies to atone for all the sins of Israel. Thus, when Jesus speaks about his blood that is shed for the forgiveness of sins represented in the cup of wine. He draws on the symbolism of cleansing, purging, and atonement associated with priestly sacrifice in the tabernacle and later in the Jerusalem temple.

[00:49:32] Since blood, according to Leviticus, contained the life of the creature and was used only for atonement on the altar, Israel was strictly forbidden to consume it. It may have been surprising and disturbing for the disciples to consume the wine that represented their Lord's blood, but the cup points to the full union and atonement that the believer receives through Christ's sacrifice.

[00:49:57] " When we examine the various layers of meaning in the Eucharistic cup of wine, we discover at least three distinct symbols associated with blood in Scriptures. The blood of the covenant, the blood of protection from judgment, and the blood of cleansing and atonement. The Eucharistic Cup takes on further symbolic meaning stemming from the prophetic metaphors of the cup of salvation and the cup of wrath. We recall the signs of abundant wine and an overflowing cup that points to the fullness of God's kingdom and the outpouring of his blessing." End quote.

[00:50:37] Scarlata also says, quote, " The Eucharistic Cup is a reminder of the judgment of God and of his challis that was poured out on Israel and the nations for their transgression and failure to repent.

[00:50:52] " This is the cup of suffering that Christ takes up to drink on behalf of all the peoples. The cup of suffering that Jesus willingly drinks thus becomes the cup of salvation for those who follow him and drink the Eucharistic wine." End quote.

[00:51:11] Okay, so there's a lot more I could say about the Eucharist and Christian interpretation of that through time and everything like that, but there's a lot of good things to say about how we should be seeing this in context and no matter what you think about what's going on specifically with the bread and wine in our Christian meal, we really ought to be seeing this transformation of what's going on here with the imagery of the Messianic banquet.

[00:51:40] Alright, I'm going to read one more quote from Scarlata in this section. He says, quote, " Gathered around a table, inspired by and abiding with Christ, people live out the movements of sacrificial self offering, grateful reception, and reconciled relationships. If this is true, then it is also the case that people do not ever merely taste bread and wine. Properly transformed and directed, they also taste heaven. They gain a glimpse of life in its grace, fullness, and truth. The wine of the Eucharist is the cup that Christ offers to his followers when he commands, Do this in remembrance of me. End quote.

[00:52:29] Now, before we end this episode, we have to talk about the cup and the cross.

[00:52:36] Scarlata says, quote, " It is not by accident that the prophetic metaphor of the cup and wine is present in the final hours of Christ's life. After the Passover meal and on the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus retreats with his disciples to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, as he has frequently done. The olive grove is appropriately named Gethsemane, which means oil press in Hebrew or Aramaic. In the final hours of his life, Jesus would feel the weight of his passion and the suffering to come." End quote.

[00:53:14] So then we have the situation here where Jesus is praying to the Father and he asked the Father to remove this cup. What is the cup that Jesus is talking about?

[00:53:26] Scarlata says, quote, "In Mark's gospel, Jesus has spoken of the cup in an earlier conversation with two of his disciples, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. The two men, somewhat presumptuously, ask if they can sit at either side of Jesus when he comes in glory. To this request, Jesus responds, Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? They replied, We are able. Then Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink, you will drink. And with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. In Mark's gospel, the cup is identified with the suffering and death that will come through the power of the Roman authorities.

[00:54:15] " Just as Jesus will be unjustly condemned, so too will the disciples drink from the same cup when they are rejected and suffer for their proclamation of the good news." End quote.

[00:54:30] Okay, so now we know, probably most of us know anyway, that a lot of people associate this cup with God's wrath . But it's a little bit off when we think of it in terms of God pouring out his wrath in order to balance these scales of justice. That is not what's going on. and scarlata shows why.

[00:54:55] He says, quote, " Some scholars argue that the cup Jesus refers to is the cup of God's wrath poured out on the Son. In his commentary on Habakkuk, Robertson contends, ' The wrath of the Father against the shameful sin of mankind finds a consummate manifestation in the outpouring of God's judgment on his own Son. As repulsive as wrath in God may appear to the sophistications of the modern mind, it is a scriptural reality that found awesome expression as the Son of God suffered in the sinner's place, drinking the cup of the fury of God.'

[00:55:36] Scarlata says, quote, " The difficulty with this interpretation is that the cup Jesus will drink is one that will also be shared by his disciples.

[00:55:47] " There is no indication, however, that God's wrath will be poured out on the apostles in the future for their obedience to Christ. Instead, Jesus predicts that just as he is rejected and handed over to suffer at the hands of the gentiles, so too the disciples will be persecuted for their beliefs and will suffer for their proclamation.

[00:56:11] " The cup of God's wrath is not poured out on the Son, but rather the Son accepts the cup of suffering as he submits himself to the Romans and to his crucifixion. To understand how Christ uses the metaphor of the cup in relation to the prophets, we must return to the consequences of God's cup of wrath in the Scriptures.

[00:56:34] " We saw the cup was poured out on the nations or the wicked as a sign of judgment for their sins. The result was that they staggered in their drunkenness and became vulnerable to destruction and defeat at the hands of their enemies. When the Israelites drank from the cup, the same was true, but they were handed over to the gentiles who destroyed their land and sent them into exile.

[00:56:59] " For the Israelites, to drink from God's cup of wrath was to experience the suffering of defeat and exile by their enemies. The exile from the land for their disobedience was poetically expressed by the prophets through the cup of wrath, as they warned the people of the covenant curses that would come upon them if they failed to repent.

[00:57:21] " If the cup of wrath was a metaphor for Israel being handed over to the Gentiles, we can see why Christ employs the same metaphor as he submits himself to the Roman authorities. Jesus's actions demonstrate, especially in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, that his life repeats historical patterns and moments in the life of Israel.

[00:57:45] " Unlike the people of Israel, however, who suffered exile because of their disobedience, the sinless Jesus embraces the cup of suffering by his will and is crucified by the gentiles in order to establish a new covenant. In the fullness of his humanity, Jesus prays that the cup would pass from him, but this does not indicate his fear of the Father's wrath.

[00:58:11] " Instead, the Son who deserves to drink only the cup of salvation chooses to drink from the cup of suffering as an act of obedience to the Father by laying down his life for the sins of the world. In other words, Jesus does not deserve the punishment of exile and suffering at the hands of the gentiles, but he accepts that this is the only way for him to glorify the Father and to reconcile all of creation.

[00:58:38] " Jesus' passion and his final hour also demonstrate that he drinks the cup by his own authority, that he is not subject to the powers of the world. As Jesus bears the Father's glory, so too does he express the Father's authority over earthly powers. He is not forced to drink the cup, but in the final hours of his life, he freely chooses to take the cup of suffering. Jesus submits himself to the Roman authorities as a demonstration of laying down his life and willingly drinking from the cup that was intended for the wicked." End quote.

[00:59:19] Sorry that was a really long quote. But so much of that is really good. Understanding that the wrath is not the wrath of God, but the wrath of the Roman authorities, we might say, or more broadly, the people and beings who want to kill Jesus.

[00:59:41] So I hope you can kind of see why I've taken all of this time to draw out this metaphor, to come to this point here, especially, where we have this massive and amazing contrast between the cup of the king at the Messianic banquet and this cup of wrath. But it's not this balancing of the scales of justice that the Father is trying to have happen by Jesus suffering in our place.

[01:00:12] He is breaking the curses that we see in the book of Deuteronomy. He is fulfilling the entire picture of what he's going through, and it's really hard for us to wrap our minds around this if we don't have all of these images in our heads and we can't understand how scripture is layering everything on top of each other. We go to these systematic answers of, well, the wrath is only one thing and therefore it is this. You know, it's not like Jesus isn't taking upon wrath.

[01:00:47] It's just not wrath from the Father because of our sins. The idea of Jesus taking the cup unjustly from those who want to kill him, plus the idea of Jesus bearing our sins. You have to combine the ideas of the Passover with the Day of Atonement, with the cleansing of sacred space and Jesus cleansing the heavenly temple.

[01:01:11] This is a really massive picture here, and you cannot just reduce it all down to one thing. You're missing so much that way, and then you're not able to anticipate how the Old Testament brings forward into Jesus and into the church.

[01:01:29] Okay, so we have the cup at the Passover that Jesus took. We have the cup in Gethsemane. We have one final cup to talk about with Jesus, and that is the cup on the cross where there's no cup at all, there's just a sponge that is soaked in vinegar, or gall or sour wine. Depends on your translation here. It's all the same thing.

[01:01:56] What happens here is that a Roman guard takes a sponge and soaks it in this really bad wine that is turned into vinegar. It's spoiled wine, and the guard offers it to Jesus on a hissop branch. Now, that's really a strange image because the branches of a hissop bush, they're really good for sprinkling or something like that, but they're not gonna support a sponge very well.

[01:02:22] But the image here is associated again with the Passover and cleansing as well. It is a hissop branch that they were to apply the blood of the pascal lamb on the doorposts.

[01:02:34] This is an account we have in John's gospel that we don't have in the other gospels. And again, a lot of people will say that these are contradictions, but really it's different gospel writers who are giving the same message in different ways.

[01:02:51] As Scarlata brings out this distinction, and he says that Jesus promises in the synoptic gospels that he will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And so it makes sense that in Matthew and Mark, Jesus refuses the mixed wine and the vinegar that's offered him on the cross. But we don't have that in John. We have a different narrative flow.

[01:03:20] One last quote from Scarlata. He says, quote, " In the final hours of Jesus' life, wine and the cup of suffering become symbols for his passion and death on the cross. The metaphor of the cup of God's wrath in the prophets takes on new meaning when the Son of God submits himself to the Romans. Placing himself in gentile hands, Jesus willingly drinks from the cup and offers his life as an atoning sacrifice. He bears the suffering of all humanity, but vows that when his work of salvation is complete, he will join with his disciples in the new kingdom to drink the fruit of the vine once again." End quote.

[01:04:04] We're gonna wrap up here. There is so much more I could talk about, so many more themes and rabbit trails. I could go down, but I will end with two more points. First of all, this passage in John 15 about Jesus being the true vine.

[01:04:21] What does that mean? There's actually a really interesting possible shift in this that Scarlata brings out from some other scholar who suggests that there is a shift of meaning between the words vine and branch that we see here in most of our translations in John 15.

[01:04:39] The word for vine could be understood to be vineyard. So then Jesus would be saying that he is the true vineyard and the Father is the vine grower, and he removes every vine in me that bears no fruit. Now, what is the difference there? What is the distinction? The point is that that idea maps directly onto the imagery that we have in like Isaiah and Jeremiah.

[01:05:06] Jesus being the soil and having roots that we are supposed to have down into the soil. Right? So then what does it mean to abide in him? The imagery there is to be like a vine that is deeply rooted and taps into the life giving things that we have in the soil.

[01:05:28] So the soil becomes this picture of covenantal love and that is applied directly to being in Jesus. We are rooted in the soil and we are the ones who are producing fruit and wine of the Messianic age, experiencing and enjoying God's salvation.

[01:05:46] There's also the additional layer of obedience. You know, people ask, what does it mean to abide in Jesus? And the answer I see is usually pray or read the Scriptures. Almost nobody goes to the idea of being obedient, and I think that's a very big part of this as well.

[01:06:08] Abiding in Jesus is having those deep roots that are embedded into the covenantal love of God and that is going to produce our fruit. All of that is tied to obedience and actual living out of life and being disciples of Jesus. So abiding in him could look like prayer and Scripture reading, certainly, but it's far more than that. It is living as disciples in Jesus. It is being the body of Christ.

[01:06:41] In fact, for those of you who are following along with the Two Trees Podcast and this really fun thing that they're doing this year, this online conference called Beyond the Gates of Eden, next month in July, 2025, my lecture for that series is going to come out. And a lot of this is what I'm talking about there. My lecture might not sound exactly like what I put out in my podcast episodes where I'm just trying to push as much information at you as possible because it's kind of a different thing, but that lecture does accompany some study materials, and I really hope that you are going to be able to use those study materials with other people and really dig into this context yourselves.

[01:07:28] What we study together is what we can live out together. So please consider participating with us in that conference. There have already been two lectures put out that have been fantastic. There's gonna be more after my lecture as well. So I really hope that these will bless you and that you will find friends to join and study with and live as disciples of Jesus.

[01:07:54] I will finish with Revelation chapter 19. It says, quote, " And I heard something like the sound of a great crowd and something like the sound of many waters and something like the sound of powerful thunder saying, hallelujah for the Lord God, the All Powerful reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him the glory. Because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come and his bride has prepared herself. And it has been granted to her that she be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And he said to me, write, Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet of the wedding, celebration of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. End quote.

[01:08:47] Okay. Thank you guys for listening. I appreciate your tolerating my extending this series as I have. I really hope that you have gained a lot from it, and I would love to hear your feedback.

[01:09:00] And if you have any questions, please feel free to pass them along. You can find me on Facebook or through my website at genesis marks the spot.com.

[01:09:11] If you have any questions that are related to baptism, that's going to be my next big topic, so please share those with me. Thank you for supporting. Thank you to my Patreon and PayPal supporters. You guys rock, and I just wish you all a blessed week and we will see you later.