SERMON: Great mystery of Christ and the Church
A young woman praying with her hands together. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
- What then is the fruit that the grapevine produces? What do the grapes — and what does the wine made from grapes — symbolise?
- If we take our cue from the Song of Songs in the Old Testament, we realise that they symbolise love between the bridegroom and the bride.
Jesus told his disciples: “I am the vine and you are the branches.” To understand this, look at the difference between sweet grapes and sour grapes.
The “true vine” produces sweet ones — the ones good for making wine. It fits in with Jesus, the true vine, working his first miracle by turning water into wine. Grapes and wine, vines and branches are symbols Jesus used to help us understand the mystery of the Church.
A grapevine is made out of branches. If you cut off all the branches of a grapevine, you have nothing left but a stump in the ground.
To understand the idea, remember the analogy St Paul used when he said that Christ is the head and the Church is the body. A head cannot exist without a body and a body cannot exist without a head. We can talk about the unity between Christ and his Church, but ultimately, Christ and the Church are one and the same. This is why Jesus can ask Saul of Tarsus, when the apostle-to-be was persecuting Christians: “Why are you persecuting me?” If you persecute a Christian, you are persecuting Jesus himself.
WHAT DO THE GRAPES SYMBOLISE?
What then is the fruit that the grapevine produces? What do the grapes — and what does the wine made from grapes — symbolise? If we take our cue from the Song of Songs in the Old Testament, we realise that they symbolise love between the bridegroom and the bride. For instance, the bride says: “Let my Beloved enter into his garden and taste its fruits.” The bridegroom then “drinks his wine”.
God said to Adam and Eve in the beginning: “For this reason a man must leave his father and mother and cling to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.” St Paul tells us that this text of Genesis describes the union of Christ and the Church. In the Letter to the Ephesians, he concludes that the union of Christ and his Church is a “great mystery” because it is the union of a bridegroom and his bride.
At the Last Supper: “Jesus took a cup full of wine, and when he had given thanks he handed it to them, and all drank from it, and he said to them, “This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, poured out for many. In truth I tell you, I shall never drink wine any more until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.’”
The Gospel says that, when Jesus was being crucified, “they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he refused it.” The new wine comes at the end of the world. “Blessed are those invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” We prepare for that feast every Sunday by celebrating the Eucharist.
