The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
January 14, 2007
Vol. 10 no. 02

Everything But...
           The trouble that wine gets you into! It’s even a major problem of Biblical proportions. Actually, it is because wine has an important place on so many tables in the Bible that it causes us to consider and reconsider so much its qualities. Remember that the pews you are sitting in are originally Methodist pews and having grown up a Methodist I know that if those successors to John Wesley had their way, we’d be pouring all that white or red beverage down the kitchen sink.
          Wine gets people into trouble in the Bible occasionally. Noah got drunk to his disadvantage and there were others, but usually the mention of wine is neutral. The issue with alcoholic beverages is a more or less modern one: alcohol in all its incarnations reeks havoc in the lives of way too many people and it doesn’t matter what culture it is. In the 19th century a number of groups starting naming the problem and seemed most effective when one linked wine and its pals with satanic purposes. My mother belonged to the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement on PEI, and their efforts are still evident in that we never permit alcohol on our church premises - even ironically, for weddings.
          And now on to a particular wedding in Cana of Galilee, where they do serve wine for a while. Of course, when Jesus showed up the wine was gone. His mother’s flat statement, “They have no wine,” I doubt was uttered in a flat tone of voice. There were no arguments about the evils of alcoholism, nothing mentioned about untoward behaviour of the guests. Perhaps the tone of Mary’s voice meant, “you’re late and brought nothing for the party!” The fruit of the vine somehow would become the symbol of the life of the party. How dangerous can these Biblical weddings be?