Day 32: So that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last
Jesus reiterates, “I chose you and I appointed you…” Perhaps he expounds a little. “You have been chosen and set apart, ordained. You have a unique purpose in the grand story the Father set in motion from the beginning of time.” Equal parts thrill and trepidation seem to sweep across the faces illuminated by the torch Andrew is holding.
Jesus motions to the vine on the trellis. Maybe he expands their learning by noticing there is no fruit on the vine. It’s spring. Of course there is no fruit on the vine! They wonder where he is going with this teaching. He asks, “Where is the fruit that was on the vine?” A few voices start to describe the process, and Mary finishes their thought. “Most of it has been crushed and the juice is now fermenting in jars and wine skins.”
“Exactly,” says Jesus. “If they had left the fruit on the vine, it would be ruined by now, or the birds would have eaten it. However, the fruit will last in the form of wine for a very long time.”
Jesus thoughtfully purses his lips, narrows his eyes, and nodding slightly, he says,
“I appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit,”
he pauses, then continues,
“fruit that will last…”
Vineyard Metaphor
Vineyards exist for one purpose: fruit. But the grapes cannot just be left on the vine.
Some grapes are table grapes that are intended to be enjoyed fresh from the vine or juiced for grape juice. Some grapes are dried and become raisins. Some grapes are fermented and turned into wine, which will allow the fruit to last for quite some time.
During harvest, after the workers have cut off the best fruit from each vine and tossed it into a tractor bin, the tractor takes the fruit to the crush pad. The fruit is sorted, destemmed, and crushed. As soon as crush happens, fermentation starts. Wild yeast that is on the skins of the grapes starts the process by eating the sugar in the juice with the byproduct of alcohol and carbon dioxide. In order to control the fermentation, the winemaker will add more yeast to the fermentation tank along with some potassium bisulfate to kill unwanted bacteria and manage the oxidation. Within a few days, once the process of fermentation has produced a certain level of alcohol, the winemaker will rack the wine into barrels, siphoning off just the juice and leaving behind any sediment from the yeast or the skins. Once it’s in the barrel, where there is very little oxygen, fermentation slows way down. The wine will stay in the barrel for as long as the winemaker thinks it will take to finish the fermentation and absorb any flavor from the barrel that is desired. Then, the wine is bottled, aged appropriately, sold, and at some point, shared with friends.
Fermentation is the oldest known method of preserving food and making wine. Recently, archaeologists found pottery fragments in Georgia decorated with grapes, dating back to 8,000 B.C., that still had residuals of wine embedded in them! The oldest, unopened bottle of wine, the Speyer Wine Bottle, is 1,650 years old.
Reflection and Meditation
Consider the metaphor of “fruit that will last” being the kind of fruit that is fermented in an extravagantly beautiful bottle, aged for eons, and poured into the glasses of all the guests at the wedding feast of the Lamb.
Can you just see Jesus, the Lamb and bridegroom, presenting his beautiful bride, the Church, to the Father while holding high a glass of the prized wine of the kingdom of God?
Let your mind wander back in time to your branch that stayed faithfully connected to the vine. Consider the fruit of your branch. Can you name the varietal? Think about the DNA that flowed from the Vine into your branch. What work did you accomplish as part of the Vine? Does your fruit have flavors of hardship and sacrifice? Were love and joy mingled in the juice from your fruit?
Take a moment to envision the fruit of your branch combined with the fruit of so many other branches to create the ultimate communion wine. How does this inspire you?
Give thanks to God…
“And dying’s underrated, it’s a ticket to the feast-
The one we’re all invited to, from the greatest to the least
I hope we sit together when Jesus serves the wine
So I can look into your eyes
when I taste it the first time…
We’ll tip our glasses to the Host
who used to look so hazy
And drink it down all sweet and slow
and slip inside His mind
And realize as it goes down-
this is communion wine”