“For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.” Luke 22:18
What does this scripture mean? Does the kingdom come when He takes the vinegar on the Cross.
Can you help?
The Navarre, Ignatius Study and Orchard doesn’t assist.
God Bless,
Hal.
Hal, I think you are correct.
Both Matthew 27 and Mark 15 both have Jesus being offered wine before he is crucified, and he refuses to take it. John states that Jesus did take the wine but tells us that it was only after he was crucified, right before the moment of his death.
After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. (John 19:28-30)
John says that Jesus was “Aware that everything was finished”, that his mission had been acomplished, and so he drank the wine. Mark and Matthew however, state that Jesus had not yet been crucified, and so his mission had not been acomplished, and Jesus did not take the wine. In liight of Luke 22, I think the answer to your question is yes, it was an indication that the kingdom of God, Christ’s Church, had come to man on Earth.
This is one of the reasons why the Catholic Church teaches that the blood and water, signifying the Eucharist and Baptism, flowing from the side of Christ, was the sacramental birth of the Church. The physical birth of the visible Church was at Pentacost, but the Church as the Body of Christ was created as Christ’s body (the Church) hung on the cross dispensing blood (the Eucharist) and water (baptistm) upon the earth. God’s kingdom had been established and now the Church, as the body of Christ and God’s kingdom, was to continue Christ’s mission.
I think you are spot on Hal.
-Tim-
