Why Wine For His blood?

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Jaguar said:
Why did Chrst choose wine for the Sacrament, and not another liquid?
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**Because he was eating the Passover.

Passover - Last Supper
Lamb - Christ
Wine - Blood Baptism
Bread - Gentile Church
Bitter Herbs - Firey Trials of Life**
 
Lorik said:
Wine is sacred to the Jewish people. It is used whenever there is joining of the human and divine. Because wine is created by humans and God. Wine is “the work of human hands” but is transformed from grape juice to wine by God.
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I was going to post something similar but I’ll just second your comments. Both bread and wine are symbolic in this way because they are a joining of God’s gifts and human gifts (our effort required to turn grain into bread and grapes into wine).

Both bread and wine are symbolic microcosms of the story of salvation and sanctification, if you think about it.
 
It is said that when Jesus blessed the wine during the Last Supper, He would have been using any number of Jewish blessings. One of which is real similar to this:

Blessed are you, Lord God of all Creation.
Through your goodness we have this wine to offer.
Fruit of the vine and work of human hands,
it will become our Spiritual Drink.

The blessing of the bread sounds vaguely familiar too, I understand.
 
Epistemes said:
Aquinas gives a rather straightforward answer:
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Indeed, and further he says - first concerning whether wheaten bread is the right matter for the Eucharist:
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Aquinas:
Christ is contained in this sacrament, and He compares Himself to a grain of wheat, saying (John 12:24): “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone.” Therefore bread from corn, i.e. wheaten bread, is the matter of this sacrament.
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Likewise the wine from grapes are the appropriate matter for the drink of the Eucharist:
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Aquinas:
As our Lord compared Himself to the grain of wheat, so also He compared Himself to the vine, saying (John 15:1): “I am the true vine.” But only bread from wheat is the matter of this sacrament, as stated above (3). Therefore, only wine from the grape is the proper matter of this sacrament.
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So wine and bread are proper symbols* for the person of Christ. He makes the parable himself. Christ is the seed that dies and gives life (bread) to us all, and he is the vine, which is the Church. In this sacrement, we participate in Christ’s nature, and his redemptive work.
  • I don’t mean “symbols” as in "mere symbols, I believe in the Real Presence.
And further:
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Aquinas:
I answer that, This sacrament can only be performed with wine from the grape. First of all on account of Christ’s institution, since He instituted this sacrament in wine from the grape, as is evident from His own words, in instituting this sacrament (Matthew 26:29): “I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine.” Secondly, because, as stated above (3), that is adopted as the matter of the sacraments which is properly and universally considered as such. Now that is properly called wine, which is drawn from the grape, whereas other liquors are called wine from resemblance to the wine of the grape. Thirdly, because the wine from the grape is more in keeping with the effect of this sacrament, which is spiritual; because it is written (Psalm 103:15): "That wine may cheer the heart of man."
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  • CB
(Quotes from Summa Theologica, part 3, question 74, article 3 and 5)
 
There are probably a few reasons that we can discern, and a few that are really up to God.

At the time wine was used in ceremonies, but so was blood. Also, wine was part of cult rituals. Jesus showed a measure in the use of it, but he also showed the most perfect use for it: communion.

I would suggest it DOES matter, because this is what God chose, and in that sense it matters a whole lot. But I would also suggest that it may not be fully understandable, and thus a mystery.

On the other hand, sake (rice wine) doesn’t really look like blood, and neither does beer nor grape juice for that matter: the closest thing we have to blood, work of human hands, and fruit is wine.

But that is blood that has been oxygenated, that is, has entered the world and not stayed in the body, that has been shed, thus there is another symbolic attribute.

It is also good for digestion according to Paul (I think it was St. Paul who said that). What better way to digest the body of Christ than with His blood in the form of wine?

Also, the process of making wine, both the natural process of harvesting grapes, and the technical process of making wine is fairly unique to grape wine.

And what is a body without blood? Likewise, what was the Wedding at Cana without wine? Lifeless is the answer to both of these. We can be baptized and that is good, and a seal, but what is baptism without living out baptismal promises? Lifeless. What is a sacrament (marriage) without celebration? Lifeless.

God bless
Aaron
 
LilyM said:
God, with a little help from yeast 🙂
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Actually you do not **need **yeast to make wine. It speeds up the process, no doubt, but is not necessary. Buy a bottle of 100% pure grape juice and just leave it alone for a few months. You’ll have wine eventually. 👍
 
Jaguar said:
Why did Chrst choose wine for the Sacrament, and not another liquid?
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There were no water purifiers so water was unsafe to drink…

Mainly because the passover used wine (NT full flowering of the OT kinda thing)
 
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