ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Falaite Sanuali 27, 2023

The Fruit of the Vine

Ko e Fua ‘o e Vaine

GENESIS 9:20-21

NOAH BEGAN TO BE A MAN OF THE SOIL, AND HE PLANTED A VINEYARD. HE DRANK OF THE WINE AND BECAME DRUNK AND LAY UNCOVERED IN HIS TENT.

GENESIS 9:20-21

Pea hanga ‘a e fa‘a ko Noa ‘o tō vaine: pea ne inu mei he uaine ‘o ne konā; pea na‘a ne ta‘evala ‘i hono loto tēniti.

The early stories about yayin ("wine") do not bode well for its future positive use. Noah gets three sheets to the wind and sprawls naked in his tent. Lot's daughters get their dad drunk on wine, then have sex with him (19:30-38). Not a good first impression of the fruit of the vine. But its reputation brightens in other narratives. The priest-king Melchizedek, who is a foreshadowing of Jesus, brings out bread and yayin to Abraham (14:18). When Jacob blesses Judah, he says that tribe will be so rich in wine that they can use it to wash garments (49:11). And the end-time feast of the Messiah will feature "well-aged wine" (Isa. 25:6).

 On the night of his final Passover with his disciples, Jesus lifted up a cup of wine and said, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matt. 26:27-28). Yayin, called the "blood of grapes" in Jacob's blessing of his Judah (Gen. 49:11), is the drink of choice by the Messiah from Judah as he gives us his covenant blood to drink, that we might receive (what some church fathers called) the "sober intoxication of the Spirit."

 Quench our thirst, O Lord, with the wine of your mercy.