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Red, Red Wine in Our Heads
 Stumbling on monster leftovers from historical temples, eyes looking up, I was not paying attention to where I was going climbing a big step here, and another there. It was all rock as old as history can be. I stepped back to take a picture and fell over a monster rock, to my embarrassment, and busted my camera. Oh how I remember that when I went with Sergio. We were on a cruise that stopped at Ephesus. We also climbed up a hill to pay homage to the small home where Holy Mary was supposed to have lived out her life at the good hand of St John. There was a small vineyard nearby. It reminded me of this parable of the Tenants. Something usually messes up when you are in holy places.
There is nothing shocking about wine. On record, a very ancient record, there was proof of the earliest fermentation of some sort of wine in Georgia (not USA) from 6000 BC. That means wine has been a good thing for 8000 years today; then it appeared in West Azerbaijan in Iran and Armenia and Sicily and even China, who mixed wine with rice. Was this the substitute for water which might not have been sufficiently tasty? The oldest known winery was in Vayots Dzor in Armenia around 4100 BC and Persian wine was known as top in quality. Of course, in Genesis we became familiar with Noah’s overdose on wine after the great flood. Actually, there was red wine in abundance in ancient Egypt, but the pharaoh did not drink wine nor offer it to the gods because he felt it was the blood of those who had once battled against the gods and from whom, when they had fallen, became commingled with the earth. There is probably more information about wine and vineyards from its beginning to today than the whole Library of Congress and the action today is to continue to create new tastes and types of wine wherever the soil is cheerful enough for it to grow. Our favorite is Nabona wine in Carmelo which is a couple of miles from our cottage on the Rio de la Plata. Their heavy tannat wine is hard to beat.
Interestingly European grapes were first to arrive through Mexico, thanks to the Spanish conquistadors, because they needed it for the Catholic Holy Eucharist. There was a devastating phylloxera blight in 19th century Europe, but native American wine was immune to the pest so had a good business to keep wine drinkers happy. Drinking wine, apparently has always been something spiritual. It turned the brain into the spirit that became part of our holy Eucharist, remembering Jesus’ Last Supper. On another side, the Islamic folk negated production or sipping wine of any kind, although at some point, they admitted that it had medicinal and fragrant uses.
Vineyards are often symbolic in the Bible. Jesus tells a story about a landowner who labored big time to put together a vineyard - built a wall, dug a winepress, constructed a watchtower, planted the appropriate trees. When it was fixed up properly, he rented it out to some farmers, and moved to another place, where maybe he put together another vineyard. We don’t know. Vineyards can be addictive. When it became time to harvest the vineyard - and that should have taken about three years for the first crop to settle in, it seems, as we live here in Carmelo among vineyards and often see how long it takes for the short trees to curve and twist and grow to be able to offer a crop of grapes. Not all vineyards shine with abundant grapes and shady branches, nor do they respond to the soil, which really makes a difference in the flavor and category of wines.
Isaiah describes Israel as the Lord’s vineyard. He cried that his beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He did the hard work of digging the soil and clearing it of stones, and planting the best vines available. He even built a watchtower which cost an entire season of labor and planting the “choicest vines” would take a second season. it would take three seasons for the first fruits to appear and one would know if it was a good crop or a bad one. He even “hewed” out a wine vat in it. He thought he had the answer to producing super grapes. Instead, it produced sour grapes or bad fruit (often here in wine country we see small fields of dead vineyards along our route home, suggesting failure or giving up) .But Isaiah was describing Israel as the Lords’ vineyard and it was producing bad fruit.
Working in vineyards was the livelihood of Judah’s people, or the Jews, as they slaved hard for those years to produce the first crop of grapes. Nothing prospered so what does one do with the worthless vineyard? It’s symbolic of Israel and Judah. The land in Israel was a gift from God to be held in trust by each family, yet these families were greedy and the rich skirted the requirements for a prosperous vineyard while dispossessing people, the poor, from their land - so the land of the rich would only possess about a tenth of what would be expected of such high quality trees. It’s typical rich doing their rich things, and ignoring the poor.
Isaiah cried out to the dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah: Judge between “me” and my vineyard. I looked for good grapes, but it yielded only bad. So now what do I do?
I will take away its hedge; break down its wall, make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it. “
It was the Lord’s way of explaining to the nation of Israel and the people of Judah that he delighted in the vines, and looked for justice, but saw bloodshed instead of righteousness. He heard cries of distress because as usual, greed dominated. The land in Israel was a gift from God to be held in trust by each family, yet the wealthy had no time for God, for faith and religion, as they were searching out their own desires for wealth, pleasure and entertainment. They ignore their Creator. Thy lacked the right priorities and it still goes on today, if not worse than ever.
Jesus’s parable also used vineyard language to point out that most important is to know that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from us and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls (referring to the chief priests and Pharisees who dominate the people in Jerusalem.) The stone that the builders had rejected had become the cornerstone. The Lord did this for us. Those who will get this magnificent vineyard forever are the ones who produced the best fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.
Another landowner who planted a vineyard, did all the same things Isaiah mentioned and at harvest time, he sent his trusty slaves to collect the produce; but the tenants beat one, killed another and stoned another. Not a very healthy welcoming, yet he sent more and more workers then finally, he sent his son, which delighted the tenants who set out to kill him and get his inheritance (the vineyard). But the landowner, never gave up. He slaughtered the bad guys and, and found better tenants who had at least tried to produce a good harvest for him. The stone that the builders rejected became the cornerstone of our faith. And the point of all this is the kingdom of God will be taken away from the evil ones and given to the people who produce the fruits of the kingdom. Good people, Healthy wine. And a generous sharing of his crops.
~ Rev
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audrey@audreytaylorgonzalez.com
www.audreytaylorgonzalez.com
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