Changing Wine Into Water

For our times are not satisfied with faith and not even with the miracle of changing water into wine--they "go right on," changing wine into water.

--Soren Kierkegaard

There is a lot of folly in Kierkegaard's writings. However, there are also many nuggets of truth if one has eyes to see. The times have really not changed as much as we often think. As it was in Kierkegaard's time, the Gospel is offensive. Its call to radical commitment is unseemly. Its talk of heaven and hell is embarrassing. Its references to blood sacrifices, divine wrath, absolute exclusivity, and so many more "barbaric" notions are unacceptable to the modern or postmodern palate. For all of our vaunted interest in the supernatural, we really do not like it when we see it, when it confronts us, when it calls us to action. We prefer a natural religion, one which fits nicely and conveniently into our mental categories, one which we can meld into our daily exercise routine, one which improves our self image, one which causes us to feel warm and cozy, one which leaves us lethargically and comfortably in our sin and materialistic, pathetic groping for a meaning that mysteriously, inevitably, incessantly alludes us. We don't want the message from heaven to be broadcast upon the earth. We would much prefer to bind heaven in words of human folly. We want the bland, the benign, the non-intrusive, the innocuous. Yet, it is that message from heaven, that truth, which gives us life, that truth which is the lifeblood of our spiritual nature, causing us to rise above the mundane circumstances around us and behold the brightness of divine glory. If we would but once submit and partake of that cup, that heavenly wine, we would taste of enlightenment, freedom, and peace. We would drink the jars to the dregs.

Ah, but there is a catch. Once this wine is tasted, nothing in this world will satisfy again. Once tasted, the bland waters of worldly pleasures, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life, will no longer quench our thirst, for we live as if suspended between two worlds. Once eternity is implanted in the soul, it leaves a longing in the heart, an aching of the soul, that will not be fulfilled until we behold the face of Christ. So, drink the cup of the grace of Christ in a hunger and thirst for righteousness, partake of the draught of life, receive its eternal blessings, but be forewarned--it has a bite to it.

Honor, Liberty, Truth!