CHRIST WHO TREADS IN THE WINEPRESS In the previous chapter the Church appeared as a bride who enjoys her attribution to God, her Savior and Groom. Now, He presents us with a portrait of the Groom who delivers his life for the sake of his bride. 1. The Crucified Christ 1-6. 2. A praise for the loving kindness of the Lord 7-9. 3. God remembers His old works with them 10-14. 4. A prayer of penitence 15-19. 1. THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST On the day the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem the Edomites, not only watched happily, but played a positive role against Jerusalem, by catching those who escaped to deliver them captives; beside entering with their sheep to graze in Jerusalem, etc. That is why the Psalmist cries out saying, “Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom; the day of Jerusalem, who said, ‘Raze it, raze it,’ to its very foundation!” (Psalm 137: 7) And the prophet Obadiah says, “For your violence against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. In the day that you stood on the other side; in the day that strangers carried captive his forces; when foreigners entered his gates, and cast lots for Jerusalem - Even you were as one of them.” (Obadiah 10, 11) Edom (meaning ‘dust’ and ‘bloodthirsty’) refers to the devil; that is why the Savior appears as One coming from Edom with red apparel in majesty and greatness, treading the enemy and trampling him, as though in a winepress, to grant His people victory and salvation. “Who is this who comes from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah? This One who is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength - ‘I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” (Is. 63: 1) The prophet looked at the Savior, raised on the cross, destroying the real Edom, and granting victory and splendor to His believers; so he started asking Him: Who are You? From where are you coming? How do you feel? What is your work? And what is your goal? As to His identity He answered: “I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” (Is. 63:1) There are many, who speak in righteousness, and speak well about it, even some of the religious leaders and teachers of that time. But the Savior, Our Lord Jesus, is the only One, capable of speaking in righteousness “mighty to save;” namely the practical righteousness, that grants a lavation from the enemy, and enjoyment of eternity. He, alone, is the Righteous “Who knew no sin“ (2 Corinthians 5: 21); who bore our sins in His body to atone it by His shed blood, presenting us with His righteousness as our own. He is unique in His righteousness. On one side, He is the only One who is absolutely blameless; and, on the other side, He is capable of justifying others. He is the righteous in whom the Father is well pleased, He carries us in Him, so that we would be counted as well, as subjects of His pleasure. The Lord Christ speaks righteousness, not just with His blessed mouth, but with all His being and life, that He delivered, by His own sacred will, through His divine love, 7 for the sake of justifying us; to mend our corrupt nature, so that we may be partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1: 4). He saw Him coming from ‘Edom,’ meaning ‘dust’ or ‘blood;’ as though the Lord came to where we have fallen, to ‘Edom,’ where we got back to our dust, in order to turn our dust into heaven. We were told: “For dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3: 19); But now, as our heavenly Savior descended to our earth to get us unified with Him, we hear the divine voice, saying instead: ‘For heaven you are, and to heaven you shall return.’ This is the righteousness of Christ, that lifts us, as though from trash, to set us in His heavens. On another side, as we became ‘Edom’ (blood), fight-loving, or haters of others, our Christ came to the land of battle, to take us away from the hands of the devil, who love blood-shedding, to make our hearts wide by love, and self-giving. As to His work, He said, “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me.” (Is. 63: 3) He entered into the battle of the cross alone; and as He said to His disciples: “You will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” (John 16: 32). “His garments like one who treads in the winepress,” (Is. 63: 2) as they clothed Him with purple to mock Him (Mark 15: 17). It refers as well to His body being covered with blood from His multiple wounds. Such deliverance is the mystery of exalted beauty, comprehended by whoever experienced the cross as God’s power for salvation. That is why it is said, “This One who is glorious in His apparel.” (Is. 63: 1) He did a marvelous ordinance for the suffering body that was adorned with passion and glorified with Deity. There is nothing more sweet and beautiful1. St. Gregory of Nazianzus What He did revealed of His great love and zeal toward His bride, whom He desired to set free from the enemy - the devil, and to grant her enjoyment of the year of the permanent Jubilee or of redemption (Is. 63: 4). 2. A PRAISE FOR THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF THE LORD The prophet did not find what the Church, the bride redeemed with blood, would give back, for the persistent loving-kindness of God, which has been demonstrated in its deepest form on the cross, except praising Him. God has not presented His lovingkindness for any return, but out of His mercy and compassion, considering us His people and children, sharing with us our afflictions and sufferings. What a marvelous love! “In all their affliction He was afflicted; and the angel of His presence saved them.” (Is. 63: 9) 3. GOD REMEMBERS HIS OLD WORKS WITH THEM If man, in his folly, takes on an antagonistic position to his Creator and Redeemer, God in His love recalls His old works with them, how He took care of them through Moses, how He dwelt in their midst by His Holy Spirit, and how He split the sea before them, to glorify His name in them. God still desires to lead His people by Himself. Indeed He chastises them for their antagonism, yet, He anticipates their return. That is what He meant by saying, “But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; So He turned Himself 1 Orat. On Easter, 35. 8 against them as an enemy, and He fought against them. Then He remembered the days of old...” (Is. 63: 10, 11) If we are praying and reciting psalms before Him proudly and in a critical way; if we are executing our ministry with a distracted mind, He will not only refrain from listening to us, but he will deliver us to the evil one... He will turn Himself against us, to fight us as an opponent. In other words, He will drive us out of His presence, and “deliver us to Satan, that we may learn not to blaspheme.” (1 Timothy 1: 20)1 Fr. Martyrus the Syrian 4. A PRAYER OF PENITENCE When we fall into evil, and stand in antagonism to God, God remains anticipating our return. We should not justify our transgressions, but should seek His love and zeal for us, being our Father who knows and acknowledges us more than Abraham, the father of believers, and than Israel himself (Is. 63: 16). “Look down from heaven, and see from Your habitation, holy and glorious.” (Is. 63: 15) That is how the sinner feels as though he has defiled the earth with his sin; and as though God has departed from the earth to stay in heaven, His sanctuary and place of His glory. That is why he seeks God’s compassion, asking Him to look down from His pure heavens toward the fallen soul that is yearning to return to Him and to enjoy His presence. That feeling, probably came as a result to the devastation that happened to the temple of the Lord. The prophet Ezekiel seeing the glory of the Lord departing from the temple and the city (Jerusalem), and even from the whole earth, he says, “Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the Cherubim. And the Cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight.” (Ezekiel 10: 18, 19) “Where are Your zeal... and Your mercies toward me, are they restrained?” (Is. 63: 15) Penitence is based on the discovery of God’s zeal, His deep and exalted love toward His children, and His mercies toward man whatever his weaknesses are. It is based as well on acknowledging his adoption to Him (Deuteronomy 32: 6; Is. 63: 16). “O Lord, why have you made us stray from your ways, and hardened our heart from your fear? Return for your servants’ sake the tribes of Your inheritance.” (Is. 63: 17) It is obvious here, that the penitent does not mean to place the blame upon God; but once discovering His Fatherhood, he started saying how he expected the support of His grace. Indeed he sinned and went far in his sin, so “God gave (him) over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” (Romans 1: 28), and left him to the hardness of his heart. But now he is seeking His grace, so as not to go astray from the way of the Lord, and not to remain on his hardness of heart. This is what the Psalmist meant by saying, “With my whole heart I have sought You. Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments.” (Psalm 119: 10) When one gets under chastisement, he feels so bitter, that he starts to admonish 1 Book of Perfection, 77. 9 God, sometimes beseeching Him, not to forsake him in the corruptness of his mind and hardness of his heart; and sometimes entreating him to have mercy upon him for the sake of His blessed saintly servants who pray for humanity (Is. 63: 17). He finally asks Him to hasten to help him, if the duration of chastisement lasts too long. The prophet expresses this, saying, “Your holy people have possessed it but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary. We have become like those of old, over whom you never ruled, those who were never called by Your name”(Is. 63: 18, 19). They considered the period during which the people possessed the temple (the Lord’s Sanctuary) as ‘a little while,’ although it extended for about 400 years (from the time the temple was built to that of captivity); but, as far as the duration of captivity (70 years) is concerned, they felt that it lasted too long, because of its bitterness. They have become under captivity, like other nations as if God had never ruled over them to rescue them from this bitterness and as if they were never called by His name. As they tasted the bitterness of captivity, they yearned to become once more ruled by God, and called by His name, to be saved by Him.
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