by Fr. Tim Kelly
A few weeks ago I came across a beautiful crucifixion scene and I wanted to know more about i
t. It is part of a manuscript in Hildesheim in Germany. I think that it is one of the most interesting theological icons I have ever seen. Mary stands on the left while John is on the right. Above Mary is a figure called Life while the opposite side has a grotesque figure representing Death. The scroll draped over Jesus reads “O Death, I will be your death. O Hell, I will be your bite.”
The central panel shows Christ dead upon the cross. His side is being pierced by the soldier. Another man presents a sponge to Jesus with the sour vinegar. Both these scenes are connected to the overall theme of this painting. Christ pours out his blood for the world and we will drink it as the sweet wine of the Eucharist. The man on the left offers sour wine to Christ, offers him the fruit of the sour grapes of wrath.
Above Christ on the left is a figure representing the Church while to the right is a figure representing the synagogue. The man wears a pointed hat, the same type that was compulsory for Jews when they went out in Christian towns. It is probably from this regulation that we get the tradition of the witches’ pointed hat, since the Jews were often blamed for doing magic and for occult practices. Medieval society was poisoned by anti-Semitism.
He has trampled out the Vintage where the Grapes of Wrath are stored.
Below the cross there is a scene which I have never before seen in a crucifixion. A young man is standing in a tub, crushing grapes for wine. This young man’s action recalls the ‘grapes of wrath’ that we find in the Book of Isaiah and in Revelation. The blood of vengeance in Isaiah reminds us that God the Father desires a victory over Death.
The medieval Christians looked at the Incarnation as a defeat for death and Satan. In the Fall, God had been cheated by Satan. God revenge on the devil was a sweet victory for Him, like the sweet taste of wine. God tastes the sweet wine of vengeance when he tastes the Grapes of Wrath. These grapes are crushed at the foot of the Cross, as the blood of Christ drips into the vat. The wine of God’s vengeance is the blood of His Son.
Death was never part of God’s plan. Therefore, God the Father sends his Son into the world to take vengeance on Death and the Father of Death, who is the Devil. Medieval Christians understood the grapes of wrath to represent as a prophecy about Christ’s victory over death. There is an obvious association between the crushed grapes and the blood flowing from the side of Christ.
In the Book of Revelation we find the following;
“Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has power over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Put in your sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe." So the angel swung his sickle on the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God." (Revelation 14:18-19)
God orders that all the vintage of the earth be thrown into his winepress. There it will turn into the new wine which pours out after God has crushed everything. In his wrath, God will crush the world and create a new and finer wine from that disreputable vintage. The grapes of wrath will be turned into a new wine. The crucifixion is the winepress that crushes out the vintage of old sin. In this crucifixion, God creates a new wine. The apparent disaster of Good Friday is akin to the apparent destruction that happens in the winepress. But out of both apparent disasters comes a new wine that is worth all the waiting. The new covenant is indeed sealed in blood and death, but the new wine of Christ is sweet to taste.
The winepress at the foot of the Cross is an allegory for the action that has taken place on the cross. The Lord has been crushed and he bleeds. The grapes are crushed and they bleed. From both of these comes forth a new wine, a new food for the feast with God.
In the beauty of the lilies, Christ is born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me,
As he died to make men holy, let us fight to make men free,
Our God is marching on.
In the Battle Hymn of the Republic we hear an echo of that old theology. The theology depends on believing in a very Old Testament God, a God of vengeance and wrath. The God of this hymn is certainly not a God of Love and Forgiveness. In this case, God is angry at America for the enslaving of his people. Slavery arouses the wrath of God against the Southern States. His Son is born in the beauty of the lilies. His Son dies so that humans can be holy. The Northern armies fight and die so that Humans, black or white, can be free. The sweet wine that is made from those Grapes of Wrath is drank by God and perhaps also by the victors. The hymn promises the Union soldier that he will drink the sweet wine of Victory.