John Calvin Commentary Matthew 26:29

"But I say unto you, I shall not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father`s kingdom." — Matthew 26:29 (ASV)

But I tell you. This sentence is placed by Matthew and Mark immediately after the Holy Supper, when Christ had given the symbol of his blood in the cup. From this, some infer that Luke relates here the same thing which we will find him repeating shortly afterwards. But this difficulty is easily resolved, because it is of little importance in itself at what precise moment Christ said this.

All that the Evangelists intend to state by this is that the disciples were warned both of their Master’s approaching death and of the new and heavenly life. For the nearer the hour of his death approached, the greater was the necessity for them to be confirmed, so that they might not fall away completely.

Again, as he intended to place his death before their eyes in the Holy Supper, as in a mirror, it was with good reason that he again declared that he was now leaving the world. But as this news was full of sadness, a consolation is immediately added: they have no reason to shrink from the thought of his death, which will be followed by a better life.

It is as if he had said: “It is true, indeed, that I am now hastening to my death, but it is so that I may pass from it to a blessed immortality, not to live alone without you in the kingdom of God, but to have you associated with me in the same life.”

Thus we see how Christ leads his disciples by the hand to the cross, and from there raises them to the hope of the resurrection. And as it was necessary that they should be directed to the cross of Christ, so that by that ladder they might ascend to heaven, so now, since Christ has died and been received into heaven, we should be led from the contemplation of the cross to heaven, so that death and the restoration of life may be found in agreement.

Till that day when I shall drink it new with you. It is clear from these words that he promises to them a glory which they will share with him. The objection made by some—that meat and drink are not applicable to the kingdom of God—is frivolous; for Christ means nothing more than that his disciples will soon be deprived of his presence, and that he will not from now on eat with them, until they enjoy together the heavenly life. As he points out their being associated in that life, which does not need the aids of meat and drink, he says that there will then be a new kind of drinking; by this term we are taught that he is speaking allegorically. Accordingly, Luke simply says, until the kingdom of God come. In short, Christ recommends to us the fruit and effect of the redemption which he procured by his death.

The opinion held by some—that these words were fulfilled when Christ ate with his disciples after his resurrection—is contrary to his meaning. For, since that was an intermediate condition between the course of a mortal life and the end of a heavenly life, the kingdom of God had not, at that time, been fully revealed. And therefore Christ said to Mary:

Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father (John 20:17).

Besides, the disciples had not yet entered into the kingdom of God, so as to drink new wine with Christ, being partakers of the same glory. And when we read that Christ drank after his resurrection, though he declared that he would not do so until he had assembled his disciples in the kingdom of God, the apparent contradiction is easily resolved.

For he is not speaking exactly of meat and drink, but of the fellowship of the present life. We know that Christ did not at that time drink for the purpose of invigorating his body with food, or of holding fellowship with his disciples, but only to prove his resurrection—of which they were still doubtful—and thus to elevate their thoughts.

Let us therefore rest satisfied with the natural meaning: that our Lord promises to his disciples that, having previously lived with them on earth as a mortal man, he will in the future make them his associates in a blessed and immortal life.