The Church together with her Head, our Lord Jesus Christ, will remain in a state of grief over sinners until they return to God and submit to the Father. Christ said, “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine, from now on, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s Kingdom” (Matt. 26:29). Origen commenting on these words says that wine in
1061 Origen, Homilies on Numbers , ed. Christopher A. Hall, trans. Thomas P. Scheck (Downer Groves, IL: IVP Academic, 2009) 5.2.2: p. 18.
1062 A. Harnack, Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte (4 ed. rev.) (Tubingen: J. Mohr, 1909): p. 439ff; and Ernest Latko, Origen’s Concept of penance (Laval,1949): p. 69.
1063 Origen, Homilies on Genesis 1.7 (FOTC 71:55).
1064 Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 11.3 (FOTC 83:215).
1065 Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 11.3 (FOTC 83:215).
1066 St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Unity of the Catholic Church 6 (ANF 5:423).
Scripture symbolizes spiritual joy. God promised His people that He would bless their wine, namely, He will grant them an abundance of spiritual joy. This is why priests were forbidden to drink wine before they entered the temple, for they were supposed to be in a state of grief while offering sacrifices for the sinners. However, once there is reconciliation between God and sinners, their joy will be perfected. According to Origen, Christ Himself, together with His saints, are constantly waiting for the repentance of sinners. Their joy, therefore, is not yet perfect.
According to Origen, “For we must not think that Paul is mourning for sinners and weeping for those who transgress, but Jesus my Lord abstains from weeping when he approaches the Father, when he stands at the altar and offers a propitiatory sacrifice for us. This is not to drink the wine of joy ‘when he ascends to the altar’ because he is still bearing the bitterness of our sins. He, therefore, does not want to be the only one to drink wine ‘in the kingdom’ of God. He waits for us, just as he said, ‘Until I shall drink it with you.’ Thus, we are those who, neglecting our life, delay his joy.”1067
Again he says, “Let us see what it is, however, that it meant ‘in part.’ Now, for example, I am ‘subjected’ (1 Cor. 15:8) to God according to the spirit, that is, by intention and free will. But as long as within me ‘the flesh strives against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and I have not yet been able to subject the flesh to the spirit, certainly I am "subjected" to God, not in whole but "in part." But if I could draw my flesh and all my other members into harmony with the spirit, then I will seem to be perfectly "subjected."
“If you have understood what it is to be "subjected in part" and in whole, return now also to that which we set forth concerning the subjection of the Lord. See that, although we are all said to be his body and members, he is said not to be "subjected" as long as there are some among us who have not yet been subjected by the perfect subjection. But when "he shall have completed" his "work" and brought his whole creation to the height of perfection, then he is said to be "subjected" in these whom he subjected to the Father. In these, "he finished the work that God had given him that God may be all in all." But what is the purpose of all this? That we may understand what we treated above, how he does not drink wine or how he drinks it. He drinks before "he entered the Tent, before he approached the altar."
“But he does not drink now because he stands at the altar and mourns for my sins. On the other hand, he will drink later, when "all things will have been subjected to him" and after the salvation of all and the death of sin is destroyed. Then it will no longer be necessary to offer "sacrifices for sin." For then there will be joy and delight. Then "the humble bones will rejoice," and what was written will be fulfilled: "Pain, sorrow and sighing flee away." But let us not omit that it is said not only about Aaron that "he should not drink wine," but also about his sons when they enter the sanctuary. For indeed even the apostles have not yet received
1067 Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 7.2 (FOTC 83:135).
their joy, but they also await that I may be a partaker of their joy. For the saints, when they leave this place, do not immediately obtain the whole rewards of their merits.
“They also wait for us though we delay, even though we remain. For they do not have perfect delight as long as they grieve for our errors and mourn for our sins. Perhaps you do not believe me when I say this. For who am I that I am so bold to confirm the meaning of such a doctrine? But I produce their witness about whom you cannot doubt. For the Apostle Paul is "the teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth." Therefore, in writing to the Hebrews, after he had enumerated all the holy fathers who were justified by faith, he adds after all that, "But those who had every witness through the faith did not yet obtain the new promise since God was looking forward toward something better for us that they might not obtain perfection without us." You see, therefore, that Abraham is still waiting to obtain the perfect things. Isaac waits, and Jacob and all the Prophets wait for us, that they may lay hold of the perfect blessedness with us.
“For this reason therefore, that mystery of the delayed judgment is also kept until the lastday. For there is "one body" which is waiting to be justified. There is "one body" that is said to rise from the dead in judgment. "For although there are many members, there is only one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, you are not necessary to me." Likewise, if the eye is healthy and is not troubled in what pertains to seeing, if the rest of the members are absent, what delight will there be for the eye? Or how can it seem to be perfect if it does not have a hand, if the feet are absent, or the other members are not present? For is there is some excellent glory of the eye, it is particularly in this: that either it is the leader of the body or it is not abandoned by the functions of the other members. I think this is what is taught to us through that vision of the prophet Ezekiel when he says that "bone must be joined to bone, joint to joint, and nerves and veins and skin, and each must be restored to its place. Next, see what the prophet adds: "These bones" - he did not say, all men are, but he said, "these bones" - "are the house of Israel."
“Therefore, you will have delight when you depart this life if you are holy. But then the delight will be full when you lack none of the members of the body. For you will wait for others just as you also are waited for. Because if the delight does not seem to be complete for you who are a member, if another member is missing, how much more does our Lord and Savior, who is the head, and the originator of the whole body, consider his delight to be incomplete as long as he sees one of the members to be missing from his body. And for this reason, perhaps, he poured out this prayer to the Father: “Holy Father, glorify me with that glory that I had with you before the world was.” Thus, he does not want to receive his complete glory without us, that is, without his people who are his body and his members. For he himself wants to live in this body of his Church and in these members of his people as in their soul that he can have all impulses and all works according to his own will, so that that saying of the prophet may be truly fulfilled in us, “I will live in them and walk [among them]”. Now, however, as long as we are not all "perfected," and are still in [our] sins he is in us "in part." For this reason, "we know in part and we prophesy in part, until each one is
worthy to come to that measure which the Apostle says, “I live, but it is no longer, for Christ lives in me.” Therefore, "in part," as the Apostle says, now "we are his members and "in part we are his bones.’”1068