What is the significance of Jesus being offered wine vinegar during his crucifixion? Was it kindness/mockery?
New testament, gospels of Matthew,Mark, Luke and John.
Tagged with: mark luke • matthew mark • new testament • testament gospels
Filed under: All Things Wine
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
When Jesus Christ was on earth, the Roman soldiers drank a thin, tart, or sour, wine known in Latin as acetum (vinegar), or as posca, when it was diluted with water. This was likely the drink offered to Jesus Christ while he was on the torture stake. Jesus refused the sour wine drugged with myrrh (or gall) that was presented to him to alleviate his suffering. (Mr 15:23; Mt 27:34; compare Ps 69:21.) However, just before he expired, he received plain sour wine from a sponge when it was put to his mouth.—Joh 19:28-30; Lu 23:36, 37.
That first wine would have helped his pain.
it was mockery…and torture
Another sign of mockery by the Roman soldiers!!
What do you think?
The only part on which the four gospels agree is that Jesus died suddenly. If we read the gospels without the preconceptions nurtured in us by two millennia of tradition, it is clear that Jesus died not because of the process of crucifixion but because of the effect of some drink offered to him.
Mark reports (15:22-23):
And they took him to a place called Golgotha (which is interpreted as Place of the Skull). And they offered him wine treated with myrrh, but he did not take it. And when they had crucified him…
After Jesus refused it, he was attached to the cross; the words of the text may be understood as meaning that the soldiers proceeded to the crucifixion because he had refused the alternative of the drink. A drink was proffered to Jesus later when it was understood that he was calling for Elijah to save him. Apparently the possibility that the call to Elijah might be answered was taken seriously, because at that moment
…someone running soaked a sponge in wine and placing it around a cane gave him to drink, saying: Wait, let us see whether Elijah is coming to take him down. Then Jesus, uttering a great shout, let out the spirit.
The text of Matthew echoes that of Mark, using for the most part the very same words, but there is one significant difference. At the place of execution, just before the crucifixion and apparently as an alternative to it, they gave him to drink wine mixed with gall; and having tasted it, he refused to drink it. (27:34f). Later, after it was understood that he was calling for Elijah,
…immediately one of them, running, took a sponge replenished with wine and, having placed it around a cane, gave him to drink. The rest of them said: Wait, let us see whether Elijah is coming to save him. Then Jesus shrieking for the second time with a great scream gave up the spirit.
Jesus, while on the cross, said, “I thirst.” Did you know that what the Jews forced Him to drink was bile (from gall bladder) mixed with vinegar. It was a very bitter-tasting concoction. It was not wine. It was not the soldiers being kind or making a mockery of Him. It was to let Him suffer more.
This is what the Holy Spirit who we talk to said:
“Do you know that a forced-ripened fruit if eaten is bitter? Even though how much you try to soften a guava fruit by pressing it, if it is really unripe, the skin will just erupt, and if you eat it, it is bitter. Acrid and bitter. Unsavory. Forced to ripen.
“They say that forced-ripened fruit, if you eat it, is bitter. And if you say to Me now, ‘Father, I am not ready yet but if You like it 9to be taken or to die).’ Alas, this is forced-ripened fruit! And I don’t want to eat what is bitter. I am still tired of until now what is bitter. I still cannot forget when vinegar and bitter gall were forced into My mouth. And these are your habits and thoughts. These are your habits and thoughts. The vinegar and bitter gall.
“Sitio. I thirst. And the Jews approached the cross with a chalice containing vinegar and the bitter gall. They tried to force Me to drink it (the mixture). And the way by which they wanted Me to drink it is with a long split bamboo because the cross had already been stood up (set upright). That is why they got a long split bamboo, placed a piece of cloth at the end, dibbed it in the chalice containing vinegar and gall, put it in My mouth, and forced Me to drink it. And these are the thoughts and habits of people. That is the symbol of vinegar and gall—poisonous habits and thoughts that could not be gulped by anyone, that could not be drunk by anyone or could not be taken without being affected, even by your Lord God.
“That is why I search for all the people to gather them in order to sweeten them, to refine their habits and thoughts so that bitterness will be replaced by sweetness. And you are here now to whom I open My hear and chest so that your bitter desires and your habits that are as sour as vinegar and as bitter as gall will be replaced by sweetness.”