"And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means
the place of a skull), they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall, but
when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they
divided his garments among them by casting lots; then they sat down and kept
watch over him there." -
In all societies, man is clothed in some form. To strip a
man of his clothes is to debase him and remove him from society. He is fully
exposed and fully outcast. The soldiers cast lots for his garments; he no
longer has any possessions. They offer him wine, but it is mixed with something
else, something bitter like myrrh. Often soldiers would put a poison in the
wine to numb the prisoner; it would taste bitter but be a quicker death. Jesus
did not choose the quicker death; he chose to experience the full suffering,
the full humiliation, of crucifixion. Later, on the cross, he did take sour
wine, which was wine and vinegar, bad tasting but not poisonous. He took on all the pain, all the debasement, all the sour of the world.
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