“There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.” – Matthew 27:34
I have read this more times than I can count, and every time I am grief stricken. But this morning I was puzzled about what “wine mixed with gall” actually is.
Was it some horrible additional torture, like some kind of human waste, mixed into the wine to add insult to an already broken man? What was it?
A brief search led me to the discovery that wine mixed with gall was a common medicine, a powerful pain reliever, an anesthetic. It was a known medicine, like our morphine and opioids.
It was like going into major surgery and saying no to anesthesia, only unlike our well intentioned surgeons, these men were executioners. They were trying to take the pain away from His suffering and death…
…and He refused it!!!
On realizing this, I was thunderstruck!!!
Our Lord was so willing to accept the cup of suffering for our sakes, that He embraced ALL the pain! He carried it ALL for us! He wasn’t refusing an insult. He was saying NO to an easier way out!
Gall, the opium from the poppy bulb, mixed with wine was for the relief of pain, a common remedy, often administered to those being executed.
“This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.’” – Matthew 8:17
Glory to the LAMB OF GOD!!!
♞
