Our main preaching pastor, Mark Driscoll, recently went to Israel to do some lengthly investigations and take some pictures with some of the staff of Mars Hill church (not with the church's money) as a prelude to launch a 3 year series on the book of Luke that we have been enjoying for about a month now. It has been an honor to be a part of this, since I do work at the church where he preaches live. (the others Mars Hill campuses see a televised verison of the preachings.) The first sermon of this series was very impacting, especially in the last part when the pastor explained to us the reason why Jesus, on the cross, was presented with a vinegar soaked sponge to drink from, on a stick. Here are the gospel verses:
Prophetic: (Psalm 69:21) They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
Fulfillment in the GospelsThey offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it,
he would not drink it. (Matt 27:34)
Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh,
but he did not take it. (Mark 15:23)
Matt 27: 46 - 50And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, "This man is calling Elijah." And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him." And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
(Almost exactly the wording in the account of Mark)John 19: 28 - 30After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst."A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Notice that not only did they give him this sponge on a stick mixed with liquids to drink before he was crucified, but also before he said "it is finished."
Here, pastor Mark explains what is going on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VmyRiBaegE&feature=channelPastor Mark has a stick with a sponge on it, similar to the one that was given to Jesus several times. The picture on the powerpoint board is of his children inspecting an ancient public toilet without stalls or toilet paper, and the clip begins with him explaining what some people decided to do to make a profit, and the rest is pretty obvious.
I was present at this sermon, and some people had tears running down their eyes. I was quite shocked. You just had to be there to understand fully. Many people waited a long time before taking communion afterwards, as they were just shocked and repenting. There was a lot of conviction going on, I'm sure of that. In community groups, this was talked about. Now I understand that the people did not give the sponge with the drink to Jesus to somehow comfort him or help ease pain. It was quite the opposite.