And immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
Read Chapter 27
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink. All these were ready at hand, for the drink used to be given to those who were crucified. They did this as soon as Jesus had cried, "I thirst" ( John 19:28), His fifth word on the Cross. The sponge was for Christ to suck out the vinegar, as they could not lift a cup to His lips. The sponge is preserved in St. John"s Lateran. Wine was usually given to those who were crucified, to quench their thirst, and strengthen them to bear their tortures. But the Jews (and, the soldiers to gratify the Jews" hatred to Christ) offered Him vinegar instead ( Psalm 69:22). De Lyra says (quoting Proverbs 31:6) that devout women used to prepare wine flavoured with spices, but that the Jews on this occasion took it away, and put in its stead vinegar mingled with gall.
Now they gave it Him in mockery, to give Him pain by the bitterness of the draught; to increase and not to quench H...
But mark herein also their wantonness, and intemperance, and folly. They thought (it is said) that it was Elias whom He called, and straightway they gave Him vinegar to drink. Matthew 27:48 But another came unto Him, and pierced His side with a spear. What could be more lawless, what more brutal, than these men; who carried their madness to so great a length, offering insult at last even to a dead body?
But mark thou, I pray you, how He made use of their wickednesses for our salvation. For after the blow the fountains of our salvation gushed forth from thence.
