They Gave Him Wine Mingled with Myrrh

In this part of the sermon: This section delves into the core question: why Jesus resolutely refused the drugged wine. Martin clarifies that Jesus was not a Stoic or a Masochist, nor did he refuse it due to…

Martin recounts how Jesus' detractors called him a 'wine-bibber' and 'glutton,' illustrating that Jesus did not avoid wine for ascetic reasons, which supports the argument that his refusal of the drugged wine was for other, deeper reasons.

And surely, our Lord was not an aesthetic. Some might suggest, well, there was wine and our Lord certainly would not imbibe any alcoholic beverages. Well, we know from the Gospel records, this is not true. In fact he so enjoyed the full Deputy Pretty Stoic course meals in Ben Quesjat and the wine that his detractors said, Ha! Wine-bibber! Glutton! Friend of publicans and sinners.

12:11 - 12:38 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section delves into the core question: why Jesus resolutely refused the drugged wine. Martin clarifies that Jesus was not a Stoic or a Masochist, nor did he refuse it due to…

The first miracle of Jesus turning water into wine at Cana is used as an example to further demonstrate that Jesus was not against wine, reinforcing that his refusal of the drugged wine was not due to asceticism.

And it was our Lord Jesus whose first miracle in Cana of Galilee was adding to the joy of an extended wedding feast by bringing adequate wine into that feast. And those who were connoisseurs of the wine said to the head of the feast, You've saved the best until last. So these could not be reasons that in any way entered in to our Lord refusing to take the drugged wine. Let me set before you two things that I believe from the analogy of Scripture we can say answer the question, Why did Jesus resolutely refuse the drugged wine?

12:39 - 13:21 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Then secondly and probably in even a more dominant way he refused the drugged wine to ensure his complete sensibility to all of the realities of the consummate suffering of the next three hours.

Martin shares a personal story of being under anesthesia and fighting the 'never-never land' feeling, using it as an analogy to explain why Jesus would refuse a narcotic – to maintain full mental faculties for his crucial work on the cross.

of someone half drugged and insensitive to the world of reality the mind in the fog that some of us know what that fog is like we're lying there in the operating room and the sodium pentothal begins to take effect and we're halfway between this world and some la la land elsewhere and then when we're coming out of surgery and we're being brought into the recovery room and the stupid babblings that come out of us at times at least out of me one of them I remember so distinctly fighting that horrible sense of being in never never land I remember being wheeled down the hall and seeing a clock and ...

19:36 - 21:03 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He refused the second cup the cup of drugged wine that he might drink the first cup the cup of the wrath of God filled to the brim without mixture.

The vivid image of a prize fighter staggering after being hit is used to describe Jesus' struggle in Gethsemane before the cup of God's wrath, highlighting the intensity of his internal conflict and his ultimate resolve.

in his death but above all he had another cup to drink this cup of drugged wine he refuses for all of these reasons I've already given but supremely because it was another cup it was the cup presented to him in Gethsemane that dark foreboding cup filled to the brim with the Father's pure unleashed fury against the sins of those for whom Christ is about to die and he's already encountered that cup in the garden and his initial response is he draws back from that cup oh my Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me and he goes back again and staggers like a drunken man the Greek is vivid...

22:29 - 23:57 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Small comfort you can have from eased nerve endings if the price you pay is a bloodied conscience.

Martin quotes a stanza from a hymn to beautifully capture the perspective of submissive faith in accepting God's difficult dealings, even when they seem bitter, trusting in His ultimate goodness and long-term purposes.

It's beautifully captured in that hymn, number 94 in our hymn book. The third stanza captures this very perspective that I'm trying to articulate. What e'er my God ordains is right. Though now this cup in drinking may bitter seem to my faint heart, I take it all unshrinking.

39:41 - 40:03 Read in full sermon