ACC ~ John 19 v29

HUMILIATION OF THE EXALTED ONE

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: He is given vinegar to drink mingled with gall. Who? He who turned water into wine, [1] the destroyer of the bitter taste who is sweetness and altogether desire. ON THE SON, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 3(29).20. [2]

[1] Jn 2:1-11.

[2] NPNF 2 7:309.

WINE TURNED SOUR INDICATES CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES

DIONYSIUS OF ALEXANDRIA: The sour wine perhaps signified the sharp turn and change that happened to Jesus—freedom from suffering instead of suffering, immortality instead of death, incorruption instead of corruption, judging instead of being judged, reigning as king instead of suffering from tyranny. For the sponge, as I think, signified the entire and complete infusion of the Holy Spirit that was in him. The reed implied the royal scepter and the divine law. The hyssop showed his living and saving resurrection through which he restored us also to health. FRAGMENT 42. [1]

[1] AEG 6:79; LDA 240-41.

THE VINE OF ISRAEL OFFERS JESUS VINEGAR

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Jesus says, “I thirst”—he who had brought forth water for them out of the craggy rock. Then he asked for fruit of the vine that he had planted. But what does the vine do? When the Lord was thirsty, this vine … having filled a sponge and put it on a reed, offers him vinegar. “They gave me also gall for my food, and in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.” [1] See how clear the prophet’s description is. But what sort of gall did they put into my mouth? “They gave him,” it says, “wine mingled with myrrh.” [2] Now myrrh tastes a lot like gall, and very bitter. Are these things how you reward the Lord? Are these your offerings, O vine, for your master? The prophet Isaiah was right when in times past he wailed, “My beloved had a vineyard in a hill in a fruitful place … and I waited for it to bring forth grapes.” I thirsted, and it should have given me wine “but sprouted thorns instead.” [3] CATECHETICAL LECTURES 13.29. [4]

[1] Ps 69:21 (68:22 LXX).

[2] Mk 15:23.

[3] Is 5:1, 2.

[4] NPNF 2 7:90**.

THE VINEGAR OF FAITHLESSNESS

AUGUSTINE: When he said, “I thirst,” he was looking for faith from his own people. But because “he came to his own possessions, but his own people did not receive him,” [1] instead of the sweetness of faith, they gave him the vinegar of faithlessness—and that in a sponge! They are indeed comparable to a sponge, a thing not solid but swollen; not open with straight access of confession but hollow with the tortuous twists and turns of treachery. It is true that that drink also contained hyssop, which is a lowly herb, said to have an extremely strong root with which to cling to the rock. There were some, that is to say, among that people, for whom this dark deed was kept as a means of humbling their souls by their repudiation of it later on and their repentance. The one who accepted the hyssop with the vinegar knew who they were. After all, as the other Evangelist bears witness, he even prayed for them when hanging on the cross. He said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” [2] SERMON 218.11. [3]

[1] Jn 1:11.

[2] Lk 23:34.

[3] WSA 3 6:186*.