ACC ~ Matthew 27 v33 - 34

WINE MINGLED WITH GALL

CHROMATIUS: When they had come to Golgotha, the Gospel says, “They gave him vinegar mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he refused to drink.” This event was foretold by David when he wrote, “They gave me gall for food, and they gave me vinegar to slake my thirst.” [1] Take note of the mystery revealed here. Long ago, Adam tasted the sweetness of the apple and obtained the bitterness of death for the whole human race. In contrast to this, the Lord tasted the bitterness of gall and obtained our restoration from death’s sting to the sweetness of life. He took on himself the bitterness of gall in order to extinguish in us the bitterness of death. He received acrid vinegar into himself but poured out for us the precious wine of his blood. He suffered evil and returned good. He accepted death and gave life. The location of his death is also not without significance, for it is reported that the body of Adam is buried in that very ground. [2] Christ was crucified there where Adam was buried, that life might arise where death once entered. Death comes through Adam, but life comes through Christ, who deigned to be crucified and to die so that by the wood of the cross he might erase the sin of the tree and by the mystery of his own death he might cancel the punishment of our death. TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 19.7. [3]

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

[2] The evidence is nil. The reasoning comes from the typology of Rom 5.

[3] CCL 9a:93.

THE WINE NOT WITH GALL CONTRASTED

ORIGEN: Just as it sufficed for the Lord only to taste “vinegar mixed with gall,” [1] so also was it sufficient for our benefit that he only taste death, which lasted no longer than three days. The other wine, however, which was not “mixed with gall” or with anything else, he took and drank, and “when he had given thanks,” [2] he gave it to his disciples, promising that he would drink it “anew in the kingdom of God.” [3] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 127. [4]

[1] Origen indicates that Jesus tasted the vinegar mixed with gall but did not drink it, interpreting the gesture as indicative of the transitory nature of his Passion, as opposed to the perennial quality of eschatological rest symbolized by the wine he was to drink with his disciples in the kingdom of heaven.

[2] Mt 26:27.

[3] Mt 26:29.

[4] GCS 38.2:265.