Painkiller addictions have sounded the national alarm (Refer here, here, and here). In our painkiller age, it is worth noting that according to Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus did not use painkillers or anesthesia at the cross, though they offered him wine mixed with gall (which dulled pain; Matthew 27:33-34). Nor did Jesus faint at the sight of blood or from the pain, only to awaken later in the grave (Refer here for a discussion of the swoon theory hypothesis of Jesus fainting—not dying—on the cross). In other words, Jesus drank in the full horror of his agonizing ordeal until the very end—death by crucifixion:
And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it (Matthew 27:33-34; ESV).
Why was Jesus offered wine mixed with gall to drink at the crucifixion? To mock him? To take away his thirst?[1] To deaden the pain?
Why did Jesus refuse? Not to play to the Roman soldiers’ mockery and victimization? Or was it so that he could think clearly and feel fully his passion? A combination of the two?
Regardless of the answers to these various questions, and there are many options (Refer here, here, here, and here/here for examples), this much is true: Jesus did not drink the wine mixed with gall. As a result, he was clearly conscious and experienced the full weight of his passion until death.
The intent of this post is not to demean people addicted to painkillers. They need our prayers, encouragement, and support. Their addiction is agonizing to them and their loved ones, and tears their worlds apart. Nor is the aim of this post to get Jesus’ followers to refrain from ever using painkillers or anesthesia. There are likely places and times where we could all use them, as with significant surgeries. Rather, this post seeks to highlight the depths of Jesus’ connection to us. He feels our pain!
In fact, Jesus felt more than our individual pain. He felt the collective pain, guilt and shame of the world (Isaiah 53:5-6; John 1:29). As one who the New Testament presents as God’s Son, the Son of Man and King of the Jews, how deeply humiliating his ordeal must have been. Instead of dulling the pain and shame, as we might be prone to do, or give way to the mockery as one might do who has been psychologically broken, Jesus experienced all of it until the bitter end.
Misery loves company. Company can be quite comforting in the midst of misery—especially when the company does not discount one’s agony, but undergoes it with you. Not only is it the case as the song goes that “Jesus paid it all” for us. So, too, Jesus endured it all for us.
As Matthew’s Gospel portrays Jesus, he is “God with us”—“Immanuel” (Matthew 1:23) in life, in his passion and death on Good Friday, in burial on Holy Saturday, and in the new life that comes to us through his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Indeed, he will be with us each and every day—“always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20; ESV). Drink deeply of Matthew’s comforting words of Jesus’ presence.
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[1]According to Matthew’s account, Jesus was offered wine twice while on the cross. The second appears to be simply sour wine (not mixed with gall, as in Matthew 27:33-34; see Matthew 27:48). Some ponder if the second instance of offering wine was intended simply to take away Jesus’ thirst, or to take away his thirst to prolong his agony, keeping him alive as long as possible.
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