Foregoing Mercy For Wrath

“And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.” (Mr 15:23 AV)

 

In my cursory investigation of how long Jesus hung on the cross, it came to be about six hours.  There are several readily available descriptions of the agony Jesus endured in those six hours and the events leading up to the crucifixion.  One such description was authored by a physician how forensically described the agony.  To read it is to understand the absolute torture our Savior went through for the redemption of our souls.  Remember, the reason why our LORD endured such hideous acts was to satisfy the wrath of the Father which belonged to us.  Six plus hours of complete and unrelenting pain.  From each whip strike to the thrones on His head to the nails piercing His hands and feet, Jesus had to be in pain to a level few understand.  Now, notice what it was He refused.  Wine, mingled with myrrh.  This is not by accident.  This offering was not one of convenience.  This offering was a purposeful offering of minor grace to one who was going to suffer an excruciating death.  Wine, mingled with myrrh was offered to deaden the pain suffered by the one being executed.  It was an offering of mercy on behalf of the executioner.  One which almost all of us would partake of.

My wife has given birth to three sons.  The first, Nathan, was an emergency C-section.  He happened to get the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, so each time my wife had a contraction, it affected his heart rate.  For the first four or five hours, as long as Nathan’s heart rate did not drop below a certain level, the doctor felt it was safe for Lisa to birth Nathan naturally.  This meant five hours of hard labor.  Five hours of watching my wife go through the agony that one cannot describe.  When pain meds were offered, she said, “Fill ‘er up!”  They have her what they could, and I am sure it helped, but from my perspective, not much.  I didn’t blame her for taking the meds.  Why suffer needlessly when the outcome would still be the same.  There was no reward for enduring needless pain if one did not have to.  I, for one, am so glad the Father felt it fit to create me a male.  There is no way I could ever go through what my wife went through.  Three times!  There is no amount of money that someone could pay me to endure pain when there are meds that could take it away.  It would be unnatural for a person to desire pain.  It would be natural for someone to avoid all pain.  As much as one could.  So, when Jesus refused an analgesic, it was not natural for Him to do so.

When one begins to meditate on the price Jesus paid and consider He accepted no comfort, it humbles the soul.  The scriptures forbid the king to drink alcoholic beverages, but the book of Proverbs 31:6,7 allows for the medicine administration of alcohol.  In the case of our LORD, He would have been in His right to accept the wine mingled with myrrh.  As the inflammation and dehydration affected His body, He suffered blood loss and organ failure, and as He slowly suffocated to death, the wine mingled with myrrh would have deadened the pain.  To do so would certainly have been merciful.  But the thing is, Calvary was not a cross of mercy.  Not for Jesus anyway.  It was the place where the wrath of the Father was, for our sin, completely and wholly satisfied.  If Jesus accepted any amount of mercy, then full wrath could not be inflicted.  Do we truly appreciate what Jesus did for us?  Do we fully comprehend the rejection of mercy on the cross of Calvary meant Jesus suffered as much as possible for our sins?  He could suffer no more than He did.  For Jesus to refuse wine mingled with myrrh means that He endured all possible wrath that we do not have to suffer on small iota.