Finally: The Sponge

After Jesus was arrested but before he was hung on the cross:

He was spit on
He was beat with fists by a mob of 71*
He was abandoned by his friends.
He was tied up.
He was - by a company of at least 30 soldiers*
- stripped
-had a thorn vine crammed onto and into his head
-re-dressed and paraded around - laughed at, mocked, name-called, made fun of
-struck on the head again and again with a staff (thorn crown still there)
- he was disfigured beyond human recognition.

Then-- after all that-- he was re-dressed and walked through the city, brought up the hill to be crucified, where:
-the cross was laid on the ground, he was stripped again placed on the cross, then huge spikes were driven through his hands and his feet.
-the cross was erected with him on it.
-his clothes were divided up and auctioned off
-he was insulted and yelled at by all the onlookers (including 2 others being crucified at the same time)

Then - he tried to talk. The crowd mockingly said, "he's trying to call to Elijah!" Immediately someone ran to get a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick and offered it to him. Then the crowd said, "Now let's leave him alone and see if Elijah comes to save him."

Question: Were you raised to believe this offering of wine vinegar was a compassionate act? I was. I always thought, "how nice that someone in that God-forsaken crowd tried to care."

Well, did you know that back in those days, there were public toilets? And did you know that one way in which the poor made money was to sit in the public toilets with a bowl of watered-down wine vinegar and after someone would go to the bathroom, the slave would take a sponge, put it on a stick, and then wipe the person? Did you know that was a very common lively-hood for slaves and poor? They made money by getting a tip for doing the wiping. It was just custom. Most likely Roman soldiers and the elite used the toilets.

This is all common knowledge among archaeologists who have uncovered these public toilets in and around Jerusalem. Did you know one of the locations of one of these public toilets is right at Golgotha?

After all that happened to Jesus from his arrest to his death, do you really think it would follow logically to have ONE act of dissent - one act of compassion in the middle of all the vitriol? I always did. But now his death has a whole new meaning.

Re-read the events and tell me if you think someone was trying to be compassionate to a dying Jesus, or if this sponge on a stick wasn't simply the last and worst insult of all...

To cram in his mouth a sponge dipped in the dirty public toilet rinse-water that had been used by countless people...imagine that sponge, heavy and wet with unflushed dirge...think of all the port-o-potties you have been in, the thick stench. Think of all that - on a sponge - being shoved in your mouth.

Now tell me what you think of Jesus' crucifixion.

"They said, 'he's calling Elijah!' Immediately someone ran to get a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, 'Now let's leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him.' " (Matthew)

To hear a meaningful account of Jesus' final hours - listen to Mark Driscoll's Easter message on 4/4/10 broadcast on location in Jerusalem - you can get it on itunes.

* these quantities are the historically recorded numbers of how many made up: the 'whole Sanhedrin' - the group Jesus was first brought in front of; and a company of soldiers who Jesus was brought to after the Sanhedrin.