They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots

 Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name.  Him they compelled to bear His cross.  And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink.  But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.  Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet:

"They divided My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots."

Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there.  And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him:

THIS IS JESUS

THE KING OF THE JEWS

Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left.  And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself!  If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross."  Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save.  If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.  He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'"  Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.

- Matthew 27:32-44

In our current readings, it is Holy Week and Jesus is in Jerusalem.  He has been sentenced by the Council,  and delivered to Pilate.  We read also of Peter's denial of Christ, and also Judas' suicide.  With Christ brought before him, Pilate asked, "Are You the King of the Jews?"  Knowing Christ was innocent, he brought Him before the crowds, as it was the custom to free a prisoner at the Feast, and offered to let Him go, but the crowds called for Barabbas.  Yesterday, we read that when Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person.  You see to it."  And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children."  Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.  Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him.  And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.  When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand.  And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.

 Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name.  Him they compelled to bear His cross.  And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink.  But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.  Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet:  "They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots."  Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there.  And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him:  THIS IS JESUS - THE KING OF THE JEWS.  Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left.  And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself!  If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross."  Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save.  If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.  He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'"  Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.   My study bible says of today's passage that Jesus accepts mockery and endures the weakness of our body in His own in order to take upon Himself our sufferings.  His divine nature is truly united to His human nature -- and His humanity, as we read here, is our humanity.   It says, "He was made to be sin for us, that through His flesh He might condemn sin itself (Romans 8:3, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 2:9)."  There are other personalities mentioned in today's reading.  Simon of Cyrene was most likely a pilgrim come for the Passover Feast from a coastal city in what is now Libya.  His two sons, Rufus and Alexander, would become missionaries known to the Church (see Mark 15:21).  This passage tells us that both robbers on either side of Christ "revile" Him with the same words used by the chief priests, scribes and elders.   One of them would repent (Luke 23:39-43).  The Scripture quotation is from Psalm 22, which is a description of the Crucifixion.

Today's reading describes our Savior brought low -- to the place where even the criminals being crucified mock and revile Him, as do the rest of the people here who represent the whole of the society.  There is no doubt of the abject misery of this moment.  Christ is in agonizing pain and absolute weakness, a state of helpless suffering and on His way to death.  Since we know this death is entered into voluntarily, what we're seeing here is the condescension of our Lord to the most humiliating treatment and position in His society as a Jew.  He has become truly looked down upon by everyone.  As a human being, He refuses nothing of the ills which could befall us.  Refusing the sour wine mingled with gall seems to be yet another indication of voluntarily suffering and experiencing the pain of such a state, as gall has been interpreted also to mean myrrh (see Mark 15:23), something perhaps to create stupor just before crucifixion.  Why this suffering?  Why this emptying of all the things human beings desire for themselves?  This is what life looks like at our most courageous, when everything else fails us and we continue in faith anyway.  It's His Passion that teaches us that emptying to God gives us divine or God-like qualities.  Here is Christ crucified, the One who became man for our sake, who dies for love even of all those who harm and torment Him.  One thing we can say that we are really seeing here is love, a love that surpasses everything else -- all desires and choices a human being can make.  The world here in this picture is truly upside down; it's a picture of victory although no one knows it.  It's the thing that evil could desire, the manifestation of the worst of the worst.  But love will conquer everything.  It is the love of God that is on display and that will triumph.  St. Athanasius said, "The Son of God became man so that we might become God."  Jesus shows us the way through His humanity, to be "like God" in our faith.  The answer is love, which starts with love of God, and thereby must also serve the world.  Everything depends on the state of our hearts, where our faith is, why we do what we do.  Don't let the picture fool you.  The greatest love of all is here, for us, and nothing will prevail against it.