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 Him reviled Him with the same thing.

- Matthew 27:32-44

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, and 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."  The text quotes from Psalm 22:18.  St. Leo the Great (Pope Leo I) comments that the compelling of Simon of Cyrene to carry Christ's cross is symbolic of Christianity coming to the outsiders, the Gentiles.  Regarding the sour wine mingled with gall, see Psalm 69:21.

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 Him reviled Him with the same thing.   Of today's entire passage, my study bible says that Jesus accepts mockery and endures the weakness of our body in His own to take upon Himself our sufferings.  He accomplishes this by uniting His divine nature to our human nature.  His humanity is our humanity.  Although Christ has no sin, 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).   Although one robber would later repent (as we know from Luke's Gospel, see Luke 23:39-43), at first both criminals mock Jesus.

As we read in today's text, Jesus takes on the sufferings of the world.  It doesn't seem to be precisely understood today what "gall" was that was mixed with the sour wine commonly consumed by the Roman soldiers, but quite possibly it was a bitter substance designed to help blunt the pain and shock of crucifixion.   If we understand this correctly, we see Jesus willing to endure and suffer all things that humanity does.  This is a voluntary act, and in the refusal of the wine mixed with gall He does not even take a preparation designed to help minimize that suffering, even to some small extent.  Why does Christ suffer?  This question opens us to what is called a theodicy.  This word comes from two Greek words:  theos/θεος meaning "God" and dikē/δικη which means justice.  A definition provided by the Oxford English Dictionary describes theodicy as "the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil."  In other words, it asks the question, "Why does God (who is ostensibly "good") permit evil?  That would especially mean the evil that exists in our world, and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ stands as a most explicit example of evil, and is committed against One who has no sin.  But in the words of St. Paul (and echoed in my study bible), Christ "became" sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Clearly, one thing we know absolutely from the Gospels, is that this suffering and death on the Cross by Christ is a necessary part of the salvation plan for us.   There have been many answers to the question of why this is so throughout Christian history.  But I would offer one particular understanding which has to do with Christ's return and the Judgment that is initiated through His life in the flesh, and the coming of the Holy Spirit.  That is, this suffering of the innocent Christ becomes a testimony against the evil of the world, rendered effectively by His suffering as witness (in Greek, the word for witness is "martyr").  It most especially becomes a testimony against the "evil one."  When we also enter into suffering in His name and for the sake of our faith, we do the same, we are witnesses ("martyrs") in the sense of the framework of judicial language in which Christ has often used in His mission into the world, and the eventual judgment to come at His return.   Even when we declare our faith, we say that we give testimony, as in a courtroom.  The Holy Spirit is the called the Counselor, an Advocate; that is, one who defends at trial and offers assistance.   In this role He is called Helper and Comforter; in Greek Parakletos/Παράκλητος, meaning the one who comes (to one's side) when called, as does a legal advocate in a trial.  The entire Passion of Christ is an indictment of injustice itself, and also of lies, the spirit of the anti-Christ.  And here we must recall the Holy Spirit is also called by Christ the Spirit of Truth (and remember who is the "father of lies").  Our own salvation comes when we take up our own crosses, as He has taught us, and we share in His ministry, testimony, and "martyrdom."   We walk in the way of God, in some sense taken out of the world, although the world will respond in its own way.  Like Christ we are "not of this world" through faith and participation in His Kingdom; that is we are in the world, but not of it (see John chapter 17).  When we are met with the evil of the world, we must turn to our faith, our steady participation in the life Christ offers, to prayer:  and follow in the ways that Christ gives us.  In this way, we offer testimony in the fullness of true judgment that belongs to Christ.  What Christ offers us on the Cross is the ultimate freedom, for He shows that He is no slave of the evil one nor of the world, but rather, He says, the enemy, or the "ruler of this world," "has nothing in Me" (John 14:30).  On worldly terms, God intervenes in the mysterious ways of God.  But God's justice has a way of working itself out:  witness Christ's prophetic words regarding the eventual Siege of Jerusalem (in this reading), or the effective peaceful resistance movement of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.  Just as the world (in the collective presence of the mob) was offered a choice between Jesus and Barabbas, so we are effectively always offered this choice.  We are essentially asked what we choose first:  God or a worldly fix.  Do we walk through life prayerfully and seeking God's guidance, or do we live by the sword alone?  This is not to say that there is never a time to take up arms, or to use other means available through a worldly justice system.  But we are asked to be guided by our faith, always, and before all things.  We follow the first great commandment to love God with heart, and soul, and mind -- and the second, to love neighbor as ourselves.  We are asked to live as part of His Kingdom, even as we are in this world, and we are given a solution that in effect challenges evil in its very root, as the spiritual problem it truly is.  There will be times when we bear our own cross and suffer injustice, but even that is ultimately a part of a much greater movement of justice, one which includes healing and beauty and truth, and the goodness and love of God.   It is the Cross that saves us.  For the Cross is transcendent, and takes us from simply material beings who suffer and contest in constant struggle with one another over scarce goods, to human beings who are created in the image of God.  It offers us life in a much greater and larger cosmos than we can imagine, a shared love with all the saints of God, participating in God's glory and strength and purpose.  And it offers us the growth in ourselves of all the fruits of the Spirit, the stature of dignity as God's children by adoption.  Behold the Man on the Cross.  He leads the way first.  Even in our very personal and most intimate struggles, His Cross is transcendent for us, and leads the way through and beyond to Resurrection and His life.