The sour wine of Good Friday

Norah Summers April 10, 2020 0 1

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John 19: 28-30 (GNT)

28 Jesus knew that by now everything had been completed; and in order to make the scripture come true, he said, “I am thirsty.”

29 A bowl was there, full of cheap wine; so a sponge was soaked in the wine, put on a stalk of hyssop, and lifted up to his lips. 30 Jesus drank the wine and said, “It is finished!”

Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

The intoxicating adulation of the Palm Sunday crowds; 
the meal at Bethany; 
the outpouring of perfume and love;
the companionship of close friends – 
when did it all turn sour? 

The cup of suffering, 
confronted in the garden and willingly accepted; 
silence before his accusers;
his mortal life laid down. 

The last request is for a drink. 
The last drink is sour wine.
 
It is finished.

PRAYER:

Creator God, 
is this how we repay your bounty, your love? –
offering sour wine to someone who is mortally thirsty? 

This day of all days, 
make us realise that what we do affects others; 

that offering the cheap wine of second-best service 
or grudging help 
is not good enough;

that your love, 
so amazing, so divine, 
demands our soul, our life, our all.