Sunday March 22nd
Lent 5
Vinegar
During this Lent, we are offering some homilies under the theme of ‘Instruments of resurrection’. We are discovering that the most unlikely, commonplace, mundane things are actually instruments of resurrection. How clever that The Master would use everyday, simple things to communicate and help us enter into the most profound mystery of resurrection. Today, we’ll be thinking about Vinegar and Our Lord’s thirsting on the cross.
Here’s the reference to vinegar from St. John.
“Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said, (to fulfil the scripture), ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar full of vinegar was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
This is not the first time that The Master asks for a drink. He shows his humanity, his need, to the woman at the well in John chapter 4. At Sychar, he comes to Jacob's well and asks a woman for a drink.
Over the next 19 verses there ensues a conversation between Jesus and the woman. Jesus gradually draws out more information from her,… or rather shows the woman that he actually knows quite a bit about her.
Peel away the top layer or two of the story, and we learn that the real issue is not just Jesus’ thirst for water, but what is going on here is his desire for the conversion of the woman herself. By drawing her into a clever dialogue, she learns a lot about who The Living water is.
So at Jacob's Well, we glimpse both a human Messiah who needs to quench his thirst and also the divine one who offers eternal life. It’s a masterful piece of work by John.
From the cross, we also see the same Messiah who is both human and divine.
When I read the story of Jesus on the cross expressing his thirst and being given vinegar, we know that sometimes we thirst as well. Sometimes, when we ask for water, we only seem to get vinegar.
I am also pretty sure that there are times when The Master asks for water from us, and if we hear his request, and sometimes we don’t, then what we offer is not to the same high standard and quality that is needed.
Still, like the Master on the cross, he accepts what is offered, and even in the spirit of our ambivalence and sometimes downright reluctance, he can use even vinegar to his glory. Even then, it is enough for him to accomplish what He needs to do. Yep. Even vinegar can be an instrument of resurrection.
And there is an understandable temptation to hang our heads and give way to despair. I could have, should have done better, but that is not the way forward. The way forward, I am fairly sure, is to give thanks that we were even asked, that we had a go, and to offer something, no matter how rudimentary or lacking, is better than nothing at all.
The cry ‘I thirst’ is an expression of vulnerability. He is needy, perhaps dare I say it, even weak and helpless. His words are our words. To be fully human is to say “I thirst”.
In his cry from the cross, we hear Jesus saying to us, ‘I understand, I know your limitations, I can and do identify with you.’
Augustine put it this way
“Man's maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother's breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.”
But like the woman at Jacob's Well, the deep abiding thirst is actually The Master’s unending love for us.
The vinegar and his wanting of us, his need for us, his vulnerability is what makes him such a necessary and loving saviour. The vinegar and The Master’s thirst are the instruments of salvation. Even from the cross, especially from the cross, when death is imminent, and it is then that his work of resurrection is accomplished.
Lord Jesus Christ, by your thirst on the cross and the three days you lay in the tomb, you showed your relentless desire for us, and you sanctified the grave to be the bed of hope of resurrection. Grant that when we lie in our own grave, we may sleep in peace until that glorious day when you awaken us to your glory. Then we shall see you face to face and all shall be accomplished and fulfilled in you. Then we shall see your light and know your splendour, for with you we shall live forever and ever, Amen.