Untitled Sermon (7)

Just say it

John 12–21 (1) The Last Moments of the Dying King (19:28–30)

The connection of the Markan Death Story, and to a lesser extent the Johannine Death Story, with Psalm 22 is unmistakable. But the Death Stories in both Mark and John can likewise be linked to statements in Psalm 69, where the victim’s “throat is parched” (Ps 69:3) and he is given “vinegar for [his] thirst” (Ps 69:21). In John the drink offered to Jesus is also here identified as a cheap sour wine/vinegar (oxous), which “was cheaper than regular wine, [and] was a favorite beverage of the lower ranks of society.”