Luke 23:36 Commentary and Bible Study

This is possibly the same event that is described in Matthew 27:47, Mark 15:35, and John 19:28, in which case, as Hendriksen points out, Luke does not handle it in chronological sequence. (Hendriksen considers this possibility, as well as the possibility that Luke is describing an event not covered by the other Gospels.) According to John it took place just before Jesus gave up the ghost, which Luke records in verse 46. John describes Jesus as deliberately fulfilling Psalm 69:21 by saying, ‘I thirst’, in order that he would be offered vinegar. Matthew and Mark are certainly documenting the same occasion, because they report that straight after receiving the drink, he gave up the ghost, and deliberately laid down his life. Matthew and Mark describe what was clearly intended as mockery, when the soldiers, after giving him the vinegar to drink, said, ‘Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him’ (Matthew 27:49; Mark 15:36). This was a mocking reference to his cry, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ (Matthew 27:46), which they chose to misunderstand as a reference to Elias [Elijah]. It is not the same occasion as that mentioned in Matthew 27:34 (and Mark 15:23), in which Jesus was offered wine mixed with gall and refused it. That was at the start of the crucifixion, and he must not consume anything that would deaden the pain, for he had to bear all without relief to make an atonement for his people. Now it is at the end of his suffering and he accepts the vinegar in order to fulfil prophecy. How cruel human nature can be! They thought they knew what he was suffering, and they were prepared to add to his pain with these deeply mocking words that took from him, as they thought, even the last vestige of dignity. They were not Jews, and they cared nothing about this claim, but they may have heard it from the lips of the Jewish leaders, or from what Christ had said to Pilate, or from the superscription which is mentioned in the next verse. They wanted to reduce him to nothing and crush his spirit. But actually they understood virtually nothing about what he was really suffering, or why he was there. They assumed that his first concern would be to save himself from this ignominious death, but his thoughts were far higher than their thoughts and that was not his intention. It was beyond their imagination to take in what was really happening.