Oil and water. They normally don’t mix. But some years ago scientists figured out some ways to make it happen. If you have milk in your house, chances are it is homogenized. The fat parts of the milk have been so broken up by passing through small holes that it stays separated. So instead of rising to the surface as fat normally would do, the fat stays suspended in the milk, making a creamier texture to the mouth and a longer shelf life. Milk is also normally pasteurized at some point in the process to kill most of the bacteria and germs.
There are several elements of our text today that just seem out of place, like oil and water, they don’t seem to mix. Take for instance, Simon. He is just walking by as the soldiers begin their escort of Jesus from the Praetorium to Golgotha where Jesus will be crucified. He is just walking by, having been out in the country. Was he staying out in the country during the Passover? Was that where he found lodging during this peak season, as Jesus had found it in Bethany?
He is just minding His own business, probably unaware of what was happening to Jesus, as most of Jerusalem would have been unaware. It was a late-night arrest, a night grand jury and an early morning trial. But Simon gets drawn into the middle of it, off-guard and unaware. He was probably there for Passover and not for cross-carrying. And yet the two get mixed.
Jesus is on the cross and He is offered wine mixed with myrrh. What is this all about? We see in the movies that cowboys get offered whisky right before the emergency bullet removal, so we can understand the alcohol. But why add the myrrh? Myrrh has a numbing, analgesic quality to it. The cheap Roman wine vinegar was often mixed with some drug to dull the pain of crucifixion. Myrrh was also used in incense in the Temple, and for topical mixtures to heal wounds. But Jesus refuses to have His senses dulled. Dulled experience is no experience. Jesus was bearing the weight of our sin. He bore all of it, not just what felt good.
And Jesus is crucified with two other people, both of them guilty of their crimes. The guilty were hanging on their crosses next to Jesus, the sinless, perfect God-man. What a combination! They deserved what they were getting. Jesus didn’t. But all three condemned to die together, no distinction between them, all labeled guilty. The innocent, the guilty but sorry, and the guilty and hardened, all hanging side by side, all condemned to die together, all preparing to suffer for crimes, some theirs and for Jesus, other’s crimes.
And finally the Savior being told to save Himself! He came to give Himself, not save Himself. We live in such a selfish world that the concept of a selfless act seems so foreign. We are in a dog-eat-dog world. Everyone seems to be out for their own gain. We could blame the politicians, but we are the ones who voted them into office. And they came from us. They are not some foreign group of people, but people just like us, just like the two thieves who hung with Jesus. And Jesus stays there on the cross to save these two men, and us.
The Arnold Journey 