Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 233
? 226 he had faith in the promises of God, it was possible that he had erred in interpreting the meaning of those promises, he, therefore, was leaving his mother to his care, simultaneously telling his mother to take Thomas for her son. Throughout the New Testament this is the only occasion when the Messiah is said to have shown some affection towards his mother, for, a perusal of the New Testament gives the impression that he had some sort of grouse against her, there being nowhere any show of affection on his part. In short, the Messiah was in such a state that he sometimes was conscious and sometimes fell into a swoon. The centurions appointed by Pilate on the occasion were also his disciples at heart. When they saw that the Messiah could not bear the agony, they quickly dipped a piece of sponge in wine and myrrh and gave it to him to suck. The New Testament simply says that the Messiah was given a sponge soaked in vinegar (St. Mark, 15:36), but history confirms that he was given a mixture of wine and myrrh (Jewish Encyclopaedia, Vol. IV, under the word 'Cross'). Christians generally labour very much the point that Jews were so hard on the Messiah that when he was moaning in agony, they gave him a sponge soaked in wine and myrrh to suck. References from Roman literature, however, show that they gave a mixture of wine and myrrh when they wanted to show favour to someone and to save him from pain. We do not know