"Manhandled" -Too

"They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." (Psalms 69:21) Sorry for being so brief yesterday; it seems that some mornings I have interruptions. I thought that they might have given up on me by now, seeings how there is really nothing here to see here. Anywho; Jesus had told His disciples in John 4:34, "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." There is something to that statement that seems to add a little punch to what is being said, "and to finish His work", because that's the part that counts! It was man that got us into the mess, and the Son of Man was here, and He got us out of it, once and for all! Interesting enough, but looking at the word "gall", which definitely means poison, it has some sort of other meaning which points to being 'lifted up' or 'exalted'; almost as if it shows how tormented and twisted "doing the will of Him that sent" the Son of Man would turn out to appear. It was like most everything else that has anything to do with "finishing His work", basically simple, but very difficult too at the same time. It was a simple plan, with a simple goal: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up"; but that does not mean it was easy! It took every bit of strength Jesus had to "finish His work" on that cross, and hanging there was the easiest part. Sometimes I don't think that we get how hard it actually was for Jesus to resist, having so much power at His disposal, yet doing nothing to prevent the work being finished that He came to do. Ironically, on His head was placed a crown of thorns, which represents the poison of the ground God gave to Adam as part of his curse. Additionally, they placed a sign above His cross that read, "King of the Jews" and gave more than just a title, it was the picture of fulfilled promises of what the children of Israel represent to the rest of the world, "and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 12:3), which was God's promise to Abraham, the father of the Jews. Let us not forget about His thirst! His thirst for righteousness was only met with the sins of the whole world being placed upon Himself on our behalf; never mind that they actually gave Him vinegar to drink, when He said from the cross, "I thirst" (John 19:28-29). Talk about being 'manhandled', that was like icing on the cake! God was finishing the display with a perfect picture of man's answer to God's answer...
"Jesus knew that His mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture He said, "I am thirsty." A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to His lips. When Jesus had tasted it, He said, "It is finished!" Then He bowed His head and released His spirit." (John 19:28-30) NLT