✨WEB · Luke 23:36
What does Luke 23:36 mean?
"The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar,"
— Luke 23:36 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Dividing his garments among them, they cast lots.
The people stood watching. The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one!”
The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar,
and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
An inscription was also written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
One of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!”
Explanation
Luke 23:36 sits in the middle of Luke's account of the crucifixion of Jesus. The verse describes a specific act of cruelty during the hours Jesus hung on the cross at Golgotha: Roman soldiers, the same men who had carried out the execution, approached Jesus and offered him sour wine (often translated "vinegar," referring to a cheap, acidic wine soldiers commonly drank) not as an act of kindness or mercy, but as mockery. This was part of a broader pattern of ridicule happening simultaneously—the rulers scoffed, and just before and after this verse, Luke records that a sign was placed over Jesus reading "This is the King of the Jews," and the soldiers' offering of vinegar was tied to a taunt, essentially daring him to save himself if he were truly a king.
The Gospel of Luke was written by Luke, a physician and companion of the apostle Paul, likely for a largely Gentile audience, to give an orderly and carefully researched account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Luke's crucifixion narrative emphasizes the injustice of Jesus's suffering and the mockery he endured from multiple groups—religious leaders, criminals crucified alongside him, and here, Roman soldiers. This detail of the soldiers' scorn fits Luke's larger purpose of showing that Jesus was despised and rejected by people from every level of society, both Jewish and Gentile, fulfilling what the prophets had long foretold about the suffering of God's chosen one.
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