It was nine o’clock in the morning when they drove the nails through His hands and feet, and hung Him up to die.  He had been there for six hours; three in the sunshine, three in the darkness.  The suffering He endured as He hung there in our place is beyond our comprehension, but perhaps we can catch a glimpse of it in the awful cry that pierced the darkness of that afternoon:  “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  He was forsaken so we would never be.  The fires of hell, which we deserved, burned themselves out on Him so we would never know them.

    Then He said, “I thirst.”

    Those who stood there that day looking and listening, were not fully aware of what was being said.  Some misunderstood His words, and said that He was calling to Elijah for help.  They were not touched by the suffering of Jesus.  They were content to watch to see if Elijah would come or not.  But “one of them ran, and took a spunge and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.”

    We can learn a lot from this unknown man, who may or may not have become a Christian later.  In the first place he acted while others stood around talking.  Most of those present were simply idle onlookers.  They were not emotionally or personally involved in the suffering they saw.  They deliberately did nothing.  But this man was different.  He was apparently deeply affected by what he saw and heard.  He quite possibly wished that Jesus could be spared the agony He was undergoing.  But he had no power to change that fact.  So he did what he could.  He responded to the thirst of the Saviour by giving Him a drink.

    There is a sense of urgency in what he did.  The Bible says he ran.  He had no time to waste.  The need was urgent and called for an immediate response.  He didn’t consult with others, or wait to see what others would do.  He simply responded immediately to the need he saw.

    He used what was available to him to meet the need.  There was no water there.  But there were things that were normally at a crucifixion.  Certain women, out of mercy, provided wine- vinegar, a sponge and a stick to get it to the mouth of the suffering ones.  Perhaps he wished he had something else to offer the Saviour, but he didn’t.  So instead of saying, “I would help if I had some more appropriate drink,” he simply used what he had to do what he could.

    He acted out of a sense of need and urgency, using what was available to meet the need of Jesus.  We don’t know his name or his history.  But we know what he did.  And he stands as a pattern for us to follow when Jesus calls to us out of the needs of someone else.

    May we always be among those who run to help when Jesus calls.