Crucifixion was an agonizing and slow death, and the sour wine that Luke mentions was offered to those being crucified as a form of pain killer, as an act of mercy. The soldiers, however, were far from merciful in their taunts, but there was an unconscious irony in their words, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ There is irony in these words. He was the king of the Jews, but more significantly he was the saviour of the Jews and he was interested not in saving himself, but in saving