Sermon on Jesus Last Words on the Cross: I Thirst

I Thirst

John 19:28-30

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.  When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”  With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Ps. 69:21

They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

Why did Jesus say, “I’m thirsty”?

The first and most obvious reason was that he was dehydrated, having lost a large volume of blood and sweat.  And it is this fact that emphasizes again for us that Jesus was fully human.  He was not a phantom hanging on the cross, only appearing to suffer.  He did not in any way avoid the full extent of this Roman torture.  In fact, he had earlier refused to take vinegar mixed with gall (Mt. 27:35), a potion designed to help alleviate pain.  It was his intent to embrace the full suffering with full consciousness.  And by all accounts, thirst was one of the most distressing circumstances attending the crucifixion.

The second possible reason that Jesus said, “I’m thirsty,” was that he was experiencing a full separation from all loving fellowship as he moved toward death.  He thirsted for the loving embrace of his family and friends.  Though his mother and John were there watching him die, they could not hold or comfort him.  There is a profound loneliness in physical pain.

He thirsted also for recognition of his innocence.  He thirsted for vindication.  He was dying innocently, something no one else can fully say.  And yet to all appearances he was dying as a criminal.

Why would we think that this inner kind of thirst would be something Jesus was experiencing and referring to when he said, “I thirst”?

Because Jesus intended in his act of saying “I thirst” to make a deliberate reference to Psalm 69:21, a psalm in which David reflects desperately on the assault leveled against him by his enemies.

David says his throat is parched from calling for help.  He has been hated without cause.  He is forced to restore what he did not steal.  He endures scorn for God’s sake.  He feels alienated from his family and friends.  Zeal for God’s house consumes him.  Scorn has broken his heart and left him helpless.  When he looks for sympathy, none is given.  Instead, according to verse 21, they give him, figuratively speaking, gall in his food and vinegar for his thirst.  We are not to suppose that David’s enemies were literally preparing his meals.  Rather, it is that when he longed for the nourishment of comfort, they instead fed him scorn and hatred.

Jesus identified himself with David.  David was the anointed one whom God chose to be the ruler of his people forever.  Jesus saw himself as David’s greater son, the one who could fulfill the forever part of this promise because he was the Messiah, the ultimate anointed one.  If David experienced such thirst, the Messiah of God would suffer it even more.  Jesus understood the figurative language of Psalm 69:21 and gave expression to that kind of thirst.  But when he said, “I thirst,” it moved someone, most likely a Roman soldier,  to soak a sponge in the wine vinegar that was sitting there and, in a gesture of mercy, to hold it up to him on a stalk of hyssop to give him a drink.  This was not the wine mixed with gall.  And this was a gesture of support that Jesus accepted to quench his inner thirst, as well.

This time he took it.  He no longer denied himself the comfort of a sip of liquid, no longer refused to have his pain assuaged or diminished.  All was completed.  Everything he had come to do was done.  The perfect lamb of God had completed the sacrifice of himself and satisfied God’s just punishment for sin, our sin.

Jesus said, “I thirst.”  Do you thirst?

Are you experiencing suffering that leaves you thirsting for energy, for hope, or even a will to go on?  Are you feeling alienated from those who could comfort you?  Jesus understands and wants to help.  The proof of how much is his willingness to don our nature so he could experience our suffering.  And now, though all others desert you, he will never desert you.  He will always understand your thirst, always be there to slake it with a sip of his love.  Receive it.  Let your suffering finish its work, and receive Jesus’ merciful offer of a drink from his cup of comfort.  Receive it from the one who could say with you, “I thirst.”