5. I Thirst (John 19:28)
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
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The Roman soldier pushes a sponge on a reed up to Jesus'
lips. James J. Tissot, "I Thirst" (1886-1894), opaque watercolor, Brooklyn
Museum.
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It is near the end of Jesus' human life. He senses it. He
has hung on the cross for six hours now.
It has become hard for Jesus to even get a breath. Hung from
his arms, he must pull himself up each time he wants to breathe. His shoulders
ache, his mouth is parched. He is exhausted.
And yet he does not want to die without a final word. He
asks for something to drink to wet his lips for this final effort.
"28 Later, knowing that all was now
completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am
thirsty." 29 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." (John 19:28-29)
"Knowing that all was now completed, and so that
the Scripture would be fulfilled...." (John 19:28a)
What Scripture was fulfilled here? A Psalm of lamentation,
written by David, seems to have been fulfilled literally in Jesus:
"They put gall45
in my food
and gave me vinegar46
for my thirst." (Psalm 69:21)
Apparently Jesus asked for something to quench his thirst in
order to fulfill Psalm 69:21.
This was not the first time Jesus had been offered wine.
Both Mark and Matthew observe that he was offered bitter wine just prior to
being crucified (Matthew 27:34; Mark 15:23). Perhaps this was intended as an
intoxicant for those about to suffer pain. A group of Jerusalem women, as an
act of piety, provided for a condemned man a vessel of wine containing a grain
of frankincense to numb him.47
Jesus refuses to drink this. He has committed himself to the Father to offer
himself as a sacrifice. To attempt to lessen the pain of this sacrifice would have
somehow been going back on this commitment.
The offering of something to quench his thirst after hanging
on the cross for some time is a separate incident.
"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." (John 19:29)
Wine vinegar (oxos) didn't have any alcohol left, but
was sour wine that had turned to vinegar. Wine is made from grape juice. Yeast
fermentation causes sugar to be transformed into alcohol, which continues until
the alcohol content reaches about 11% to 12%. Wine vinegar, on the other hand,
is made by the action of acetic acid bacteria on alcohol to produce acetic
acid. Since the bacteria that cause this reaction are aerobic, they require
that the wine be exposed to oxygen in order to form vinegar.
What is a container of wine vinegar doing on Golgotha that
day? It is posca, a drink popular with soldiers of the Roman army, made by
diluting sour wine vinegar with water. It was inexpensive, considered more
thirst quenching than water alone, prevented scurvy, killed harmful bacteria in
the water, and the vinegary taste made bad smelling water more palatable. All
over the empire, posca was the soldier's drink of choice. The soldiers had
brought posca to sustain them during their crucifixion duty. They weren't
getting drunk on it, just using it to quench their own thirst.
While a condemned criminal might be able to drink wine prior
to being crucified, drinking from a cup while hanging on the cross wasn't
practical. So when Jesus indicated his thirst, the soldiers used a sponge to
give him posca to slake his thirst.
What was a sponge (Greek sponges) doing on Golgotha
that day? It seems scarcely the thing you'd expect to find. Again, sponges were
part of a Roman soldier's kit. Sponges were found along the Mediterranean
coast, were widely used in ancient times to line and pad a soldier's helmet.
Soldiers also used sponges as drinking vessels.48
No doubt one of the soldiers offered Jesus a drink of posca
from his own supply, using his own sponge. A soldier wasn't required to share
his drink with the criminals under his care. But he had seen that Jesus was
dying unlike any other criminal he had ever seen. No cursing, no blaming, no
anger.
What was it like to watch Jesus' slow death? Perhaps it had
impressed the soldier with something like St. Peter's words:
"'He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in
his mouth.'
When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate;
when he suffered, he made no threats.
Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." (1 Peter 2:22-23)
St. Peter concludes this passage with something, however,
that the soldier did not yet know, echoing the words of the Suffering Servant
passage of Isaiah 53:
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,
so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have
been healed." (1 Peter 2:24)
The posca offered by a soldier on his sponge that day was an
act of mercy to the One who was bringing God's mercy to all humankind.
"They ... put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop
plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips." (John 19:29)
John makes a point of specifying the hyssop plant, a small
bush with blue flowers and highly aromatic leaves,49
whereas the Synoptic Gospels refer to it as "stick" (NIV, NRSV) or "reed" (KJV,
RSV).50
What is the significance of hyssop? Hyssop was used to sprinkle blood on
the doorposts and lintels on the first Passover (Exodus 12:22). It was
associated with purification and sacrifices in the tabernacle (Leviticus 14:4,
6; Numbers 19:6, 18). No doubt John had this in mind when he wrote his Gospel.
John tells us that Jesus actually drank some of the vinegary
posca from the sponge.51
"When he had received the drink, Jesus said, 'It is
finished.' With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." (John 19:30)
For a few seconds, at least, Jesus sucked the posca from the
sponge. He didn't drink long enough to slake what must have been moderate to
severe dehydration from loss of blood, exposure to the elements, and the
necessity of gasping for breath through his mouth.
The end was near. So he drank only enough to moisten his parched
throat so that his last words of triumph might be heard across the hilltop of
Golgotha.
What does the Fifth Word say to us? I see three things that
this Word reminds us of:
1. Jesus' Physical Humanity
First and probably of greatest importance, Jesus' word "I
thirst," reminds us of Jesus' physical nature, his humanity.
This was no play-acting on the cross -- a divine being
pretending to undergo a physical act of torture that could not touch him. This
was tangible physical suffering, of which extreme thirst is the one element
most of us can readily identify with from our own personal experience.
There was a heresy afoot in the Hellenistic world that Jesus
didn't really come in flesh and blood, much less die a gruesome physical death
on the cross. Flesh was of the evil realm, they believed, and could never be
holy. Only spirit was capable of the divine. So Jesus didn't really die, he
only appeared to. He was only pretending. Thus said Docetism and Gnosticism.
The Apostle John was combating an early form of this heresy
in his letters:
"... Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not
confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist...." (1
John 4:2-3)
"Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus
Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is
the deceiver and the antichrist." (2 John 7)
Jesus Fifth Word, "I thirst," reminds us that Jesus died in
the flesh for us and for our sins.
2. Jesus' Awareness of Scripture
Second, "I thirst" reminds us of Jesus' extensive knowledge
of the prophetic scriptures concerning his suffering and death -- and his
willingness to fulfill each of them to the letter. The best known passage, of
course, is the Servant Song from Isaiah 53:
"He poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53:12)
He knew it well and referred to it again and again.52
Jesus' action to ask for a drink is deliberately prompted by his knowledge of
Scripture and determination to fulfill it:
"... So that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus
said, 'I am thirsty.'" (John 19:28)
3. Jesus' Determination to Complete His Task
Third, Jesus said, "I thirst" to strengthen himself and ease
his throat so that he might cry out his final words from the cross "with a loud
voice." He was summoning himself to bring it all to completion.
Prayer
Father, extreme thirst, being parched, is something I can
relate to. But adding to the physical torment and exhaustion was the crushing
spiritual aloneness. That is beyond my experience. Thank you for your love that
conquered all to save us. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
Question for Personal Meditation
Questions for Group Discussion
- What are the reasons that Jesus would have been thirsty?
Physiologically what would have been going on in a person suffering as
Jesus did?
- What Scriptures are fulfilled by John 19:28-30 or may
refer to this aspect of the crucifixion? Why was fulfilling Scripture
important to Jesus?
- What is the significance of the sponge being offered to
Jesus on a branch of hyssop? (John 19:29)
- Why do you think the New Testament makes such a strong
point about Jesus' physical suffering? What difference would it make if
Jesus were a divine person who didn't actually suffer on the cross? What
difference would it make if Jesus were only a human being martyred on the
cross?
References
45.
"Gall" (Hebrew rōʾsh,
Greek Septuagint cholē) probably refers to a Babylonian plant name
which originally meant "head" of some kind of plant. It comes to mean
"poison" and "poisonous" and occurs twelve times in the OT.
In Psalm 69:21 it is used figuratively as "bitter herbs" (TWOT #2098).
46. Vinegar (Hebrew ḥōmeṣ)
comes from ḥāmēṣ,
"be sour, be leavened" (TWOT #679b).
47.
"Again, what of Rabbi Hiyya ben Ashi's dictum in Rabbi Hisda's name: When one
is led out to execution, he is given a goblet of wine containing a grain of
frankincense, in order to benumb his senses, for it is written, Give strong
drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto the bitter in soul. And
it has also been taught; The noble women in Jerusalem used to donate and bring
it. If these did not donate it, who provided it? As for that, it is certainly
logical that it should be provided out of the public [funds]: Since it is
written. 'Give', [the implication is] of what is theirs" (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin
43a). Mark mentions "wine mingled with myrrh" (Mark 15:23). First century army
physician Dioscorides Pedanius observed the narcotic properties of myrrh (Materia
Medica 1.64.3).
48. Thomas F. Johnson,
"Sponge," ISBE 4:605. Sponges were also carried by Roman
soldiers to use the way we use toilet paper.
50. Kalamos,
"1. reed, 2. stalk, staff" (BDAG 502; Matthew 27:48; Mark
15:36). This sometimes causes confusion, our dramatic depictions of the cross
usually picture Jesus elevated far above the onlookers. However, most likely
his cross was much shorter. All that was necessary was to have the feet
elevated high enough so they didn't touch the ground. We have some reports of
the feet of crucified criminals being ravaged by dogs. A common guess is that
Jesus' cross stood some 7 feet high (Brown, Death, pp. 948-949).
51.
"Received" (lambanō) carries the idea "to take into one's
possession, take, acquire" (BDAG 583, 3).
The Seven 7 Last Words of Christ from the Cross
Copyright © 1985-2010 Ralph F. Wilson. <pastor
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