Radio Sermon 87 <Back to Table of Contents>
I Thirst ..."
Good morning -- Please read with me this beautiful passage. "After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, 'I thirst!' Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished!' And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit" (John 19:28-30). We will study the simple utterance from Christ, "I thirst."
To focus on the cross is more than viewing a physical piece of evidence implicated in the murder of Jesus Christ. It is not the cross but the crucified one to which admiring attention is riveted. On that cruel instrument of capital punishment, an innocent man died for no justifiable cause. The center of attention is not mere human suffering but atonement. As the "Lamb of God" Jesus offered the one effective sacrifice to take sin out of the lives of those who turn to Him in faith and obedience. The simple statement, "I thirst," draws out an even deeper appreciation for His sacrificial act of redemption.
"I thirst" expressed a purely human physical feeling. The human body requires liquids for continued life. Without it, man will die. The thirst of the body is also exacerbated by the loss of blood. The bloody Civil War battle, Shiloh, is remembered for the extensive loss of life on both sides. "Bloody Pond" got its name because wounded soldiers, craving water, crawled into the water to drink. Their blood mixed with the water and turned the pond red. Jesus, dying in anguish on the cross, craved liquids long before He said, "I thirst."
Significantly, the Lord's statement follows John's words, "knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, 'I thirst'!" Throughout His life He practiced a deep concern for others before Himself. He said, "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). Only after He had completed all that He could do for others did He mention His discomfort. What a worthy model for us to imitate! One might think of doctors and nurses during extreme calamities. They become so involved in treating the sick, infirm, or injured that they only realize their own needs when their task is completed. But Jesus did more than merely deliver people from physical harm's way -- He offered Himself through the agony of the cross to deliver all men from the bondage of sin.
"I thirst," coming from the lips of Jesus centers our attention on His full humanity. At Jacob's well, He paused to satisfy His thirst. John tells us, "Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well" (John 4:6). As a woman approached Jesus said, "Give Me a drink" (verse 10). Add up all other physical sensations and Jesus, as a man, experienced them. This makes His sacrifice for us doubly meaningful. He did not die as a mere martyr. His death was not a fanciful docetic experience. He died physically just as any other man would die. Every lash of the whip, the piercing thorns shoved onto His head, the excruciating pain of sinews and flesh being penetrated by the crude nails wracked His body with pain. His physical suffering gave Him the power to truly understand human frailty and suffering. The Hebrew writer tells us, "For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted" (Hebrews 2:18). The body of Jesus was a human body, subject to everything any other human body experiences.
But the One who drank the water from Jacob's well was also the One who could walk on water. His own disciples, some three or four miles from shore, saw "Jesus walking on the sea" (John 6:19). As a man, Jesus needed water to sustain life. As the divine Son of God He could control all the properties of water by a simple word or deed. He could turn it into wine (John 2) or request it to slake His thirst. There is always something mysterious about Jesus who was both fully human and fully God simultaneously. These are matters which we must simply accept by faith. Of the mystery of the incarnation, H.C.G. Moule (commenting on Philippians 2:7) eloquently wrote:
"It is enough for us to know that this 'kenosis' (emptying, DRS) was for Him unspeakably real; that He was pleased, as to His holy Manhood, to 'live by the Spirit,' as we are to do; yet that the inalienable basis of His Personality was always, eternally, presently Divine. The ultimate and reasoned analysis of that unique Phenomenon, God and Man, One Christ, is His matter, not ours. It is for us to accept Him in its good and certain results, at once our Brother and our God." (Cambridge Greek New Testament for Schools and Colleges).
One can hardly read the Gospel by John and miss the perfect blend of Deity and humanity in Jesus Christ. Many students of John's record believe it was specifically written to offset the docetic heresy. Doceticism is a doctrine originating from a sect of the early Gnostic heretics. To the Docetae Jesus was not really human. According to their theory, matter was inherently evil. Since flesh and blood are matter, flesh and blood must be evil. Jesus could not be evil, therefore He was not really flesh and blood. John's gospel and his letters refute the docetic assumptions, however it is assumption to claim that as His sole purpose. John presents Jesus as a perfect combination of humanity and Deity. His gospel begins with the declaration, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:1-5). Verse 14 reads, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
John uses the term "flesh" in description of Jesus as a man, and records the words of Jesus in which the Master described Himself as "flesh." Flesh is from an original word Sarx used as the symbol of what is external, or as the means of kindred, or, by implication, human nature with its frailties physically or morally. It describes the humanity or passions of a human being. Obviously, the Word (the divine Being) "became flesh" (human) and lived among men. The letters of John begin with: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life - the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us " (I John 1:1-2). Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God, is that eternal Word housed for a brief time in a human body. His humanity was as real as His Deity
The humanity of Jesus suffered all the pain and agony other mere mortals suffer as He hung suspended on the cross. There is no greater expression of love and concern. Paul wrote, "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Romans 5:6-9). In order to appreciate this great expression of divine love, the suffering of Jesus must be looked at from a human perspective. Jesus Himself said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends" (John 15:13). He suffered physically as well as emotionally just as we do. He was willing to suffer physical torture because of that divine love that prompted Him to come to earth and lay down His life.
Jesus, the man in whom all fullness of the Godhead dwelt, is the produce of the eternal Word becoming flesh. We should stress that He became flesh. The combination of the Greek verb for "became" and the word for "flesh" show conclusively that the humanity of Jesus was as real as that of any mortal. A scholar named Du Toit wrote: "The incarnation means, according to verse 14, that the divine Logos substituted His heavenly way of existence for the frail, broken, earthly, human way of existence. This human existence of the Word is not to be understood in a docetic way, a mere being 'in the flesh,' but a 'becoming flesh,' and yet without sacrificing His essential being as logos." (Neotestamentica, pages 16, 18).
The reality of Jesus' manhood and the horrendous suffering through which He passed magnifies the grace He made known. Paul wrote: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich". (II Corinthians 8:9). The Hebrew writer adds, "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same" (Hebrews 2:14). For that every sincere child of God should be profoundly thankful.
The soldier gave Jesus sour wine on a sponge to drink. Previously Jesus had refused to drink the vinegar mixed with gall. He refused the common drink given to such condemned men to dull the pain and possibly accelerate their demise. At the end, however, He could safely drink, for He had endured complete agony and pain. John adds that prophecy was fulfilled. Very likely either Psalm 22:15 or 69:21, both of which could be the Scripture John had in mind. John T. Hinds once wrote: "The one that filled a sponge with vinegar and placed it to His lips was fulfilling a prophecy of which he knew nothing." (Annual Lesson Commentary, Gospel Advocate Co., 1933, page 158).
How do you feel about Jesus, dear friend? Is He truly a friend to you? He laid down His life to demonstrate what a friend He is willing to be. What have you done in return? Are you part of His way of living? Do you love Him for what He has done for you? If not, carefully consider how you feel about Him and turn to Him today. Through your faith that He is truly God's only Son, your commitment to obey Him without reservation and your devotion to live with and for Him for whatever future God has in mind for you will bring you out right in the end. Jesus deserves our full faith and obedience. Anything less is a discredit to His great act of mercy as He gave His life that we might have ours. Will you today, through your faith, accept Him for what He is, turn from the past life of sin in repentance, and obey His divine mandate, be baptized in water, into the sacred name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, for the remission of your sins. I sincerely hope you will and urge you not to delay.
But, time is gone for today. If you have a question about this, or would like to have a copy of this lesson, contact us.