I Thirst/It Is Finished - Palm Sunday 2022 Series

Today is Palm Sunday, the day Jesus Christ enters into the city of Jerusalem to make this memorable last week before His crucifixion. This week means so much as it culminates in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

The cross of Jesus means so much even all these years later.

Mary George was martyred around eight years ago this day in Cairo, Egypt. Many of you know the wonderful organization, The Voice of the Martyrs. The Voice of the Martyrs reports that Mary was taking medicine for a family when she was stopped by a group of pro-Muslim Brotherhood protesters. The reason she was stopped was they saw a cross dangling from her rear-view mirror on her car. Protestors climbed onto her car, collapsing the roof, then hauled her from the vehicle, beating and mauling her. She was stabbed multiple times.. Even after she was dead, the mob torched her car. All this because they saw a cross. The cross still causes powerful reactions all these years later.

On Friday, Jesus Christ hung on the cross for six agonizing hours before succumbing to the torture of crucifixion through asphyxiation. During that time, Jesus made seven statements on the cross that were recorded in the four gospels of the New Testament. Years before this, someone said of Jesus' teaching, "No one ever spoke like this man" (John 7:46)! As every time Jesus spoke, we can say of these seven utterances from the cross, "No one ever spoke like this man!" Each one of these statements is significant and worthy of all your mental power.

I invite you to turn to two places in your Bible with me. Find John 19 with me if you and put a bookmark there if you will. And I invite you to also find Matthew 27 with me as well.

The Julian Calendar

Today is April 10, 2022 AD. The AD is controversial in some circles and they want to change it. But the AD stands for the Latin term, "in the year of the Lord." Today, we follow the Gregorian calendar and it is used by most of the world today. The Gregorian Calendar replaced the Julian calendar. Now, I am not here to make you an expert in ancient calendaring systems, but I want to bring forward a calendaring facet of the old Julian calendar. In the old Julian calendar, if someone were to say to you, "Happy New Year!" and you looked at the calendar, you'd be surprised to know it wasn't January 1. Instead, under this old calendar, the new year was celebrated around the time when Jesus rose from the dead. In the sixth century, a monk in Rome came along and he made the first day of the new year around Easter Sunday. Now, his dates weren't always accurate but when the first day of the year was Easter, that also meant one of the last days of the year was Good Friday. So, "Happy New Year" was the resurrection of Jesus around March 25. Now, the reason the New Year started at the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is that nothing is more fundamental than this in the Christian faith.

Our hope is that this series will serve to energize you for worship as we approach Easter. The ground of Calvary is fertile for so many things. But best of all, Calvary's ground is ripe to grow fresh worship in each of our hearts.

Today's Scripture

"Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, 'This man is calling Elijah.' 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, 'Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.' 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit" (Matthew 27:45-50).

And now, let's read from John 19: "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), 'I thirst.' 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit" (John 19:28-30).

To prepare our hearts to celebrate Easter in a month, I want you to devote your mind and heart to these seven statements of Jesus while hanging on the cross. Today we examine Jesus' fifth and sixth statements while hanging on the cross: "I thirst" and "It is finished." Consider the seminal moments in front of you as all of history will change. Consider the One in front of you as your future will change because of this very moment. No time in world history is there so much tragedy; no time in worship history is there simultaneously so much hope. Worship with me this morning as we consider the last words of Jesus.