Last week our fourth statement from the cross that we looked at was perhaps the most agonizing statement of all. I believe as Christ took on the sins of the world, that sin that was upon Him separated Him from His Father and in that time of spiritual agony He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Christ experienced that spiritual agony of being separated from His Father so we wouldn’t have to be.
Today we will look at the fifth statement and it comes from the gospel of John.
John 19:28,29
“I am thirsty.” It’s such a simple and short statement. How many times have you said that statement during your life? I can’t tell you how many times my kids have come to me and said, “I am thirsty.” It’s a common condition of the human body. Your body has to have so much water or liquid in it for it to function properly. If you fail to hydrate your body the way you should it can cause you to pass out. I remember back in 1996 when me and my friend Scott took 60 of our Senior Highs out to Phoenix, Arizona for the International Youth Convention. We did a work camp in inner city Phoenix after the convention was over. Because of the heat at that time of the year they wouldn’t let us work past 11:00am. Of course they got us up at the crack of dawn. But they lectured us that you must keep drinking water while you’re in the heat. They told us that if you waited until you were thirsty, it was too late you would be dehydrated. We ended up having to take one person to the hospital that didn’t listen well. Here on the cross Jesus’ body was dehydrated. With his loss of blood, his nervous tension and his exposure to the weather it had generated a raging thirst in Him. Besides the pain, the crucifixion was noted for causing dehydration. An interesting side note here, is that when the soldier gave him the sour wine it was on a hyssop reed that they put the sponge on. Some people think that it was mistranslated because a hyssop reed is only a stalk, like strong grass, and probably is only about two feet long. But when we go back to the very first Passover it was hyssop branches that they were suppose to use to put the blood of the Passover Lamb on the doorposts with. It was the blood of the Passover lamb that saved the people of God, and here it was the blood of Christ that would save the world from sin. It’s one of the details that John tells us about that the other gospels didn’t. Of course John was the last gospel written and so I’m sure that there were things that He wanted to make sure were known, and that gave him the opportunity. But when it comes to the statement that Jesus made here, I believe that God inspired John to make sure that he recorded it for at least three reasons. This morning I want to look at what I think those three reasons are.
I believe the first reason that we are made aware of Jesus’ statement here is to show us that He really did experience a real and physical humanity. “When John was writing his gospel, round about A.D. 100, a certain tendency had arisen in religious and philosophical thought, called gnosticism. One of its great tenets was that spirit was altogether good and matter all together evil. Certain conclusions followed. One was that God, who was pure spirit, could never take upon himself a body, because that was matter, and matter was evil. They therefore taught that Jesus never had a real body. They said it was a phantom. They said, for instance, that when Jesus walked, his feet left no prints on the ground, because he was pure spirit in a phantom body.
They went on to argue that God could never really suffer, and that therefore Jesus never really suffered but went through the whole experience of the cross without any real pain. When the Gnostics thought like that, they believed that they were honoring God and honoring Jesus; but they were really destroying Jesus. If he was ever to redeem man, he must become man. He had to become what we are in order to make us what He is.” (The Gospel of John Vol. 2, The Daily Bible Study Series, Westminster Press, William Barclay, pp. 257,258) I believe that is why God inspired John to write what Jesus said here. He wanted John to show people that the pain that Jesus went through on the cross was real. The humanity and suffering of Jesus was real. Jesus’ thirst here was real. When Christ went through the temptation in the wilderness for those forty days, the hunger that Christ went through for that period of time was real. That’s why Satan tried to tempt Jesus to turn stones into bread. Satan knew that Christ was fully human and experiencing the pain of hunger like any human would who hadn’t had food in forty days. That’s why Satan took him to the highest point of the temple and tried to get him to throw himself off the temple and test God who would save Him. Why would that be such a big deal if Christ’ body weren’t capable of being crushed and broken in a jump like that. Why would Christ pray in so much agony in the Garden of Gethsemane that He began to literally sweat blood over what He was getting ready to go through. And doctors will tell you that it is absolutely humanly possible to do that. But if his pain weren’t real it would be no sweat. I think that God not only wanted the Gnostics of that time to know that Jesus’ pain and suffering was real. But I think He wants us to know that as well. The physical pain and torture that Jesus went through, He went through for you and I. When Jesus wept over Jerusalem because of their rejection of Him those tears were tears of real hurt and pain. Even though Jesus isn’t in the flesh today I wonder if he might not be shedding tears over those of us who continue to reject Him in our lives today. He went through the pain and suffering and the discomforts of the human body for you and I.
Last week we talked about the spiritual agony that Christ was in, as for the first time in His life He experienced that separation from His Father. When he made the statement “I am thirsty”, He was still experiencing that separation from the Father. I believe that He was not only experiencing a physical thirst, but a spiritual thirst as well. I believe that John was inspired to record this statement as well to show us that when we are separated from our Father in Heaven we will have a thirst. Just like God made the human body to have to have so much water or liquid to function properly. He also made our soul in such a way that it needs to have that connection with God. If we are separated from God our soul has a thirst, an empty spot that can only be filled by God. No matter what we do nothing can take away that emptiness. Listen to the author of Psalm 42. “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. When can I go and meet with God?” Do you hear the hunger that He had for God? His soul had a deep spiritual thirst for God. It was a thirst that could only be quenched by fellowship with His God. Isaiah gave an invitation to the people in chapter 55, he said, “Come, all you who are thirsty?” If Jesus’ thirst were not only a physical thirst but also a spiritual thirst, it wouldn’t be the first time that Jesus talked of a physical and spiritual thirst. Remember at the well with the Samaritan woman. If you remember Jesus asked the woman at the well for a drink of water. She was stunned that He even talked to her, after all Jews just didn’t associate with Jews. Jesus began to talk to her about the living water that he could give. She thought He was talking about a physical water. She was wondering how He was going to get this living water because he didn’t have anything to dip it out with. But Jesus told her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.” He said, “the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” She was still thinking in the physical realm. She said, “Sir, give me this water so I don’t have to keep coming to this well to draw out water.” You see she was already coming out at an odd time of day anyway. This way she didn’t have to put up with people whispering about her. She had been married five times and was living with someone who wasn’t her husband now. Jesus asked for her husband and it provided the open door, Jesus told her everything about herself. Jesus knew that she must face her actions and ask for repentance so that he could provide her with the living water that would fill that spiritual thirst that she had. It was free, but it had to come with repentance. Some of you out here have that spiritual thirst that can only be satisfied by God. You know that you have this hole in your soul. You’ve tried to fill it with a lot of things but nothing has worked. Christ can you living water that will take away that thirst. But your sin is stopping you from being able to receive that living water. God wants to have that fellowship with you that will bring you the fulfillment that you desire. But you must seek the forgiveness of your sins and go in a new direction.
The last reason that I believe why God inspired John to record this statement is probably the clearest in the text. To show us through the fulfillment of the scripture that He was indeed the Messiah. In verse 28 it said, “…and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty. You see in Psalm 22:15 it predicted the thirst of Christ when it said, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth…” In Psalm 69:21 says, “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.” The Sour wine was essentially vinegar. Both of these Psalms begin with the sufferings of David but have their full meaning in the sufferings of Jesus. The greatest thing to me is that even at his point of greatest pain and suffering that Christ would make sure that every prophecy is fulfilled. Max Lucado in his book “He Chose the Nails” wrote this, “Why in his final moments, was Jesus determined to fulfill prophecy? He knew we would doubt. He knew we would question. And since he did not want our heads to keep his love from our hearts, he used his final moments to offer proof that he was the Messiah.” I think all of us at one time or another in our Christian experience, if we are honest, have thought to ourselves. What if Jesus Christ really isn’t the Son of God? What if He was just some lunatic claiming to be? But you see God’s prophecies should remove all doubt. There are hundreds of prophecies from the Old Testament that the life of Christ fulfilled that should give us confidence that He was no doubt the Son of God. These prophecies were written hundreds of years before Christ. We know that from professionals who have dated the books. According to the Old Testament prophecies the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, to be born of a virgin, to enter into Jerusalem in triumph, was to be rejected by his own people, was to be betrayed by one of his own followers, was to be tried and condemned, was to be silent before his accusers. Christ fulfilled every one of those prophecies and the list doesn’t stop there. According to the prophecies the Messiah was to be struck and spat by his enemies, mocked and insulted, was to die by crucifixion, He was to suffer with criminals and pray for his enemies, they were to cast lots for his garments, his bones were not to be broken. The list goes on and on, but the life of Christ fulfilled every one of those prophecies and there are still so many more. Our Father in Heaven wanted us to know that Christ was indeed His son and the Messiah sent into the world to save us from our sins. Christ’ thirst on the cross was just the final statements of many proclaiming Him to be the Son of God. Yet there are so many today who do not believe Christ to be the Messiah. Most of the Jewish people who follow the Jewish religion are still waiting on their Messiah to come. Somehow they have dismissed all of the evidence. In their minds they are still stuck on a Messiah who fits their perceptions of what a Messiah is to be. They can’t understand a Savior who could be nailed to a tree and killed. They can’t understand a Savior who through his death on the cross paid the ultimate price for you and I. Thank goodness for the growing success of the Jews for Jesus ministry that have opened the eyes of many Jews to see that their Messiah has already come and it’s not too late to accept Him as their Messiah. That same rings true for you today. Maybe you’ve always believed in God, but you were never sure that Christ was who He said He was. I beg of you to read and examine the evidence. God has given us all the evidence that we need. Even at the very end, Christ gave us one more piece of evidence to say, I am HE!
This morning as we see the thirst of Christ on the cross, know that he suffered and felt hunger and thirst just like you and I have. He didn’t come down in a super body that wasn’t possible to feel pain and suffering. He came into the world born in flesh like you and I and went through trials and temptations and displayed the depth of His love on the cross. This morning if you put your trust in Him, He will give you living water that will enable you never to spiritually thirst again. He went through that spiritual thirst on the cross so you don’t have to experience that spiritual thirst now. He’s given us proof after proof to prove that He is who He says He is. Will you trust Him?
