Seven Last Words

5. “I am thirsty.” (John 19:28)

After Jesus had taken care of his mother did he mention his own physical and bodily needs. The verb “thirst” is present tense. His somatic needs were continuous, consuming and chronic. His body was cramping, his breath was choking and his back was collapsing. Jesus would next say, “It is finished.” It was the ninth hour (Mark 15:34), more than six hours after he was crucified at the third hour (Mark 15:25) - six hours of dripping blood, diminishing consciousness and draining life. Medically, it is called hypovolemia, a decrease in blood volume or, more specifically, a decrease in volume of blood plasma (not dehydration, which is a loss of body fluid). The patient may feel dizzy, faint, nauseated, or very thirsty. (Wikipedia) Water makes up 90% of blood.

A person asked a magazine, “What is the hottest time of day? 3 p.m. or noon?”

Answer: The hottest time of the day is around 3 p.m. Heat continues building up after noon, when the sun is highest in the sky, as long as more heat is arriving at the earth than leaving. By 3 p.m. or so, the sun is low enough in the sky for outgoing heat to be greater than incoming.

www.almanac.com › Advice › Question of the Day

The sun is at its highest point in the sky at noon local time (1pm with Daylight Saving Time). At that point, the sun’s rays will cause sunburn in the shortest amount of time. But although the sun’s radiation is at its strongest then, that doesn’t mean that the temperature peaks at mid-day. The temperature will actually peak between 3 pm and 4:30 pm each afternoon.

https://nbc5weather.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/what-is-the-hottest-time-of-the-day/

The main sources of water losses from the body are urine and sweat, but water is also lost through stools and insensibly through skin and breathing.

www.h4hinitiative.com/h4h-academy/hydration-lab/water-and.../body-water-balance

Jesus was thirsty at the hottest time of the day! His thirst was not just from the harm of bleeding, but also from the heat of the sun and from the hours on the cross. Experts are uncertain if there was a foot-rest for Jesus’ feet. The outcome of his suspension, struggle and suffering on the cross of is overexertion, over-exhaustion and overextension or overcompensation of the body from the overused muscles, obvious fatigue and ongoing cramps.

6. “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

Finished can be translated as ended (Matt 7:28), gone over (Matt 10:23), performed (Luke 2:39), accomplished (Luke 12:50), fulfilled (Acts 13:29), pay (Rom 13:6) and expired (Rev 20:7). It is in the perfect passive tense. The perfect tense expresses perfective action. James Brooks says, “Perfective action involves a present state which has resulted from a past action. The present state is a continuing state; the past action is a completed action.” God’s perfect plan and purpose activated in ages past to redeem and restore fallen man through the Son of man (Luke 18:31) is now ended, executed and established. It has been acted on, in the passive tense - achieved, accomplished and actualized. The initiative is God’s. There is nothing more to pay. It is consummated. There is nothing left undone, no stones unturned, not a moment too soon