I Thirst

I Thirst

John 19:28

We have been considering the seven last sayings from the cross. Sermons are often man centered it is good for us to forget ourselves and focus on our Savior. We are not the focus of our Christianity, Christ is. The more we learn of Christ the more we will learn of ourselves. In Christ we see everything we need in this world and the next. To study Christ is to study God and when we study God we inevitably see ourselves in the way that God desires.

The first saying of the cross was “Father Forgive them…”. In that statement we see the great mercy of our God.

The second statement was “Today thou shalt be with Me in paradise.” In that statement we see the great salvation of our God.

The third saying was “Woman behold thy son.” There we see that our God cares for us.

The fourth saying was “My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me?” In that statement we see the depths that our God went to in order to redeem us.

The fifth statement is a very simple one. It is the shortest of all the statements. It is simple but profound: “I thirst.” Christ has spoken to the Father, He has spoken to the thief, He has spoken to Mary and John, now He speaks to the crowd. He speaks to the whosoevers. I thirst. Look at the text.

I want us to see three things from the fifth word from the cross.

I. His Humanity Affected.

A. He was genuinely thirsty.

1. Christ was human. There was an early heresy called Docetism that denied the humanity of Jesus. The thinking was that all things material are inherently evil, therefore, Christ could not have been human. He only appeared to be human. The Bible is clear the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Christ is fully God but He is also fully man. Theologians call this the hypostatic union- in Christ we have the divine and human nature together in one being.

2. As a human Christ experienced what we experience. In taking on human nature Christ was able to suffer. If Christ had not become man He could not have suffered.

Illust: What if I told you that you could become something that would keep you from ever getting tired, weak, hungry, thirsty, feeling pain, dying? Would you want to become that? Of course! But God did the opposite of that!

He couldn’t feel pain – but He will feel it for over thirty years

He couldn’t get tired- but He will weary Himself for us.

He couldn’t get hungry- He will hunger for us.

He couldn’t die- He will die for us.

He couldn’t get thirsty- but He will get thirsty for us.

3. This is no small detail. It reveals to us the mystery of godliness- God was manifest in the flesh! We can understand God coming to man but it’s far more difficult to understand God becoming man.

B. Christ had gone through a lot at this point.

1. This was not the first time Jesus thirsted. He told the woman at the well to give Him a drink (John 4). He walked through the streets ministering daily with the sun beating down upon His head. While it wasn’t the first time He thirsted it was clearly the worst time He thirsted.

2. He likely had not had anything to drink since the upper room. He celebrated the Passover with His disciples. Afterwards the suffering started:

The walk to Gethsemane where He prayed and sweat profusely

The arrest

Seven trials

He was drug back and forth to, physical abuse/torture, He toted His cross for a while

He had nails put through His body

He hung in the bright sun for three hours and in the darkness another three.

3. This was the cry of a dying man.

Illust: I remember Abigail doing a paper on Molly Pitcher . She was a woman who carried water to soldiers on the battlefield during the Revolutionary War. War makes a person thirsty. Picture if you could a battlefield with soldiers lying wounded and dying. You hear them crying “Water, water, water!” This is what we have. Christ on the battlefield for our souls wounded and dying. He’s crying out “Water!”

C. How He could have gotten through it.

1. He could have taken what was initially offered to Him.

A drink was offered to Him on the way to the cross. Mark 15:23 says just before Jesus was crucified He was offered a drink of wine mixed with myrrh. This mixture was often given to people being crucified because it was a pain killer, it had a numbing affect. Most people would take it. Jesus wouldn’t. He experienced every ounce of pain possible at the crucifixion. It would be like you saying:

Pull the tooth don’t worry about numbing the gum.

Let’s have the baby I don’t need the epidural.

Stitch me up doc, I don’t need anything beforehand.

Christ refused a drink because He accepted the full penalty of our sin.

2. He could have gotten a drink Himself.

Jesus didn’t need anyone to get Him a drink. He’s Jesus. If He wants a drink He can get it. He can calm a storm, He can start one too. He could have the heavens drop rain. Just ask Noah about that. He could have a spring burst forth from the earth.

Christ says “I thirst” because His humanity was affected.

II. This was Hell’s Aftermath.

A. Consider When Christ says it.

1. After the atonement is made. “After this…” He didn’t say it after the crown of thorns, the cat of nine tails, slaps, punches, piercings, and insults. He says it after darkness has covered the land for three hours and He shouts “My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me?” The next thing He says will be “It is finished!”

2. Christ had another cup to drink before He could drink anything else. The Father had a cup for Jesus and the Lord told Him in Gethsemane that He would drink every sip of that cup (Matt. 26:42). That cup was a cup of suffering.

B. Why Christ says it.

1. To fulfill Scripture. “That the Scripture might be fulfilled” Over 700 years before this occurs Jesus words were recorded in Psalm 22.

Psalm 22:14-15 says

“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws: and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.” There we see a dehydrated Savior, His mouth like cotton; He is as dry as dust.

2. He was severely dehydrated. Dehydration was the second most common way to die on a cross. Asphyxiation was the most common. But think of all the body fluid Jesus has lost:

He had been sweating profusely

He had lost a lot of blood

He had been baking in the sun for hours.

3. But He needs to say a couple of more things.

I think He could barely speak at this point. Matthew 27:50 says that Jesus says His last words from the cross with a loud voice. I believed He roared “It is finished!” In order to say what he needed to say in the way He needed to say it He needed a drink.

C. What it represents.

1. Thirst describes the pain of hell. Luke 16 tells the story of two men that died. One went to be with the Lord, the other went to hell. The Bible says in hell that man lifted up his voice and said “send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame.” That man said “I thirst!” Christ after hours in hell says the same thing “I thirst!” He is parched by the judgment of God! If you or me had been in hell for a moment you’d be thirsty, He’d been there for hours.

2. Thirst describes the moans of hell. There is an eternal “I thirst”. Christ’s moan of “I thirst” echoes the eternal moans of those in hell. It’s the only song in hell. It’s the chorus of hell sung over and over and over!

It’s what’s on the mind of those without Christ.

3. Thirst describes the place of hell. It’s a desert on fire. On the cross Christ was confined beneath the scorching sun, and water was out of reach. God brought hell to Him. When someone is cast into hell it is the same as with Christ: they are confined (cannot leave), beneath a lake of fire, water is out of their reach.

Christ saying “I thirst” is hells aftermath. Three hours of Hell has passed over Him and it leaves Him thirsty.

III. Human Action.

A. Jesus is given a drink.

1. What was it? The vinegar was a type of sour wine the soldiers kept by to keep hydrated. Crucifixions made for a long day and they needed something to drink. It was generally highly diluted with water and didn’t taste great but it got the job done.

2. Who gave it? Most likely a soldier gave Jesus this drink. Matthew tells us that one of the soldiers said “Truly this is the Son of God” after Jesus died. Maybe that was the soldier. I don’t know.

3. How was it given? A sponge was wetted placed on a stick and it was lifted to His lips. Not much of a drink at all, but it was something.

B. Jesus gives us the great privilege of serving Him.

1. Christ asks His tormentors to serve Him. That shows a lot about Jesus. How hard is it for us to ask anything of those who have wronged us? Here is the wonderful and forgiving love of our great God! We are His tormentors and it shouldn’t surprise us if He wanted nothing to do with us. Yet He asks us to serve Him!!

2. What a great privilege to serve Christ. I hope this man who served Christ got saved. There’s a good chance he did. Could you imagine that person who gave Jesus a drink on the cross standing before the Lord and the Lord says “I was thirsty and you gave me a drink”?

3. The privilege to serve the thirsty Christ still exists. Not in the same way we see in our text, but Christ still has deep desires. Desires He has allowed us to participate in.

C. There are many ways to serve Christ. Did he not say “If you give a drink to the least of these you have given a drink unto Me?”

1. He thirsts after compassion in His followers. He wants us to love one another deeply. I have watched people die more than I want to. One thing that is especially precious to me is to watch someone take a sponge or cloth and keep the mouth wet. When this is done in the name of Jesus you are giving a drink to our Savior. No one was more compassionate to the sick and dying than our Lord. When we show the love of God through acts of service we are serving Christ.

2. He thirsts after your soul. He desires that you be saved. We can quench the thirst of Christ with our tears of repentance. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but finds great delight in their salvation. Think about this: The One who thirsts offers us a drink. It’s the drink of salvation. It brings Him great joy for you to accept the drink of salvation He offers you.

3. He thirsts for a missional heart. He wants the church to be busy giving living water to a lost world. When He asked a drink from the woman at the well she never gave Him one. He gave her a drink, a drink of salvation. She took off and told the whole town. A lot of folks got saved. The disciples were worried that Jesus hadn’t eaten anything. Jesus told them “I have meat to eat that you know not of. My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me and to finish the work.” (John 4:32, 34). The salvation of that woman and the Samaritans quenched His hunger and His thirst.

Jesus still thirsts. He thirsts to see His people live for His glory.