I Thirst (John 19:28-29)

We know that sometimes a lot can be said in a few words. There have been many examples of this in life and no doubt we have experienced the benefits of a short phrase on numerous occasions. On the cross, Jesus spoke seven short sayings, each of which is important because each is a window through which we can see his heart. Some of his sayings are longer than the others, but the shortest one is the fifth saying, ‘I thirst.’

The fifth saying of Jesus may not seem initially to be as important as some of his other sayings on the cross. It is not a petition like his prayer for the soldiers, it is not a promise such as the one he gave to the penitent criminal, it is not an arrangement of provision as he did for his mother, it is not a description of his spiritual agony that he experienced when he was forsaken by the Father, it is not like his later sayings when he said that he had completed his work and then dismissed his spirit into the care of his Father. Yet since we have been told that he said these words, ‘I thirst,’ there must be important matters to deduce from it.

When did Jesus previously have a drink of any liquid? As far as we can discover from the New Testament, it was during the Lord’s Supper before he was arrested. Since then, he had undergone a period of agony in Gethsemane, several trials, a time beating and mocking by soldiers, and his experiences on the cross. He had been offered a drink to dull his senses when he arrived at Calvary, but he had refused to swallow that liquid. So we should not be surprised that he now mentions the intensity of his thirst.

Yet we should be surprised in a sense because if there ever was a man who could provide water it was Jesus. After all, he was able to perform miracles by the power of the Spirit, although it is the case that when he performed his miracles he did so for the benefit of others. In addition, he was the Creator of all things, who could bring into existence everything by the power of the divine word. John tells us that all things were made through him, and among the all things were every stream, river and lake in the world that contained freshwater. 

Whatever else this saying of Jesus teaches us, it does remind us that Jesus was crucified in weakness, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:4. It is true that he was able to make several loud cries, and no doubt he was strengthened by the Spirit to do so. Yet his thirst was an expression of his physical weakness.

His awareness of the scriptures

John tells us that these words of Jesus fulfil the Scripture. Are their passages that refer to this aspect of his sufferings? We find such a prediction in Psalm 22:15, where David wrote these words: ‘My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.’ In the psalm, the Sufferer is speaking to the One he addressed in the first verse of the psalm, the God who had forsaken him. We can see from this verse that there is a close connection in time between his statement of being thirsty and him coming to die. 

There is a disagreement as to how to understand the phrase ‘to fulfil the scripture’. Does it mean that Jesus’ words were in accordance with a prophecy or does it mean that he chose deliberately to say these words because the prophecy still had to be fulfilled? I suppose one cannot be dogmatic about which option is correct. Whichever one is right, both options highlight the amazing reality of precise prediction found in the Old Testament about Jesus and his sufferings as well as about him and his subsequent glory.

We know that Jesus spoke to his disciples about what was said about him in the Old Testament. The Scriptures, because they are divinely inspired, explain to us the significance of the details that were predicted. For example, the verse from Psalm 22 that predicted his thirst also says that he knew that the One who had brought him to the point of death was his Father. What ideas can we see in the description, ‘You lay me in the dust of death’? An obvious one is that the Sufferer knew that the One in charge of all that was happening to him was God.

The reality of his humanity

There were heresies in the early Christian church that denied that Jesus was a real man. One idea was that he did not have a human soul, but that within his body lived the divine Son. This idea makes his body into a shell in which dwelt his divine nature, and that he did not have a human mind or possess human affections or use a human will. It is possible that is how many Christians think of Jesus. The truth is that the eternal Son became a real man without ceasing to be divine. As it has been put, in his case it was humiliation by addition and not by subtraction. Deity and humanity were united in a divine Person.

When we think of his humanity, what should we focus on? The obvious detail that comes to mind because of his conception is that his humanity was unique in the sense that a human father was not involved. His human nature was created by God in the womb of Mary and at the same moment the Son assumed that human nature into permanent union with himself. The creations of Adam and Eve were unique, but they were not united to a divine person. They remained humans only, but the human nature of Jesus is the human nature of a divine person.

A second detail is that his humanity was and is and will be constantly holy. Although born of a sinful woman, who needed him to be her Saviour, he was not affected by her sinfulness. Throughout his childhood, adolescence and adulthood, he was holy. He had no sinful thoughts. All temptations came from outside. The devil found nothing in Jesus that would respond to his temptations, as we can see from the account given of a prolonged period of temptation that he endured after his baptism.

A third detail to observe about his humanity is that of his humility. Indeed, he described himself as being gentle and lowly in heart, qualifications that made him the most suitable teacher of his people. As a man on earth, he depended on his Father and he experienced the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit. His humility is seen in the importance he gave to communion with God and the necessity of frequent prayer to his Father. He also revealed his humility with expressions of love towards those who were inferior to him, such as when he washed his disciples’ feet. 

Moreover, his humanity has undergone changes beginning with his resurrection. The accounts given of his appearances to his disciples on the resurrection day indicate that he was no longer limited by our current human inabilities. He was able to appear in a room of which the doors had been locked, and he was able to disappear from a room in which he had sat down to eat with his two friends from Emmaus. His ascension to heaven also reveals that he could ascend through the air without any difficulty.

Further, his humanity shares in the exaltation to the divine throne that he enjoys as the Mediator. Jesus, when he ascended to heaven, did not stop short of the throne of God. We have a description of him going there in Revelation 5. He was invited by the Father to sit with him on his throne and he is there now, having been glorified and given the title of Lord. It is amazing to contrast the experience of the man of Calvary with his experience as the risen and exalted man on the throne of God. While his human nature has not been deified, he as a person, the one who is both God and Man, has been highly exalted.

The Saviour’s sympathy

We know that some people experience great agony because of the pain and distress that they undergo. Often, it is hard for them to share it because those they are speaking to don’t know what it is like. On the cross, Jesus had sufferings in his soul that were very different from what we can know in this life when he paid the penalty for sin. Yet those sufferings had their physical aspects, here expressed in his deep thirst. So even at a basic level, he knows what it is like to have a burning thirst that needs to be relieved. It is good for us to know, even at the level of physical distress, that Jesus understands what we are going through. And we know that one consequence of his thirst is that he is able to create a universe, a new heavens and new earth, where the inhabitants will thirst no more (Rev. 7:16).

A cry for earthly provision one more time

This saying is the only reference Jesus made to his physical sufferings and it follows the only reference he made to his spiritual sufferings when he asked the Father why he had forsaken him. There were times in his earthly journey when Jesus had requested provision from others. Perhaps one that comes to mind is the occasion when he asked the Samaritan woman for a drink (John 4). During their conversation together, he had opened to her mind that he was the Messiah who had come into the world in order to provide a way for sinners like her to participate in the worship of God. His words to her that day changed her heart for ever, but he knew at that time that he would have to do much more for her before she would be in the presence of God. However thirsty he was on the day he met her, he was much more thirsty at the time he paid the penalty for her sins on the cross of Calvary. On that occasion, he asked a specific person for a drink and she responded. Now, on the cross, he cries, waiting for someone to provide for him.

A test for creatures by their God

When Jesus had come initially to the cross he had been offered a drink that was drugged in order to cloud the mind of the person about to be crucified. He had refused that drink because his death was going to be an active one in which his faculties would be involved. Now that he is coming to the close of his time of suffering on the cross, Jesus accepts the drink that is offered to him.

John tells us that some responded to his cry and dipped a sponge with sour wine and offered it to him to drink. Who were those persons? The only ones who would be close enough to fulfil this action, and who would have the authority to go close to a condemned person, would be the soldiers guarding him. They had been the object of his prayer after they had nailed him to the cross, and they had observed him since then and heard his various sayings. This small action on their part highlights a change taking place within them. No longer are they indifferent to his sufferings as they had been earlier when they chose to gamble for his clothes while he was praying for them.

What an amazing privilege was given to the man who held this drink to the mouth of the parched Saviour! The disciples were not there in order to provide it. His mother who no doubt had given him many a drink was not able to provide it. The women who had ministered to him on numerous occasions were not able to help him now. But this soldier, in an expression of kindness, provided a little relief for the dying Saviour, and left us an example of how important it is to hear and act on the words of Jesus.