Soon Jesus would be dead. The four last statements of Jesus seemed to happen in quick succession. The fifth word of seven is, “I thirst.”
John 19:28-29
28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
- He did this to fulfill another scripture. Everything Jesus did was in the will of God and no breath, no action, no word was wasted.
- John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
- The prophecy referenced here is Psalm 69:21, “They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.”
Two drinks
- Matthew 27:34; Mark 15:23 speak of a drink offered to Christ at the beginning of the crucifixion that was mixed with gall. He would not take it. Gall was used to dull pain.
- The second time, here, it was simply vinegar, the drink of the commoner.
- Why was vinegar there? It was popular among the Roman soldiers. They would mix vinegar and water to prevent scurvy and other water born diseases. It was also better at quenching thirst. Think of it as the Gatorade of Jesus’ day.
- Jesus would drink the bitter cup that he asked the Father to let pass from him in the Garden of Gethsemane.
A man like no other.
- Matt. 27: 48-49, “And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him”
- Matthew 27:50-54, “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. 54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”
- 2 Peter 2:22-24, “21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
What do we see and are challenged to follow?
- Jesus’ physical humanity.
- Jesus’ knowledge of the scriptures.
- Jesus’ commitment to fulfilling the Father’s will.
Jeremy Kamer Ministries 