Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.  I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.  I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched.  My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.  More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; many are those who would destroy me, my enemies who accuse me falsely.  What I did not steal must I now restore?  O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.  Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me, O Lord GOD of hosts; do not let those who seek you be dishonored because of me, O God of Israel.  It is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that shame has covered my face.  I have become a stranger to my kindred, an alien to my mother's children.  It is zeal for your house that has consumed me; the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.  When I humbled my soul with fasting, they insulted me for doing so.  When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.  I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.  But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.  At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.  With your faithful help rescue me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.  Do not let the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the Pit close its mouth over me.  Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.  Do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress--make haste to answer me.  Draw near to me, redeem me, set me free because of my enemies.  You know the insults I receive, and my shame and dishonor; my foes are all known to you.  Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair.  I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.  They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. (Psalm 69:1-21) (NRSV)

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am thirsty."  A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. (John 19:28-29) (NRSV)

"Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."

Jesus is feeling sheer agony.  The night before had begun ordinarily enough, with dinner.  True, it wasn't any old dinner. It was a Passover meal, but ordinary in the life a Jew.  It began ordinarily enough but it didn't end that way.  As the evening wore on, events came so quickly and decisively, highlighted by the departure of Judas, the blood money jingling in his pocket, leaving to make final arrangements for the betrayal.  It had continued with the dreadful agony of Jesus' prayer of intercession in the garden when, so intense was His anticipated suffering, He had actually sweat great drops of blood and angels had been required to come and strengthen Him.

Then all night long He had been marched here and there to face this trial and all the time being beaten, and bullied and finally mocked and scourged.  The morning had seen Him without sleep, staggering towards Golgotha and fainting beneath the weight of the cross.  Then came the actual crucifixion itself.  For hours He had hung upon the cross beneath the burning heat of the sun, and having refused the customary pain killer drink of the day, wine mixed with gall (a Hebrew word meaning poison, hemlock, venom) he felt the full force of the excruciating pain.

The blood vessels of His sacred body are almost dried up.  A dreadful fever rages through His body.  His tongue is parched and cleaves to His jaw.  His lips are swollen and burn like fire.  The spiritual desolation through which He has just passed has practically exhausted any remaining strength.

Will He speak again? Can anyone so tortured by pain utter any intelligible words?  He had spoken before - the first three times were uttered during the first three hours, in daylight; now darkness covers the land and we have witnessed how He has spoken once since the darkness, a cry of anguish.  Will He speak again? He does - "I am thirsty".  A cry of agony.

To be sure they are simple words and we are likely to overlook them and move on to something which we think are words of more importance.  But don't be hasty to skim over these simple words for they are packed with truth and revelation for us - for here is God, the Word become flesh, through whom all things were made, the creator of the heavens and the earth.  Every drop of water in the universe owes its origin to Him.  Every gurgling, rushing mountain stream came from His hands.  Every deep, cool well exists because of His work.

And he cries out "I am thirsty".  A word of human agony.

Can you think of a greater torture known to man that that of thirst? Those who have experienced the burning heat of the deserts tell horrible stories of the suffering brought on by thirst, bleeding mouths, bulging eyes, and throats rubbed raw by the blowing sands.  All of this is the agony of the thirst of death.  This was our Saviour's lot when He said, "I am thirsty."

Approach these words with reverence and let us consider what this word of agony reveals.

I

First, this word of agony reveals the reality of our Savior's humanity.

We are people of the Bible and proclaim the fact that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.  Beware of anyone who tells you differently.  It is a central truth that all the fullness of the Deity dwells in Jesus Christ in bodily form (Colossians 2:9)  

At my previous church, there was a woman who went to a Bible study, and was reading the first verses of John 1 in which we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning." At this point she jumped up and shouted in the middle of the study, "You mean Jesus Christ was God?!"  It was a revelation to her that Jesus was actually God, and with that revelation, the story of Jesus came alive for her.

But in our enthusiasm to defend the central biblical truth let us not forget this other central truth - that Jesus was fully man.  "The Word became FLESH and dwelt among us." When we think of it, that God became man, not that man was lifted up to be a God, nor that a God appeared on earth, but God became flesh.  When we think of it, it is a mind-blowing fact, an overwhelming idea.  Even Paul writing to Timothy said, "Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh."

God became one of us and walked among us - his name was Jesus.  The reality of our Savior's humanity - He experienced human feelings.  He knows what it means to be WEARY after a long day of work.  Once He was so tired that He fell asleep in the stern of a boat, so tired that when a storm came up He didn't even notice.  He had to be shaken out of His sleep by His friends. (Mark 4:38)

He knows what it means to be HUNGRY.  Indeed from the very start of His ministry, He experienced deep hunger as He was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness.  During those forty days, Luke tells us in his gospel that He ate nothing and that at the end of them He was hungry. (Luke 4:2)

He knows what it means to be THIRSTY.  He began His public ministry by being hungry, and He ended it by being thirsty.  Satan offered Him stones for bread on that occasion, now men offer Him vinegar. (John 19:28)

He not only experienced human feelings, he EXPRESSED human feelings.

Who can forget his COMPASSION as He looked over Jerusalem and cried,

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." (Matthew 23:37) (NIV)

There is also His SORROW expressed at the grave site of His friend Lazarus; there He wept. (John 11:35)

And last week we studied His cry of LONELINESS.  Search the crowd gathered around the cross for a friend or a comforter, and you will find none.  Mary and John were there for a while but had gone by this time, dismissed with a word of provision from the Saviour's lips.  Search the crowd for some sight of Zaccheus, for Nicodemus, for once-blind Bartimaeus, for Lazarus.  But there are none.  Even God seems distant as He who knew no sin was made sin for us.  He knows loneliness and expressed it, "My God, My God why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34)

This is the reality of our Saviour's humanity.

There is a poem "Caliban in the Coal Mines", in which the poet pictures miners, suffering in the darkness of the mines who say:

"God you don't know what it is -
You, in your well-lighted sky -
Watch the meteor whizz;
Warm with the sun always by

Then the last stanza describes their bleak situation:

"Nothing but blackness above
And nothing that moves but the cars
God, if you wish for our love
Fling us a handful of stars.

The story of Calvary is that God did something much better than fling a handful of stars to those who are in darkness.  It is the story of God who came down and worked in the coal mines, a God who experienced what we experience because He became a human being.  We read in Hebrews 2:14 "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity."

My friends we do not worship a distant God.  I know I stated this last week, but it is worth repeating.  We do not worship one who is unfamiliar with the feelings of life.  He is one to whom you can go with any burden, any pain, any heartache, any problem and be sure that you will be understood, you will be heard, you will not be turned away with a word of indifference.  You will not be turned away with advice like, "Come on, look on the bright side of life, get over it." NO, you will be received and heard and understood, and answered.

How do I know? Because He became as we are - the reality of our Saviour's humanity.  "I am thirsty."  

II

But there is also here, in this word of agony, the extremity of our Saviour's humiliation.

In Scripture we read that Jesus humbled himself COMPLETELY.

In Philippians 2 we read those beautiful words describing our Lord's attitude - words that scholars believe were once a hymn:

"Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness."

His humiliation began when He came to earth as a baby and was placed in a cradle.  But that was just the start of it, having laid all the glory of God aside, having made Himself nothing, He continued being a servant, wearing a peasant's clothes.  He associated with fishermen.  The lowly and despised were to be His disciples.  The cold mountains were often to be His only bed.  He came to serve, not to be served.

And does all this end when He dies?  Is He mourned and eulogized by governments, kings and queens?  Is His lifeless body put on display so that people can pay their respects?  Is His coffin robed in purple and royal state colours?

No.  No.  He died upon the cross, naked, with nothing to cover His shame.  The manger and the cross stand at the two ends of His life.  The extremity of our Saviour's humiliation - He humbled himself COMPLETELY.

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross.

We could also say He humbled himself OBEDIENTLY.  Jesus said that He did nothing but what was pleasing to His heavenly father (John 5:30).  He performed the will of Him who is in heaven.

One old preacher asks,

"Do you know why Jesus stayed on the cross? We say, out of love, we say out of compassion, true, but he stayed on that cross out of obedience to our Father in heaven.  He humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross.  The cruel crowd hurled insults at Him saying He saved others but He cannot save himself.  

That's not right is it? It's not that He could not save himself.  Angels and archangels and all the mighty hosts of heaven stand ready to do His bidding, but He tells them to stay.  Michael draws his sword; and with our imagination we can hear him say, "Son of God, if you want us to come just take your hand away from the bloody spike, you can do it easily, and give us the signal; just nod your head, but Jesus said, "No."

It wasn't that he could not save himself it was that he would not save himself.  For you see there could be no Saviour for him if there was to a Saviour for us." ¹

He humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross.

He humbled himself completely, obediently; He humbled himself ACCORDING TO PROPHECY.

This is the word from our text:

"Later knowing that all this was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled Jesus said, "I am thirsty."

The word for fulfilled here can be translated "Consummated.", "FINISHED".  The Lord had been observing prophecy fulfilled throughout this whole time of his suffering:

He had been crucified, and His hands and feet pierced as according to Psalm 22:16.

His enemies mocked Him, using the very words the Psalmist said they would in Psalm 22:8.

The soldiers had gambled for His garment as was foretold in Psalm 22:18.

He had been forsaken by God and had cried out quoting Psalm 22:1

But one Scripture regarding His death had not yet been fulfilled - the prediction of Psalm 69:21.

"They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst."

Then the whole prophetic picture concerning his death would be finished.  So he said, "I thirst."  And what was He given to drink? Vinegar.

The extremity of our Saviour's humiliation.  Completely, obediently, according to prophecy, He humbled Himself.

He did it for you and me, you know.  He did it for you.  He cast aside all the beauties of heaven, all the glorious melodies of the angelic choir, all the light that is heaven, to walk amongst us as a servant, to die upon the cross as one of us.  If He had claimed His rightful place in heaven just once while He was on earth, you and I would now be here unredeemed, unable to walk with our Father in heaven, unable to communicate with Him, unable to escape the penalty that is ours.  But Jesus went the distance for you and me.

He did not come down off the cross.  He died that you and I might live.  He was stripped that you and I might be robed.  He accepted thorns that you and I might wear crowns.  He thirsted that we may never thirst.  He was cast out of the city of David that you and I might enter into the New Jerusalem the city of God.

Jesus Christ gave up everything for you and me - and we need to ask what have we given up for Him? He asks for it all you know.  If you have time it's His; if you have a skill, it's His; if you have a house, it's His.  If you have a spouse, she or he is His; if you have children, they are His; if you have a wallet, the money, the cards and the wallet itself is His.  He wants the total of you - and once you are completely His, He gives it all back to you use for His glory and honour.  Be clear, He gave His whole self for you, and He asks nothing less from you and me.

III

This brings us to the third truth that this word reveals.  The reality of our Saviour's humanity, the extremity of our Saviour's humiliation, and now the surety of the sinner's hopefulness.

We sinners can be sure of two things.  As I have mentioned we can be sure of an understanding Saviour.  Second we can be sure of a Redeeming Saviour.  The cross is our hope.  Our hope does not rest on a godly parent or spouse.  It does not rest on good works, or church attendance.  If Christ had not come, we would have no door of hope beyond the grave.  All through the ages people have wondered about it, speculated about it, and guessed and sighed and sobbed about it, asking, "Is the grave the final chapter?"

This is the question that one of Christianity's early heroes and martyrs was asked.  His name was Justin of Nablus, he lived in Palestine.  He was a brilliant man, a philosopher, a Christian and for 35 years a mighty preacher who proclaimed Jesus Christ in the face of great persecution.  Until one day he was caught and imprisoned for his beliefs in Rome.  At his trial the judge asked him: "Are you a Christian?"

"Yes, I am a Christian" replied Justin.

Then the judge said, "Well listen, people say you are intelligent and say you know the truth.  Tell me, if you were whipped and beheaded, do you suppose that you will go to heaven?"

"I not only suppose it," said Justin, "I know it." ²

And so do we for our hope is based on the certainty of cross of Christ.  It is based on the certainty that he rose again on the third day.  It is based on the certainty that he has brought life and immortality to light so that we can live what one preacher calls a "death-resistant life."

We not only suppose it – we know it, because God came in the flesh, experienced life in all its loneliness, pain and agony and grief. He came and thirsted.  He came and rose again on the third day, so that you and I can live forever.

Thanks be to God.

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - March 2002

---

Footnotes:

1.	William Henry Biederwolf, The Logic of the Cross in Classic Sermons on the Cross of Christ, compiled by Warren W. Wiersbe (Wheaton, Illinois, Crossway Books, 1993): p. 129.
2.	John N. Gladstone, The The Valley of the Verdict (Toronto, Canada, G.R. Welch Company Limited, 1968): p. 27.