After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now finished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, says, I thirst.
Jesus has hung on the cross for hours, and now He says two short words about His own body: "I thirst." He speaks them knowing His work is done, which raises the question of why He spoke at all, and what He was thirsting for.
The verse says He knew "that all was now finished." Those words point to a mind fully awake in the middle of torture.
In this verse we get another of those flashes of all-knowing insight that mark this Gospel. A few verses earlier we saw the soldiers fulfilling Scripture, though completely unaware that they were doing so. Now we see Jesus Himself in that dark hour, surveying the whole field of prophecy. He knew that of all the predictions about His death, only one had still to come true. In Psalm 69 David had written, "In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." A small thing in itself, but every word of God must come true in its season. In that hour of suffering He rose above His circumstances. He not only saw the one thing still missing; He also spoke the words that brought it about at once. No mere man could have done either the one or the other.
Pain alone did not open His mouth.
In the temptation He had refused to meet His own need apart from God's word; man lives by every word of it, He said. Now, on the same principle, He makes His need known — not so that it would be met, but so that Scripture would be fulfilled. He does not fulfil it Himself. He can trust God for that. He only gives voice to His distress, and once spoken, that distress brings the fulfilment about. The terrible thirst of crucifixion is upon Him; but that is not enough to force the parched lips to speak.
Commentators differ over where the words about fulfilling Scripture belong in the sentence.
Some ask whether the clause "that the Scripture might be fulfilled" belongs with "all things are now finished," or with "I thirst." Respected names can be listed on both sides. We would rather connect it with "I thirst." All that the Lord had to suffer of insult from man, and the forsaking of God, was over. But a scripture had spoken of giving Him vinegar, or sour wine, to drink (Ps. 69:21). Was that to be left unfulfilled? No.
The cry is evidence of a body that felt everything crucifixion does.
I think sometimes we forget that the Lord suffered physically, probably as no other could suffer. He never used His divine power to relieve His human suffering. When He cried, "I thirst," we see the suffering Man — the suffering Man in His perfection, stating plainly that He suffered.
There is an irony in the One who gives eternal life asking for a drink — and an ugliness in what men handed up to Him.
After the three hours of darkness, knowing that all was perfectly accomplished, the Lord Jesus said, in fulfilment of Scripture, "I thirst." He who gives the water of eternal life has Himself, in accomplishing the will of God, deeply thirsted. But men gave Him no water. They gave Him vinegar instead, meaning to add bitterness to His sufferings. Earlier they had mixed gall with vinegar, but He would not drink it, because that drink would dull His senses (Matt. 27:34).
One writer presses the cry further and asks what answered it.
Did not ten thousand times ten thousand angels break through the crowd of His enemies? Did they not refresh Him with purer water than the spring at Bethlehem? No, there was no answer to that cry from heaven. And what of men? Will they relent? Surely His thirst then was more than physical — He thirsted for a love that answered His own. There was no help from men. Their answer to the deepest need of His heart was vinegar, the sourest thing that earth can produce. The challenge comes to each one of us: what shall be our answer to His thirst?
- Knew. Dying, He surveyed all prophecy about His death and saw that one line only was still outstanding.
- Obeyed. He spoke not to get relief but so that a written word would stand; the fulfilling He left to God.
- Thirsted. The thirst was real. He never used His divine power to soften His human suffering.
- Vinegar. Heaven sent no rescue and men handed up sour wine — He had already refused the drug that would have dulled the pain.
- Answer. Behind the physical thirst one writer hears a longing for love. The world still offers vinegar. Each reader must decide what to give.
There was a vessel therefore there full of vinegar, and having filled a sponge with vinegar, and putting hyssop round it, they put it up to his mouth.
Jesus says, "I thirst," and the drink is already within reach. Commentators ask why John records so small a detail, and why the One who refused a drink earlier now takes this one. (Older translations render the drink "vinegar"; the ESV calls it sour wine.)
One writer asks why the Lord spoke of His thirst at all, and points to what was already standing ready.
All that the Lord had to suffer of indignity from man and the forsaking of God was over. But a scripture had spoken of giving Him vinegar, or sour wine, to drink (Ps. 69:21). Was that to be left unfulfilled? No. He was thirsty, the common effect of crucifixion, and so the Lord said, "I thirst." He was truly a man, and He felt what a man feels. And provision had been made to meet such a want. A vessel with the sour wine, the drink of common soldiers, was there. A sponge was at hand, and a stalk of hyssop was in readiness.
Matthew records a drink the Lord refused. John records one He took. They were not the same drink.
In Matthew's account it was the stupefying drink given to prisoners before they suffered. This the Lord would not drink. Whereas in John, the Lord, while on the cross, fulfils a scripture... He honours Scripture, and to fulfil a word that had not yet come true, He says, "I thirst." "And they filled a sponge with vinegar... and put it to His mouth." He did drink the vinegar then. But here in Matthew, on the contrary, "when He had tasted it, He would not drink" — He wanted no relief from man.
One writer sets this drink apart from two earlier offers.
When He was first crucified they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh to deaden the pain. He refused that. Luke tells us (23:36) that the soldiers offered Him their sour wine in mockery. But now it was not in mockery, but to relieve His thirst, that one ran, dipped the sponge in the wine, and gave Him to drink.
Hyssop is not a random twig. It runs through the Old Testament wherever blood or water is applied.
Hyssop has a large place in Scripture. They dipped a bunch of hyssop in the blood and put it on the lintel and the two doorposts on the Passover day (Ex. 12:22). They dipped hyssop in running water at the cleansing of the leper (Lev. 14:4-6)... David, in agony of soul, says, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean" (Ps. 51:7)... It has a wonderful meaning in Scripture, connected with man's littleness.
The same writer looks at what those hands held out, and how the Lord took it.
They gave the Lord Jesus a sponge of vinegar on the end of a bunch of hyssop, on the day of His death, while He was suffering to put away sins. That hyssop spoke of the lowest and most degrading thing in nature. Yes, they could taunt Him with the bunch of hyssop in the hour of His agony... and Jesus, in the grace of His heart, received it, and said, "It is finished."
Thirst was voiced aloud to people who had watched Him suffer for hours. What came back is treated as their verdict on Him.
They answer Him with vinegar, the sourest thing the earth can yield, and they fulfil the Scripture which says, "They gave Me also gall for My food, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink" (Ps. 69).
The same writer turns this into a question for the reader.
There was no help from men for Him. Their answer to the deepest need of His heart was vinegar — the sourest thing that earth can produce. The challenge comes to each one of us — what shall be our answer to His thirst? Shall we pour out to Him the sweet wine of undivided hearts, hearts that have been won by His great love? The world still gives Him vinegar.
A sponge, a stalk, a mouthful of sour wine — the scale of the thing is the argument.
This last thing cared for looks small, and that smallness is absolute proof that no scripture at all could be treated as unimportant. Christ's authority confirms and certifies the entire body of Old Testament prophecy. He had said before, "Scripture cannot be broken"... Here, in the intense sufferings of the cross, we see how completely He owned it and was guided by it.
The same writer adds that He did not arrange the fulfilment Himself. He spoke, and it happened.
He does not fulfil it Himself. God can be trusted to take care of that. He gives voice to the distress, and once it is spoken it brings about the fulfilment... He only says, "I thirst." Then the unsympathetic hands around His cross offer the vinegar, and the prophecy is fulfilled.
- Thirst — Crucifixion brought terrible thirst, and He said so. He was really a man, feeling what a man feels.
- Two cups — The stupefying drink offered earlier He refused; He wanted no relief from man. This one He received, because a Scripture waited on it.
- Hyssop — The plant of the Passover doorposts and the cleansed leper, the sign of man's littleness, lifted the sponge to His mouth.
- Vinegar — The sourest thing earth can yield was man's answer to His need. What will we give Him instead?
- Finished — The smallest unfulfilled word mattered enough to be spoken for. Having received the vinegar, He said, "It is finished."
When therefore Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished; and having bowed his head, he delivered up his spirit.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.