This Holy Week we will be considering the 7 things Jesus said at the Cross, as recorded in scripture. We will seek to understand what this shows us about Jesus and how we can walk in His way as redeemed and loved children of God.
*We will be pulling out these 7 sayings, one per day. If you want to read the full crucifixion accounts you can find them here: Matthew 27:32-56, Mark 15:21-41, Luke 23:26-49, and John 19:17-37
Day 5
Read from John 19:28-29
Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.
Consider these ideas and questions. Make observations of your own. Journal your response.
- Again, we see a callback. This time to Psalm 22:15 and Psalm 69:21, both psalms of David composed in a time of great distress. So again those around Jesus would have recognized this connection and that in saying this Jesus was fulfilling prophecy.
- We know that Jesus was fully God AND fully man. It is a mind-blowing concept that, as Hebrews says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” So it is true Jesus was the exact representation of God AND he was also a man. For Jesus to thirst as he hung on the Cross is a reminder of his humanity.
- It’s also a reminder that Jesus, “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” (from Philippians 2). He submitted to a 33 year existence in the “tent” of a human body, which feels pain, hungers and thirsts. This is to say, He TRULY gets what we go through (and yet remained sinless).
- Jesus is given vinegar to drink. Can you imagine it? This too, is a fulfillment of prophecy from Psalm 69. It was given to Him on a hyssop stick, which is significant as well. We see hyssop used in the Passover ritual of the Jewish people who would paint blood from a lamb on their doorposts to spare their first born from death (Exodus 12:1-14). It was also used for Jewish purification ceremonies in (Leviticus 14, Numbers 19). Finally, hyssop was spoken of in David’s prayer in Psalm 51 (“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.”). Hyssop points to Purification. Cleansing from sin. Redemption.
Respond:
Read the scripture passage again. Consider what you journaled. Consider what you noticed about the passage that wasn’t mentioned above.
Find quiet and slow your mind and your breathing. Ask God to meet with you exactly where you are and just be with Him.