JESUS’S SEVEN LAST WORDS FROM THE CROSS:
5. A WORD OF AGONY
“I am thirsty.”
(John 19:28)
It is believed that the first thing Jesus said after three hours of darkness was “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34). John writes:
“After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, ‘I am thirsty.’”
(John 19:28)
Jesus’s straightforward remark corresponds to one of the primary agonies of crucifixion—severe dehydration.
To learn more about the agonizing pains Jesus likely suffered when He was crucified, see The Bible Says article: “Bearing the Cross: Exploring the Unimaginable Suffering of Crucifixion.”
In addition to the sharp and humiliating pains of being nailed naked to a cross, the body also suffered prolonged exposure to the elements. When we consider how Jesus suffered an extreme loss of blood from His Roman scourging (Matthew 27:28, Mark 15:15, John 19:1) and that He had been on the cross for six hours up to this point (Mark 15:25, 34), Jesus’s dehydration would have been severe. It is small wonder then that He was thirsty.
Jesus’s statement provides clear evidence of the Son of God’s humanity. As a man, Jesus’s body responded to physical stimuli the same as any other man’s body would. Jesus was susceptible to all the natural conditions and pains of humanity. Even though He was God, Jesus was not immune to nature (Philippians 2:6-7). Jesus suffered the full effect of every agony on the cross. His divinity did not shield or protect Him from these sufferings—including His thirst.
When the Word of God became flesh, He became susceptible to being thirsty. And the thirst He experienced on the cross was extremely agonizing. His tongue stuck to the roof of His mouth, and His muscles were cramping under the strain and depletion of water (Psalm 22:15). Jesus’s throat was dry, and He was exhausted from many sorrows as He waited for God on the cross (Psalm 69:3).
Jesus’s comment, “I am thirsty,” is reminiscent of the rich man’s account of his torment (from Jesus’s parable, “The Rich Man and Lazarus”—Luke 16:19-31). The rich man cried out for Father Abraham to “have mercy on me, and send [poor] Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in the water and cool off my tongue…” (Luke 16:24).
Interestingly, Jesus said, “I am thirsty” at the conclusion of the three-hour darkness where He too experienced the wrath of God.
John comments how when Jesus said: “I am thirsty,” that:
“A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.”
(John 19:29)
Matthew and Mark also testify how:
“Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink.”
(Matthew 27:48)
“Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink.”
(Mark 15:36)
This sour wine was apparently different from the concoction of wine mixed with gall which the Roman soldiers offered Jesus when they first arrived at Golgotha (Matthew 27:34, Mark 15:23). They offered that mixture as an anesthetic to numb the pain Jesus would feel when they hammered His hands and feet to the cross. Jesus refused that wine, likely because it also would have diminished His capacity to think. Jesus wanted to be full cognizant and ready for the spiritual battle that He would fight on the cross.
The wine, which was offered to Jesus six hours later when He said, “I am thirsty,” though sour, does not seem to have been mixed with gall or myrrh. Therefore, it would not have diminished Jesus’s capacity to think and fight the temptation to come down from the cross. This wine would wet Jesus’s mouth and provide some relief to His thirst, but otherwise do very little to alleviate His deadly dehydration.
John, who was eyewitness to these events, writes that Jesus drank and “received the sour wine” (John 19:29). Matthew and Mark also indicate that Jesus accepted and drank it (Matthew 27:48, Mark 15:36).
But in addition to this statement revealing Jesus’s humanity, John explicitly points out that the reason Jesus said, “I am thirsty” (John 19:28) was because He “[was fully aware] that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture” (John 19:28a).
John’s commentary that Jesus was “knowing that all things had already been accomplished” (John 19:30) is revealing.
His commentary about Jesus’s fifth statement on the cross reveals that His sixth statement: “It is finished!” (John 19:30) was not asserting something new but was rather triumphantly stating a fact which already existed. Specifically, Jesus knew that “all things had already been accomplished” (John 19:28) before He shouted: “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
The Greek words that are respectively translated “already been accomplished” (John 19:28) and “It is finished!” (John 19:30) are the same form of the same word—“τετέλεσται” (G5055—pronounced “tet-al-es-tai”). This term describes a purpose fulfilled or completed. The translations “accomplished” and “finished” capture its meaning.
Jesus may have said, “I am thirsty” (John 19:28), to receive a drink so that His voice would be loud and clear for His final two statements—“It is finished!” (John 19:30), and “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). If so, this once again demonstrates the Son of God’s humanity.
John also explicitly comments that Jesus said: “I am thirsty” (John 19:28) “to fulfill the scripture” (John 19:28).
The scripture that John seems to be referring to is from Psalm 69. This psalm, like Psalm 22, 31, and 35, prophetically describes the Messiah’s unjust and terrible suffering and glorious triumph. Among the Messiah’s sufferings predicted by Psalm 69 is an agonizing thirst:
“I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched;
My eyes fail while I wait for my God.”
(Psalm 69:3)
But the specific fulfillment of Jesus’s statement “I am thirsty” (John 19:28) and how some of the bystanders responded by offering Jesus “a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth” (John 19:29) seems to be Psalm 69:21:
“They also gave me gall for my food
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”
(Psalm 69:21)
The “gall for food” (Psalm 69:21a) was fulfilled when the Roman soldiers first offered Jesus the concoction of wine mixed with gall and myrrh after arriving at Golgotha (Matthew 27:33-34, Mark 15:23, Luke 23:36). Jesus refused this wine because it was intoxicating.
“The vinegar to drink” which was given “for my thirst” (Psalm 69:21b) was fulfilled when the vinegar-like sour wine was given to Jesus because He said: “I am thirsty” (John 19:28).
Jesus may have said, “I am thirsty” for the purpose of fulling Psalm 69:21 and to show how His suffering on the cross was prophetically foretold throughout Psalm 69, just as His fourth and seventh statements drew attention to the Messianic prophecies of Psalm 22 and Psalm 31.
“I am thirsty.”
(John 19:28)
Read about Jesus’s second final word from the cross here: “6: A Word of Victory.”
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