In recent lessons, we have been considering Jesus’ final words from the cross. We have heard our Savior speak words of forgiveness, life, hope, love, care, and agony from His cross. We’ve understood these words of His were intentional and that they hold deep meaning for all who believe.
The cross of Christ stands as a lasting memorial to the forgiveness, abundant life, eternal hope, immeasurable love, compassionate care, and full acceptance with God that we have through the death and resurrection of our Jesus! In today’s lesson, we will hear two words that articulate Jesus’ suffering to bring many sons and daughters to glory (Hebrews 2:10).
“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." John 19:28
Jesus' words on the cross, "I thirst," are multi-faceted, and it is right that we take the time to consider and understand the varied aspects of them.
First, Jesus' thirst was literal. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was so distraught that His sweat was like "great drops of blood," then he lost a lot of blood because of the whipping from the Roman soldiers, and it had been hours since He had had anything to drink. Due to prolonged stress, blood loss, and physical abuse, Jesus' body was dehydrated, and he was physically thirsty. As humans, we can all relate, on some level, to the ache of Jesus' physical thirst.
Second, John tells us that Jesus said, "I thirst" "to fulfill the Scripture." Here are two such Scriptures which Jesus' fulfilled:
"My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You put me into the dust of death." Psalms 22:15 (HCSB)
"Instead, they gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." Psalms 69:21 (HCSB)
Jesus Christ upheld the Scriptures perfectly in His life and His death. He spoke words, "I thirst" as another proof that He was the Promised Messiah of which the Scriptures spoke.
The Old Testament contains hundreds of prophecies about the promised Messiah, and Jesus fulfilled them all. His suffering was planned with the Father and the Spirit before time began, and Jesus deliberately gave Himself to it for our sakes. "He suffered death so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone." Hebrews 2:9 Jesus was never a victim; He was fully conscious and in control of His situation at all times. Isn’t it incredible that, on the cross, Jesus tasted death for everyone, but had not a drop of water offered to Him?
Finally, we can see that Jesus' words, "I thirst," evidence that He fully entered into our sinful condition as He hung on the cross. Though He was sinless, holy, pure, and perfect, on the cross, He had "become sin for us" that we might "become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The Bible gives us many word-pictures for the condition of humanity apart from Christ. A few examples are: "lost" (Luke 15:4), "trapped" (Psalm 59:2; Isaiah 42:22; Proverbs 5:22), "captives" (Luke 4:18; 2 Timothy 2:25-26), "enemies of God", (James 4:4), "dead in sins" (Ephesians 2:1-3) and "thirsty." By the word "thirsty," we understand the Bible to mean we are by nature "unsatisfied," "craving," "yearning," and "longing." This concept is easily understood when we consider a conversation Jesus had with a woman at a well in Samaria. Let’s read it together from John 4.
"A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)" John 4:7-8
Notice that Jesus initiated this conversation with the woman at the well. Previously the Bible tells us that Jesus "had to go through Samaria" (John 4:4), which was unlike typical Jews of that day who loathed the Samaritans and always tried to go around Samaria when going to Galilee. But Jesus came to "seek and to save the lost" and rescue men and women from the trap of the devil (2 Timothy 2:25-26), so He went to Samaria to meet with this woman.
Now, Jesus was thirsty from his journey, so he asked this woman for a drink of water. The woman was astonished that Jesus spoke to her for two reasons. First, in those days, Jews did not usually associate with Samaritans but despised them, and second, women were thought to be inferior to men and treated as such. And so, in surprise, the woman answered Jesus with a question of her own:
"The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)" John 4:9
Jesus was clearly different from any other man this woman had ever met. Jesus ignored both the racial and gender biases of His day to meet this woman's eternal need. As we will see later, most men in this woman's life only took from her and then left her empty and used, but Jesus would give to her, satisfy her soul, and leave her with so much that she had some to share with others. He did for this woman what He would later do on the cross for us. Jesus used His own "thirst" as a starting point to quench the thirst of others.
"Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10
Jesus had "living water," yet He asked this woman for a drink. Here we see Jesus presenting Himself to a Samaritan woman as One Who could quench her thirst, but she doesn't understand what He means because she responds with the following:
“Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” John 4:11-12
Question 1. Does this woman presently have a proper view of Who Jesus Christ is? Please explain:
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