I THIRST - Tre Ore, April 6, 2007 Rev. Charles Webb MD
Grace, mercy and peace from our suffering Savior, dear friends!
The text is John 19:38:
Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty’
In this passage, Jesus shifts his focus from others to himself, the one who saves by way of water, through the washing of regeneration in baptism, now thirsts himself. The end is very near.
So what do we glean from this? It means that Christ underwent physical pain. He suffered emotionally and physically. He agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane sweating so profusely that the sweat dripped off him like drops of blood. He is deprived of food, drink and sleep. He is mocked and taunted. He is flogged - multiple searing lashes lacerate his back and legs. The crown of thorns, struck multiple times by a staff inflicts multiple bleeding, painful wounds to the head. Beaten and demoralized, he marches through the city unable to carry the crosspiece of his death machine. At Golgotha large spikes pierce his arms and feet. On the cross he twists around the nails in searing pain as he tries to lift himself up and exhale,grating his filleted back, reopening the wounds time and again. He hangs like this for 3 hours barely able to breath.
Sure, he was thirsty. There must have been a tremendous amount of blood lost. The body’s response is to want the lost fluid replaced. Most of us drink one to two quarts of water a day. The body doesn’t do well after a quart, are even worse after two quarts of fluid/blood loss, because it only has about 5 to begin with. The pressure drops, the heart rate increases, breathing speeds in order to circulate blood and supply oxygen to the tissues. This takes energy and that causes weakness.
Sure, he was thirsty. In one simple Greek word His humanity is made painfully evident. This is a man dying. A man dying a cruel death, deprived of all dignity. His thirst reminds us that He was suffering physical agonies. His humanness is painfully evident - an absolute essential for His sacrifice for us:
As Hebrews states: : Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death…………Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. (Heb 2:14-17) Simply put, Jesus had to be fully human in order to take our place to save us poor wretched humans from sin and death in order to present us to God, pure and holy. He bled, he hurt. He agonized. He loved.
He is the Word of God made flesh. Flesh and bone to suffer for flesh and bone. He completely understood that. In Hebrews 2 verse 18 we read: Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested (2:18). Later, Hebrews adds: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin (4:15).
Jesus who felt genuine thirst while on the cross understands what it means to be thirsty, hungry, lost, steeped in the world, the wiles of Satan and human weaknesses. He suffers the torments of hell and experiences the Father’s wrath and anger. The weight of the world’s sins is upon him – the sins of all men of all time. He knows what it is to be separated from God. My God, why did you forsake me?
Jesus is not only physically thirsty. He is thirsty for souls. He knew that despite the enormous sacrifice he was giving, many souls would refuse that salvation brought by the shedding of his blood. Those souls would suffer the torments of hell. It is the thirst like that in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the poor beggar covered with sores. The Rich Man agonizing in hell asks for Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool his tongue, but Abraham informs him that the gulf is too great.
The time for repentance is over. Nothing can be done to quench his spiritual thirst. Eternity is fixed for him.
The war waged against sin, death and the devil was not waged on the battlefield. It was waged and won by the quiet suffering of our Lord on the cruel cross of Calvary. Thus he can sympathize with our weaknesses. When we are weak, when we struggle, when we feel pain, we cry out to one who knows what it’s like to be human. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16). What comfort, my friends! What peace in the disarray and godlessness of today’s world.
Because of him, we come before God cloaked in Christ’s righteousness and no longer thirsting after righteousness. It is ours in Him. We are at peace. We are clothed in the robes of the saints. What comfort, my friends! The old evil foe can harm us none. He’s judged. The deed is done!
Christ assumes all the guilt and force of the sins of all for all time. Isaiah says that “he was pierced for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and the punishment of our sins was on him. We are healed forever by his stripes. (Is 53:5)
Christ
refused to drink earlier. He wanted to be alert for what he had to do. He drinks
now because his suffering is complete.
The Scriptures list hundreds of direct prophesies about the coming
Savior. They tell us he would be born of a virgin, from the tribe of
Judah, of the family. of Jesse of the house of David. He would
be born in Bethlehem, presented with gifts, begin his ministry in
Galilee. He would do miracles, be betrayed by a friend
for 30 paltry pieces of silver. His disciples would forsake him, he would be
accused by false witnesses, his hands and feet would be pierced, he would die
amidst others, they would gamble for his clothes, no bones of his body would be
broken, his side would be pierced, darkness would cover the land while he died,
he would be buried in the tomb of a rich man. There are many more and Jesus
fulfilled them all. He now asks for a drink, thus fulfilling the prophesy made
in Psalm 69:21, “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.”
Consider for a moment the significance of the vinegary wine. It was given on a sponge attached to a hyssop branch. You will remember that it was a hyssop branch that the children of Israel used in Egypt to paint the blood of a lamb on the door lintel so the angel of death would pass by and not harm the first born. The Egyptian first born all died.
Now, it is a hyssop branch with a wine-soaked sponge that is used to slake the thirst of the first-born of God and it is his blood that cleanses all men from all sin. What a picture: the blood of a lamb painted on the door protects the firstborn. The blood of the Lamb of God delivers us from the wrath of God. Now, first-born of God delivers us with His own precious blood – He is the sacrificial lamb.
What a loving, caring God! From the Fall, He planned our salvation! He guided the children of Israel through the desert and through them gave prophecy after prophecy foretelling the Messiah’s coming – a roadmap for recognizing him. All for you! Your safe passage through life and your assurance of a place in heaven. All that suffering was for YOU! “He has purchased and won me a lost and condemned creature.”
Jesus asked for a drink in order to accomplish every detail of God’s plan of salvation. There was not one law that he did not keep. He committed no sin. Jesus tells us that whoever drinks of the spiritual water he gives will never thirst. In passage after passage we are reminded of Christ’s care and provision for us: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.”(Mtt. 5:6).
My fellow Christians, because you've been washed clean in by the water of baptism, you have been given faith to believe in our Lord who suffered eternal thirst in your place, and you shall never have to experience the
agonizing and eternal pain that He suffered in Hell.
You continue to have your hunger and thirst quenched by the Word of God and by the very Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Supper, your renewed spirit remains satisfied, your faith is strengthened and preserved. You have received the living water Jesus promised to the Samaritan woman at the well, the water that completely quenches spiritual thirst eternally. You are refreshed every day in
every way.
All your sins are forgiven and you are dressed in the everlasting holiness and purity of the Savior who thirsted in your place. His agonizing and eternal thirst on the cross fills you and satisfies you forever. You will never experience the fate of the rich man suffering torment in Hell, for that fate is reserved only for those who reject the Savior's work on the cross, who reject the working of the Holy Spirit and the free gift of faith. But, for you who believe in our Thirsting Savior, Paradise in the eternal kingdom is your reward, as St. John assures us in Revelations, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Rev. 7:16-17
"I thirst,” Jesus says, "so that you, my brothers and sisters, will never thirst or ever want.” Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your endless, loving care and concern for our souls. Amen.
And now, may the peace of our suffering Savior be with you all with his eternal refreshment!
AMEN.