After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the Scripture), “I thirst.” (John 19:28)
How could Jesus – the source of abundant and unending living waters – thirst?
This seems a contradiction, considering how Jesus mentioned earlier to the Samaritan woman that whoever drinks the water he gives will never be thirsty again (John 4:14).
But Jesus did thirst. To fulfil the Scripture, from Psalm 69:21, written by David: “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.”
His thirst was the remedy for ours. His pain was the salve for ours. His suffering was the source of healing for ours.
He needed to finish the work. He had to fully consume this cup the Father had given Him to drink.
Jesus refused any alleviation of suffering He knew was ordained by God.
As He hung on the Cross, a group of Jerusalem women in an act of piety offered Him a drink of bitter wine (Matthew 27:34; Mark 15:23). Bible scholars say this was meant to help alleviate the suffering of someone about to die.
Despite His thirst, Jesus rejected this.
He had committed himself wholly to the Father, to offer Himself as a sacrifice. He needed to finish the work. He had to fully consume this cup the Father had given Him to drink.
Jesus chose God at His crossroads. Jesus was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Despite that thirst, He chose to see the joy that was set before him and endured the cross, despising the shame (Hebrews 12:2).
THE PAIN WAS PART OF THE PLAN
In our brokenness, we often try to find ways to distract ourselves from the pain, and sometimes finding other crutches to numb ourselves to the pain.
But sometimes there is a reason we have to go through a season of pain.
Suffering only makes sense if the focus and reason for the suffering are aligned to God’s will and plan for His greater glory.
While Death thought that it had trapped Jesus, God used Jesus to trap and overcome death forevermore, to pave the way for the outpouring of flowing, abundant grace and redemption for all of mankind.
Suffering only makes sense if the focus and reason for the suffering are aligned to God’s will and plan for His greater glory.
What did Jesus endure for the cross? What kept Him up there when He could have played the God-card to get Himself out of the pain?
For the joy set before Him. (Hebrews 12:2)
The joy of fulfilling the Scripture. It was the will of the Lord to crush him. That He would bear the sin of many, and make intercession for the sinners (Isaiah 53:10-12).
Grief for glory.
Why did Jesus thirst? Not because the Son of God lacked anything.
He took on our thirst so we would thirst no more.
Therefore in Him, the thirst – the hunger, the longing, the needs, the void, the cries, the hurts – of our mind, body and souls will be quenched.
