His Final Words: “I Thirst”

by David Chadwick

Have you ever spent the day at the beach on an especially hot summer day? Splashing through the waves for hours? After so much time in the salt, sand and sun, it is very common to feel very thirsty.

Did you know that some of Jesus’s final words in John 19:28 were, “I thirst”?

I love the depth of this phrase.

Jesus was most likely physically dehydrated. He probably had not had anything to drink for more than 18 hours. His last liquid was most likely at the Last Supper the night before. But he was probably also spiritually thirsty for all God was about to do!

Think about the timeline of events he walked through. After going through an hour of prayer in the Garden, he faced arrest. He was beaten, imprisoned, and had a crown of thorns placed on his head. He endured intense mocking and was then forced to carry his cross to Golgotha. He was nailed to the cross. For six hours, from 9 am to 3 pm on the cross, he was pinned to the cross in a scorching sun with no option other than to await death.

In his physical state, of course he would say, “I thirst.” He was thirsty! But I think it goes beyond physical thirst. Why does this phrase make it into the council of Scripture? Why point out his thirst from the cross?

First, I think these words emphasized that Jesus was totally divine. He perfectly hungered and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6) and lived the life that none of us could live. The divinity of Jesus is an essential piece of the Gospel as that is the only way that he could forgive us of our sin.

Secondly, these words emphasized that Jesus was totally human. He experienced real human sensations, emotions, and temptations. While totally divine, he did not consider “equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself” and took on a servant’s form. He completely understood what it felt like to be thirsty. Yet, remained perfect as he walked out his life. Only a perfect human life could be the substitute for us in our sin and pay the price for our sins.

If Jesus walked this earth as a perfect human, then there is nothing we go through that he and God himself do not empathize with us and fully understand (Hebrews 4:15-16).

From the cross, Jesus wants us to understand his divinity and total humanity. He understands the things we feel in every way…even our thirst!

His Final Words: “Why Have You Forsaken Me?”

by David Chadwick

Jesus is the Word. Made flesh. Who dwelled among humanity (John 1:14). His words will go down for all of time as the most significant words ever spoken. They perfectly reflect the divine heart of God for the world.

Here is another example of some of Jesus’s final words on the cross. In Matthew 27:46, he said, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus was quoting from Psalm 22, a Messianic psalm. Many scholars believe that as a rabbi, Jesus may very well have quoted, at least under his breath, the entire psalm. Much of what happened to him on the cross was prophesied in Psalm 22. While we don’t know for certainty if the entire psalm was quoted, we do know that the first verse was stated, making a clear claim that he was the long awaited Messiah.

If we are to use the Word of God as a sword (Ephesians 6:17), how profound for Jesus to live by example and to quote the Word as he carried out his mission on earth.

There was another even more significant meaning to these final words on the cross. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before he went to the cross, Jesus asked God if there was any other way to avoid having the drink of the Father’s cup.

In the Old Testament, drinking from the cup was always a reference to God’s judgment being poured out on his enemies. Jesus knew that when he drank from the cup of God’s judgment, he would absorb all sin upon himself, something too terrifying to comprehend. From eternity past up until that moment, the Son always had a perfect relationship with the Father. But when all the world’s sin came upon him, he knew the Father would have to abandon his Son, if even for a moment.

This is the reason Jesus stated this sentence of feeling forsaken. At that moment, all the world’s sins came upon him and the Father could no longer have union life and perfect fellowship with his Son.

But that was the price both the Father and the Son were willing to pay for our sins to be forgiven! What a glorious grace! It cost Jesus everything to perform this act of forgiveness and love. Because Jesus was forsaken, we are now forgiven! Hallelujah! What a Savior!

What great love and grace Jesus displayed for us on the cross!

His Final Words: “Behold, Your Son”

by David Chadwick

Over the next two weeks, we are looking at some of the final phrases Jesus spoke while on the cross.

Final words are very important. When someone is nearing the end of life, the words they release are usually incredibly purposeful and poignant. Anyone in the presence of someone who is approaching the end of life should pause and take note of what is being said as their words tend to be pretty significant.

The most important final words ever spoken were spoken by Jesus.

In John 19:26-27, Jesus said, “Woman, behold, your son!…Behold, your mother!”

He was speaking to John, his beloved disciple.

The word behold is powerful. It means “to gaze upon” or “to observe.”

In these words, Jesus was taking in all of the details of the needs around him, even in the midst of his excruciating death.

Jesus wanted to make sure that his mom was cared for after he died. With profound love for his mom, at the point of death, Jesus honored one of the 10 Commandments to honor his mother. At that point, Joseph had already died and I suppose Jesus knew that she would need someone to care for her as she aged.

John was not only Jesus’s beloved disciple, but he was most certainly the youngest of all the disciples. Some think he could have been as young as 14 when he first decided to follow Jesus. Jesus’s commission to John and Mary therefore pointed out the incredibly important gift of the biblical family.

Over time, we learn that John did care for Mary. He took her to Ephesus where he pastored. Evidently, she became a pillar of that community of faith and the Ephesian church helped care for her, perhaps and especially when John was exiled on Patmos.

Dear friends, family is so important. It should be fought for and cherished whenever possible. There is no greater gift than a family who is unified and yielded to Jesus and his principles.

Even from the cross, Jesus was magnifying the importance of family, which is the microcosm of the greater family of God called the church. He highlighted the gift of caring for parents.