“Seven
Last Words: I Thirst”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our text for this evening’s Lenten meditation is the fifth
of the Seven Last Words of Jesus. In the four words from the
cross that we have already meditated on, Jesus demonstrates his
dying love. In the first word from the cross, Jesus demonstrates his dying love for
his enemies, even for those who are putting him to death: “Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do.” In the second word from the cross, Jesus demonstrates his dying love
for the condemned criminal hanging on another cross beside him. A criminal
who admits he is being rightly executed for the crimes he has done. But,
in his final hour this criminal comes to faith in the Messiah, who is dying
before his very eyes on the cross beside him. To him Jesus promises
eternal life in heaven: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in
paradise.” In the third word from the cross, Jesus demonstrates his dying love for
his own mother. Even in the midst of bitter pain and agony, Jesus is
concerned about what will happen to her when he is gone. So he commits her
into the care of his closest earthly friend, the Apostle John: “Dear woman, here
is your son. . . and from that time on this disciple took her into his
home.” In the fourth word from the cross, Jesus demonstrates his dying love
for you and me, as he bears all alone the burden of our sins, because of our
sins aban—ed and forsaken even by his own heavenly Father: “My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?” Tonight we once again journey to Jerusalem, coming to Calvary’s holy
mountain to hear uttered from our Savior’s lips the shortest of his Seven Last
Words: “Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture
would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I thirst.’ A jar of wine vinegar was
there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop
plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.” In the original Greek language of the New Testament, this fifth word
from the cross is in fact only one, short word, just four letters long. In
English it is translated into two words: “I thirst.” In this, the shortest
word from the cross, we see the physical pain, the physical suffering, the
physical torture, the physical agony our dear Savior endured for our sakes in
his body on cross. In back of our sanctuary is a beautiful painting of the crucifixion,
preserved from above the altar in Trinity’s old church. If you look at
this painting up close you can see the nails driven through Jesus’ hands and
feet. He is crowned with a crown of thorns, and above him is the sign
posted by Pontius Pilate: “This is the King of the Jews.” But the most
accurate aspect of this painting, also pictured on the front of this evening’s
bulletin, is the way Jesus is hanging down low, with his arms stretched upward.
It is this POSITION that actually caused death by crucifixion. With the
arms stretched upward like that is impossible to breathe properly. This
causes fluids to build up in the chest and lungs, resulting in slow death by
suffocation. I read now from an article which appeared in the
Journal of the American Medical Association, titled
“A Doctor’s View of the Crucifixion.” This modern doctor explains the
medical reasons for Jesus’ death: “The major effect on the body of crucifixion,
beyond the excruciating pain caused by the nails in the hands and feet, was a
severe restriction of breathing, primarily breathing out. With the weight
of the body pulling down on the outstretched arms and shoulders, the respiratory
muscles located between the ribs would be locked into the breathing in position,
thereby making breathing out a difficult feat requiring great strength and
effort. “Although shallow breathing out was possible, this
could suffice for only a short while. Only by elevating the body by
pulling up on the hands while at the same time pushing upward with the legs
could normal breathing out be accomplished. However, this would mean
supporting the entire weight of the body by the nails pierced through the hands
and feet, and it was such painful maneuver that it could be performed only
intermittently, and for short periods of time. In addition, the lifting of
the body probably would painfully scrape the previously whipped and wounded back
against the rough wood of the cross, causing pain and a resumption of the
bleeding. “With such shallow breathing, carbon dioxide would
quickly accumulate in the blood, leading to painful muscle cramps and violent
muscle spasms. The limitation of breathing, combined with the circulatory
shock that was probably present, caused fluid to quickly accumulate in the lungs
and in the sac surrounding the heart. This would further worsen breathing
and hasten death. Death on the cross usually resulted from suffocation,
shock, and exhaustion as a direct result of the victim’s attempts to breathe.
Other contributing factors would include dehydration, water on the lungs, and
congestive heart failure.” As the doctor mentions, one of the contributing factors to death by
crucifixion is dehydration. The victim becomes extremely thirsty because
of a high fever, intense perspiration, and the loss of blood. We witness
Jesus’ dehydration, just one aspect of the physical torture he was suffering, in
the shortest word from the cross: “I thirst.” Just a few hours earlier, Jesus had been praying in the Garden of
Gethsemane. He told his disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to
the point of death.” And he prayed to his heavenly Father, “If it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.”
Jesus knows the terrible physical suffering and pain that lays ahead for him
later that night and the next day, Good Friday. He knows it will be like
drinking a bitter cup of poison. When Jesus prays to his heavenly Father,
“If it be possible, let this cup pass from me,” he is saying, “If there is any
other way, Father, let me not suffer this terrible physical torment.” But, Jesus willingly offers himself up as a sacrificial victim when he
concludes, “Yet not my will but yours be done.” He gave himself and shed
his blood to pay for our sins, and not only ours, but also for the sins of the
whole world. As one of our hymns puts it, “Offered was he for greatest and
for least, himself the victim and himself the priest.” God’s plan of
salvation could not be fulfilled any other way. The bitter cup of physical
suffering on the cross could not pass from Jesus onto someone else. Only
he could suffer and die in our place, for our sins, because only he is both God
and man. As true God, Jesus was perfect, holy, without sin, and therefore worthy
to offer himself as a sacrifice for our sins. As true man, Jesus was
physically a real human, in every way just like we are except without sin, so
that as true man Jesus could, in our place, truly suffer in his body the
painful, physical punishment our sins deserved, and spill from his veins his
holy, precious blood to cleanse us from every sin. Yesterday was April Fool’s Day. Some people think that Jesus was
just fooling when he claimed to be truly God, holy, perfect, without sin, the
Second Person of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Instead he was
really only an amazing man who pretended to be God. Other people think
that Jesus was just fooling when he claimed to be truly a man: born of the
Virgin Mary, with a real human body in which he physically suffered and died.
Instead he was really only God, who pretended to be a man, only giving people
the illusion that he had a real human body. But, Jesus wasn’t fooling.
He is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of
the Virgin Mary. He is the only God-man; as true God, perfect and holy,
worthy to offer himself as a sacrifice for our sin; and as true man, able to
physically suffer for us the pains and penalties of our sin in his real human
body. “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” But, it
was not possible to fulfill God’s plan of salvation any other way. Only
Jesus Christ, the God-man, could save us from the punishment of eternal
suffering and death by his suffering and death on the cross. As the hymn
says, “There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin; he only could
unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.” “Yet not my will but yours be done.” Jesus willingly drank the
bitter cup of suffering and woe for your salvation. And when from the
cross he cried out, “I thirst,” he drank a bitter cup of cheap wine turned sour
into vinegar. This was not a deliberate insult by the soldiers. That
was the same cheap wine the soldiers themselves drank and got as a part of their
daily ration. But, even though being given that cheap wine to drink was not a
deliberate insult, it too was part of our Savior’s suffering for our sakes.
After all, he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. By right, he
deserved to be in a fine palace, sitting on a grand throne, wearing a golden
crown, and drinking only the best wine. But, as Paul says in Philippians,
for our sakes “he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on
the cross!” Instead of living it up in a fine palace, he died at the Place
of the Skull. Instead of a grand throne, he hung on a cross. Instead
of a golden crown, he wore a crown of thorns. And instead of the finest
wine, his final drink was cheap, sour wine, spoiled into bitter vinegar.
That was all part of the bitter cup of suffering that he willingly drank for
your salvation. And it was all in fulfillment of the ancient prophecy of Scripture.
A few moments ago we read from Psalm 69, just one of the many psalms which
prophesy our Lord’s passion in exact detail. Psalm 69 says: “I am worn out
calling for help; my throat is parched. . . They gave me vinegar for my
thirst.” Psalm 22 says, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my
tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.” It was these prophesies that John
is referring to in our text, prophesies that Jesus fulfilled in the shortest
word from the cross: “Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the
Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I thirst.’” The shortest word from the cross shows that our Savior is not only true
God, he is also true man, who suffered for our sins in his body on the cross.
As Hebrews says, “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of
Jesus Christ. . . He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to
do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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