CRCF–3-14-10
Introduction””Words are powerful. Words change our lives–especially those words that come from deepest in a person”™s heart! But the words spoken when someone is dying are, without a doubt, the most powerful words they”™ll ever speak””the words that will be remembered, the words that shape the rest of the lives of the loved ones who hear them.
God has given us the last words of Jesus before He died in the Gospels. He spoke 7 times from the Cross. And if the last thoughts spoken by a dying loved one have ever stuck in our hearts and minds, I trust that together we will hear the words of our Savior as He reveals . . .
The Heart of the Cross:
Jesus Speaks from the Cross
Part 3: “I am thirsty.”
John 19:28-29
–VIDEO Clip ?
John 19:28-29 (NLT)
28 Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips.
The heart of the Cross is that Jesus deserves your trust!
Lucado: “Jesus. Lips cracked and mouth of cotton. Throat so dry he couldn”™t swallow, and voice so hoarse he could scarcely speak. He is thirsty. To find the last time moisture touched these lips you need to rewind a dozen hours to the meal in the upper room. Since tasting that cup of wine, Jesus has been beaten, spat upon, bruised and cut. He has been a cross-carrier and sin-bearer, and no liquid has salved his throat” (He Chose the Nails, 91).
In His fifth statement from the Cross, there are 2 realities about Jesus that prove this:
1. Jesus understands your pain.
In Matthew 27:34 and Mark 15:23, we are told that almost 6 hours earlier, when Jesus was first raised up on the Cross, He was offered a drink that He refused””“wine mixed with myrrh”. This was a sedative of sorts, given to numb at least some fraction of the excruciating pain of crucifixion.
Lucado: “He refused to be stupefied by the drugs, opting instead to feel the full force of his suffering” (He Chose the Nails, 93).
Listen to the description Scripture prophetically give of Jesus”™ suffering:
Psalm 22:1-2, 6-8, 11-18 (NLT)
1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Why are you so far away when I groan for help?
2 Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer.
Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief.
6 But I am a worm and not a man.
I am scorned and despised by all!
7 Everyone who sees me mocks me.
They sneer and shake their heads, saying,
8 “Is this the one who relies on the LORD?
Then let the LORD save him!
If the LORD loves him so much,
let the LORD rescue him!”
11 Do not stay so far from me,
for trouble is near,
and no one else can help me.
12 My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls;
fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in!
13 Like lions they open their jaws against me,
roaring and tearing into their prey.
14 My life is poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax,
melting within me.
15 My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead.
16 My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs;
an evil gang closes in on me.
They have pierced my hands and feet.
17 I can count all my bones.
My enemies stare at me and gloat.
18 They divide my garments among themselves
and throw dice for my clothing.
Psalm 69:19-21 (NLT)
19 You know of my shame, scorn, and disgrace.
You see all that my enemies are doing.
20 Their insults have broken my heart,
and I am in despair.
If only one person would show some pity;
if only one would turn and comfort me.
21 But instead, they give me poison for food;
they offer me sour wine for my thirst.
Jesus understands your pain.
And, therefore, He can be trusted!
The heart of the Cross is that Jesus deserves your trust!
Think about the agony of this moment. Jesus has been hanging on the tree for almost 6 hours. He”™s lost a lot of blood and sweated profusely””beginning with the beating, continuing through the trek through the streets to the place of the crosses, and then 6 hours of pure, uninterrupted torture and nerve-racking pain. He”™s exhausted and, no doubt, thirsty like we cannot begin to imagine. He”™s completely drained physically, emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually””“My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Lucado: “He is thirsty . . . He knew you would be weary, disturbed, and angry. He knew you”™d be sleepy, grief-stricken, and hungry. He knew you”™d face pain. If not the pain of the body, the pain of the soul . . . pain too sharp for any drug. He knew you”™d face thirst. If not a thirst for water, at least a thirst for truth, and the truth we glean from the image of a thirsty Christ is””he understands . . .” (He Chose the Nails, 92-93, 96).
Jesus understands your pain.
Therefore . . .
The heart of the Cross is that Jesus deserves your trust!
2. Jesus completely fulfilled God”™s plan.
The passages from the Psalms that we read earlier make that clear. Let me just re-read a few of those verses here:
Psalm 22:15 (NLT)
15 My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
Psalm 69:21 (NLT)
21 But instead, they give me poison for food;
they offer me sour wine for my thirst.
Lucado: “Why, in his final moments, was Jesus determined to fulfill prophecy? He knew we would doubt. He knew we would question. And since he did not want our heads to keep his love from our hearts, he used his final moments to offer proof that he was the Messiah. He systematically fulfilled centuries-old prophecies” (He Chose the Nails, 95).
Jesus was NOT an unwilling victim, being manipulated by the cruelties of all those wicked people that took part in His crucifixion. Jesus was purposefully walking the path of His Father”™s will, just as He”™d prayed in the garden: “Not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Earlier in John 17, as He talked to the Father about His disciples””even us””He said to the Father, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4). And here we see the conscious culmination of that work as Jesus specifically fulfills the last of the prophecies about His death as He says, “I am thirsty”.
Jesus completely fulfilled God”™s plan.
Therefore . . .
The heart of the Cross is that Jesus deserves your trust!
Conclusion””
Lucado: “He has been where you are and can relate to how you feel. And if his life doesn”™t convince you, his death on the cross should . . . Why did Jesus proclaim his thirst from the cross? To lay just one more plank on a sturdy bridge over which a doubter could walk” (He Chose the Nails, 96).
The heart of the Cross is that Jesus deserves your trust!