JOHN 19:28-37 PERFECT OBEDIENCE
28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 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. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
The work of the Incarnation was completed on the cross. The revelation of the true nature of the sovereign, merciful and just God was forever linked to the dependent, covenant-breaking nature of humankind. “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The cup of God’s wrath had been consumed, but the dregs remained. Perfect obedience meant that those too must be imbibed. Jesus had to suffer on our behalf, but as a part of the covenant curse, indeed the sentence in the Garden and to prove false the serpent, he had to die. In his thirst for obedience the incarnate eternal Word drank the cup to the last drop and willingly experienced our death. But the revelation that day did not end with his death. Even his dead body proclaimed the fulfillment of God’s will recorded in Scripture: “These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken,’ and, as another scripture says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced’” (vv. 36-37).
Even on the cross, or more accurately, supremely on the cross Jesus modeled the thirst that those who would be citizens of his kingdom must experience. This is the thirst for God that is satiated only through obedience to his will. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
In your dying for my sins, Lord Christ you taught me how I am to live. In my thirst for fulfillment guide me to your living water. Amen.