About this sermon
John’s account of the crucifixion stresses that everything happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. Jesus is delivered over, crucified as King, and dies having accomplished his work; “It is finished” announces that the Father’s work is complete. He gives up his spirit by his own royal act. The unbroken bones mark him as the true Passover lamb, and the blood and water from his pierced side testify to a real death that brings life to all who believe.
Sermon transcript
Let’s turn together in John’s gospel this evening. Our scripture reading is John chapter 19, verses 23 to 42. Again, John’s Gospel, chapter 19, beginning with verse 23. This is the gospel word of God. Give your attention. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic. Now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece, so they said to one another, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be. This was to fulfill the scripture. They divided my outer garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Therefore the soldiers did these things.
But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister Mary, wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son. And he said to the disciple, Behold your mother. From that hour, the disciple took her into his own.
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished to fulfill the scripture, said, I am thirsty. A jar full of sour wine was standing there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon it. branch of hyssop and brought it up to his mouth. Therefore, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Then the Jews, because of the day, because it was the day of preparation so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day, asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with him. But coming to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. And he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. These things came to pass to fulfill the scripture, Not a bone of him shall be broken. And again, another scripture says, they shall look on him whom they pierced.
After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus, who at first had come to him by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 100 pounds weight.
So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden, a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Therefore, because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Since the reading of God’s inspired word tonight. Let’s pray together. Our Father, we are thankful for the faithful and true witness that we have in the gospel. We are thankful, Father, for the scriptures as a whole, as they have come to their fulfillment and their expression in the person and work of Jesus Christ. We are thankful, Father, that we here now might hear this gospel, might we embrace it, receive it by faith, and receive the one who is revealed here, the one who is the Christ. very Son of God, and that in believing in Him we might have life, eternal life, in His name. Bless, then, the preaching and hearing of your word tonight. We might receive it as it is, the very Word of God, for our encouragement and instruction in the things of the faith. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
In the course of John’s narrative of the crucifixion, we note various things are said to have taken place in order that this or that scripture might be fulfilled. In the first place, in verses 23 and 24, the soldiers dividing of Jesus’ garments was done, quote, that the scriptures might be fulfilled. They divided my outer garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. In verse 28, in order that the scriptures might be fulfilled, Jesus said, I am thirsty.
In the manner in which Jesus’ legs were not broken, But that the soldier pierced his side, we are told, verses 36 to 37, for these things came to pass that the scripture might be fulfilled. Not a bone of him shall be broken. And again, another scripture that would be fulfilled, implied in the text, says, they shall look on him whom they pierced. that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. But the agents, the agents who did these things, that is, divided the garments, chose not to break Jesus’ legs, the soldier who pierced his side, had no idea that they were fulfilling Scripture. Their actions were providentially overruled and superintended for Scripture’s fulfillment. But there is one case in our text this evening where Jesus is the agent, however, and the situation is different.
It goes without saying that he was actually thirsty, to be sure, and he craved something to drink hanging from the cross. Exposure on a cross to the Judean sun must have caused rapid and exhausting dehydration. But as he uttered the words, I am thirsty, he knew that in doing so, he was fulfilling the scripture. The particular scripture in question appears likely to have been Psalm 69 verse 21. For my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
Although Psalm 22.15 also comes into view where we read in Psalm 22, the great suffering psalm of the Christ, my tongue cleaves to my jaws, it says there. John does not want to give some sort of theatrical impression of our Lord’s utterance in order to put on a show in keeping with that psalm.
His words were, no doubt, unreservedly spontaneous and intentional. Indeed, the more really expressed and the more spontaneous they were, the more truly was the scripture fulfilled. In other words, not just that he said he was thirsty, but he really was thirsty. He really did fulfill the prophetic word of the Old Testament Psalms.
As we have already highlighted in our sermon last week, in the comments we made on verses 26 and following, it is clear from verse 28 how much meaning the gospel writer attaches to Jesus’ words to Mary and his beloved disciple in the framework of the work of salvation that Jesus had been sent to accomplish.
In that exchange of verses 26 to 28, you remember Jesus saying to John, behold thy mother, and to the woman, behold thy son. the unnamed disciple whom Jesus loved, so identified here, he’s not called John, the unnamed disciple whom Jesus loved, and the unnamed woman, Jesus’ mother, though we have a clear sense of their actual identity, we declared last week that they are set before us representatively in a redemptive historical fashion.
The disciple whom Jesus loved is any disciple, every disciple whom Jesus loved, whom Jesus loves. And the woman, the unnamed woman, is the church collectively represented in her. And so then to the disciple, the church is his mother to serve and care for her. And to the church, the disciple, the beloved disciple of Jesus is her son. to love and to nurture.
And so we see in the completion of Jesus’ work on the cross, the setting forth in this testamental way of the church and her children in the completion of the work of Christ on the cross. And we noted that this communication in John’s Gospel is particularly located as the final act of Jesus’ work in that declaration of setting the church in place and declaring the relationship that she is to bear to her members and the members to her collectively. The communication as the concluding act of Jesus’ work, leaving nothing more for him to do for the completion of that work in terms of his earthly ministry.
You will note how the relationship of the woman and her children do not end here. It’s not just a one-time deal with John, but they are actually worked out in the epistles of John in terms of truth and love. I’m particularly thinking of the love that we are to have for those whom God loves in 1 John, but also in terms of the elect woman and her offspring, her children that are mentioned in the second epistle of John and in the third. You see, there is those things being worked out even more graphically in detail in recognition of the ongoing ministry that continues after the resurrection of Christ.
And so we left off there last time in terms of that completion of work, that finishing that took place. And so nevertheless then, in between the reference in John 19, 28, to Jesus knowing on the cross, knowing that all was now finished or accomplished, knowing that he had completed the work. And then in his own statement in verse 30, it is finished. It is in that context of having had this exchange with the woman and the beloved disciple and the final word from the cross, it is finished.
It is in that framework of the finished work of Christ that is inserted the passage about Jesus thirst. I am thirsty. Mark and Matthew also mentioned Jesus thirst to be sure, but there are no words from Jesus on that. account, nor is there any reference to Scripture. But here, in John, it is the reference to Scripture that stands in the foreground as the motive of Jesus crying out, complaining of thirst, as it were.
In order, quote, that Scripture should come to its fulfillment. We might insert there that the Scripture should come to its final fulfillment. For here in these contexts of where we have these three instances that the scripture would be fulfilled here uniquely, the word that is translated fulfillment is a derivative of the word telos, meaning end or destination. And so the word that the scripture should have its full fulfillment or a final fulfillment or come to its destination is closely related to the words in verses 28 and 30. It is accomplished. It is finished. He knew that the work was finished. And then the declaration, it is finished. It is finished. It was accomplished. The scripture is coming to its destination. It is finished. The threefold emphasis that John gives us.
The other context or the other places where we have the word fulfillment in our English text here, that the scripture would be fulfilled, is actually the word plerao, not the word talos, but the word of filling up. In other words, fulfillment in the sense of coming to the fullness of what had been intended from the beginning. And so the intent is not to add something to the proceeding that all was now finished, when Jesus says, I thirst, all was now finished, but to show how Jesus, even in his final moments, when there was nothing more left for him, quote, to do in terms of the redemptive work, still in his thirst, one of the most terrible torments of death by crucifixion, he purposely fulfills the scripture in speaking of his thirst. Though it would appear Psalm 6921 is clearly in mind, we quoted it before, they gave him vinegar to drink in the midst of his thirst. It’s not quoted here specifically, but the scripture might be fulfilled in a fullness in the sense of coming to completion. And while the text is not quoted, it may be suggesting then that the reference is not to the fulfillment of a specific detail, but to the entire picture. of the suffering righteous one of whom there is mention or is who has spoken of in Psalm 69.
A Psalm that John, the gospel writer, has cited elsewhere. We think of the occasion in cleansing the temple in Chapter 2, the verse of Chapter 2, verse 17, zeal for thy house will consume me. That’s from Psalm 69. We can also think of John 15, 25, where Jesus, where John says of Jesus, the fulfillment of the scripture, they hated me without a cause, Psalm 69. They gave me vinegar to drink, Psalm 69.
And so in the sense of coming to the fullness or the completion, the fulfillment of the end of the suffering of Christ. And so in describing the depth of Jesus’ sufferings, Here, the fourth gospel in its unique kind of way. Here, nowhere comes any closer to the final word on the cross that we have in Matthew and Mark. You know the text, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, which is the last words of Jesus spoken in Matthew and Mark by Jesus in the crucifixion. But here, for John, in his concise and his intentional, purposeful, theological kind of way, he simply says of Jesus here, or quotes of Jesus, I am thirsty. You compare that to the fullness of the picture of Jesus suffering on the cross. Although it is probably characteristic for the fourth gospel that the word of extreme forsakenness of Psalm 22 is not here.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? From verse 28, it is again evident that the regal power and authority of Jesus, which is so prominent in the gospel of John, with which Jesus accepts his suffering and goes out to meet his enemies, as you recall in his arrest, is in no way, it no way means that John or Jesus is fundamentally immune to suffering and passes through it unaffected, but rather John is putting before us the kingship of Jesus. This intentional, purposeful, decisive, authoritative, royal fulfillment of the scriptures is coming to pass.
Even in his suffering, you see, there’s a sovereignty in the one who no one takes his life from him. but he lays it down of his own accord in order that he might take it up again. Jesus suffers. John is not overlooking or downplaying his suffering. but he is putting it in the theological context of Jesus the King, who suffers according to the scriptures, according to the purpose and the plan of the Father, as Jesus drinks the cup that the Father has prepared for him. Jesus says, I am thirsty. It’s not offered here just simply as a proof of how strictly Jesus fulfilled scripture, but it is in fact a lament rung from him out of the depth of his suffering. Consider it in all of its fullness and the extent of the suffering of Jesus in which he, in his solidarity with those who had lamented their suffering in scripture of the Old Testament, he is now taking that suffering to himself and it consists above all in the fact that he and His people took their suffering to God, laid it out before Him, that Jesus knew better than anyone else before or after Him, that in His suffering He was fulfilling a divine calling, is evident then from His last word, His very last word on the cross in verse 30.
It is finished. It’s filled up with suffering for Himself. But this in no way detracts from the deep reality of that suffering, of his solidarity with his own people. It is rather the very foundation of Jesus’ last word. I have stood with them in their suffering. I have taken it to myself, and I have fulfilled it for their redemption.
The details described here, specifically of the sour wine that is offered Jesus, again, referring to Psalm 69, 21, for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. In the psalm, the presentation of this drink is an act of hostility paralleling the offering of gall for food. The two are in the same verse side by side. They offered me gall or poison for food and vinegar to drink.
But here in John 19.30, it evidently doesn’t have that connotation of offering them, offering him a poison or offering something undesirable.
But all of the stress is on the thirst of Jesus and the soldier’s response to it. Admittedly, the manner in which the drink is offered does depict the extremity of Jesus’ situation. A sponge soaked in the sour wine, attached to the top of a stalk of hyssop, so held up to Jesus’ mouth, is the only way to give him a drink. Again, consider the extremities of his sufferings.
This that is here in John’s gospel is not to be confused with the synoptic gospel in Mark, for example, where the wine was mixed with myrrh, where Jesus refused what was offered to him as he arrives at the place of execution. In other words, that which is spoken of in Mark was a sedative provided by someone who was trying to numb the pain and numb his senses. a way of dulling the sense of the victim to relieve something of the agony that he was about to face, where there Jesus resolved to die with unclouded mind, he refused the offering.
But here it says it was touched to his lip and he received it. And said, it is finished, having drunk that sour wine. Here in John, the sour wine is brought to his mouth, he receives it, and with that the end came. And after saying, it is finished, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Gave up his spirit, mind you.
Again, the purposeful, sovereign, authoritative, royal. He died of his own volition. This whole scene typifies his death as a final act and a decisive underscoring of that word. It’s something he did. Yes, passively submitting himself to the cross, but actively. in a kingly fashion, putting himself in the place of redeeming his people. A final act of self-offering done after he had finished the work that God had given him to do. It is also this act that the all of verse 28 refers.
All had been accomplished. All was finished. Accordingly, we cannot weaken then the statement of Jesus. It is finished. By hearing it only as a sigh of relief, oh, it’s finally over. No, that’s not the word of Jesus here. It’s not some personal completion of saying, oh, well, I’ve reached the end of my journey now. This is it.
But it is precisely as a reference to the task that the Father gave the Son Jesus to perform. that this cry, it is finished, indicates for him not only the end of the road that he had to travel as a son of God, but also the completed work of redemption, of salvation that he has now accomplished, that he has now finished for his own as the new foundation laid once for all for the life of the world, for those whom he loves. Then what follows after that declarative word, Jesus bowing his head, giving himself to death, giving up the spirit. And what follows in the remainder of the chapter, here of chapter 19, as we read John’s narrative henceforth, he is anxious among other things to leave his readers in no doubt, leave us in no doubt at all, that Jesus really and truly died. And that his death was wholly within God’s purpose and design. The evangelist again tells us things here in his gospel, in his uniquely designed narrative, separate from the other synoptic gospels.
For John, it was doubly important that the bodies of the crucified men not be permitted to hang on the cross beyond the end of the day, since the day of crucifixion was a Friday, and the next day was not only a Sabbath, but also this year, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread of the Passover.
The Jews therefore asked Pilate for the men’s legs to be broken, to ensure their death in time, for removing their bodies before the Sabbath would begin. Pilate, as you know, readily complied with their request, and the soldiers were sent upon their errand. But when they came to Jesus, they found that he was already dead, having given himself up, as you know. His legs, therefore, were not broken. But to be certain of the death of Jesus, in his case, having died seemingly sooner than usual, one soldier pierced the side of Jesus with a spear.
Then, John, the report of an eyewitness strongly emphasized at this point is that blood and water issued forth from the womb. The evangelist expresses here his conviction that the incident, like the others, as the crucifixion itself, could be seen as fulfillment of Scripture, the things that God had intended. The last scene here of the dying of the Lord Jesus comes when Joseph of Arimathea sought permission from Pilate to bury the body of Jesus. That permission being given, Joseph and Nicodemus put the body in a tomb in the garden near to the place of execution, using a large quantity of spices in doing so. It was evident their intention that after the Sabbath they would move the Lord’s body to some permanent grave.
And the report that is given here by John, specifically and intentionally and solely by John, is that blood and water should have come out of the pierced side. And that testimony, that testimony that he alone brings, has evoked much attention. Medical experts have debated what’s going on here, what’s the significance. The opinion is divided as to what was the cause of death and how that came to be. But for John, it’s not the cause of death that’s of first importance, but the fact of death. with which he is most concerned. For John, it was important that the reality of Jesus’ death, and therefore the reality of his manhood, was so objectively established.
This was sufficient answer to those forms of docetism that were current when he would have written his gospel, which held that Christ didn’t really die. We can even recognize the persistence of this view being reflected in the Koran. Yes, the Islamic Koran that quotes, they did not kill him, neither did they crucify him. It only seemed to be so. John refutes it in his epistles as well as in the gospel. He really died and the blood and the water issued forth. Here, John, in this context, applies two different Old Testament passages related to the death of Jesus.
One coming from the Exodus concerning the Passover lamb, that its bones must not be broken. And one from Zechariah, that God will pour out his spirit upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem when they look upon him whom, quote, they have pierced. They shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child. If these two text, if these two scriptures that are brought to bear here are applied to the emphasized action of the soldiers in not breaking the legs of Jesus on the one hand and in piercing his side on the other, it becomes fairly clear what the evangelist is trying to state. In the case of the first prophecy, he is saying that Jesus Christ may be considered as the true Passover lamb, the fulfillment of that which was spoken of old. Slain at the proper time for Passover lambs to be slain and like a proper lamb for the feast without any broken bones, according to the Exodus prescription for such things.
And in the case of the Zechariah prophecy, the evangelist is predicting that they will look upon him whom they have pierced and they will mourn, they will mourn the death and the killing of Jesus, which is to say John sees a day and envisions the final triumph of Jesus in the conversion of the Jews and the gospel being received by all men, Jews and Gentiles alike.
Here, truly, is the King of the Jews. Here is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, whose death means salvation to all who believe. The blood and the water then, speaking of true death, are not then left without meaning beyond the fact that Jesus died. The blood certainly stands for the life of the Lord Jesus, given in sacrifice for his people, for men, as that comes to be symbolized even for us in the Lord’s Supper as we Remember the blood that was shed for our redemption. And we think of the water that flows from his side as the water indicating and symbolizing the gift of the spirit that will be poured out on all men for the cleansing of the nations and the accomplishment of the salvation to the ends of the earth. That which is symbolized for us in baptism, pouring out of water upon a people, indicating the outpouring of the spirit that comes from this one in whom it is finished. it is accomplished. For here is the Passover Lamb, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, who baptizes not in water, but in the Holy Spirit.
Truly, this is the Son of God. This is the accomplishment of our redemption. Herein are the scriptures fulfilled and brought to their completion, to their destination in him and in the church. Let’s pray together. Holy Father. Help us to read the gospel as it asks us to read it. As the spirit who moves the writer to write, might we see what it is that we are to understand.
That we would embrace Jesus in the fulfillment of his role as king, as the messianic son of God, son of man, who had come into the world to save his people from their sins. The good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep, the sovereign one, from whom no one takes his life, but he gives it freely for the redemption of his people, his own, and entrusts his own, oh, Father, to the care, the nurture of the church, entrusting her with the responsibility of loving those whom he loves, for whom he gave his life, and that those who are loved of Christ would count as their own the very church that Jesus purchased. Our Father, we pray, thanking you that even in the thirsting of our Savior, thereto are the scriptures fulfilled in the suffering servant who gave himself up to the full in order that we might be saved to the full. Our Father, we thank you even now. in the consideration of these things, pointing us to the Lamb of God, pointing us to that Messianic King, that one who would pour out his spirit upon the peoples, and we would look upon him and receive him and believe in him and be saved.
Lord, thank you for the worship of your people. Thank you for the gathering of the saints here this Lord’s Day. Thank you for the reminders that come to us in Holy Scripture fulfillment of those things found in Jesus Christ and in him alone. In his name we give thanks. In that name we praise. Amen. Let’s sing together hymn number 80, shall we? Let’s stand together, shall we? How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. What more can He say than to you He hath said, You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled, You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled, have fled.
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, I, I am thy God and will still give thee aid. I’ll strengthen thee, help and cause thee to stand. Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand. Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand. When through the deep waters I call thee to come, The rivers of woe shall not be overflowed. Thy troubles to bless, And sanctify to Thee Thy deepest distress. And sanctify to Thee Thy deepest distress. When through fiery trials thy pathway shall guide, My grateful sufficient shall be thy supply.
I trust to consume and I go to refine. I trust to consume and I go to refine. Even down to old age, all my people shall prove my sovereignty. Like lambs they shall still in my bosom be born. Like lambs they shall still in my bosom be born. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. I’ll never, no never, no never forsake. I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
Look up, then, and receive the blessing of our great God. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your heart being enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of the inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power for those who believe.
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