"After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost." (John 19:28-30.)

The other words from the cross conveyed an impression of power and regal majesty. His first words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," was a majestic prayer of concern for an ignorant and sinning world. His second words, "Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise," was a decree of the Lord of all life and death admitting a lost person into his kingdom. The third saying, "Woman, behold thy son," was an expression of concern for his mother and freeing himself in order to save others. In spite of his appearance after having been scourged, he showed himself unmistakably and regally, Lord of all.

One single word. But now, this cry reflects the feverish agony of dying on a cross. While John records the cry in two words, I thirst, in the language in which Jesus spoke the statement is a single word. It is the shortest of the seven sayings of Jesus and has been compared to, Jesus wept. (John 11:35.) If journalists had been there, they probably would have given a sensational, harrowing delineation of Christ’s death. Maybe with words like, the paleness of his face, the fever-bursting eyes, the parched lips! But in the sacred narrative, all we have is, I thirst, or in the Greek, "dipso." No other word could rival the simplicity and suffering it conveys.

Herbert Lockyer called it a word that suffers. Ronald Wallace styled it simply, a cry of pain.

The king in sackcloth! The king of Syria once gathered his army against Samaria. The siege caused a great famine in the land. When the king of Israel walked along the wall of the city, a woman cried out to him. He asked, What ails thee? She told the dreadful story about a woman in the city asking her to kill her son and roast it for them to eat. She promised that tomorrow she would do the same to her son for them. When the king of Israel heard these words, he rent his clothes in sorrow. Underneath his torn clothing, the woman beheld that he was wearing sackcloth.

"He rent his clothes and he passed by upon the wall. The people looked and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh." (2 Kings 6: 30.) How this must have helped the woman and others to see that even the king suffered along with them.

Jesus is the King of kings; yet one dying on the cross. Beneath his kingly attire, after his garments are torn, can be seen his identification with mankind. He too suffers. He thirsts.

This expression identifies the Son of God with man. Jesus was a divine being in a human body. Our Savior always conformed to the simple life of the common man. Is any poor; so was He. Is any sorrowful; so was He. Is any in pain; so was He. Is any dying, reaching out for a sip of cooling water; so was He. He too said, intensely, patiently, wearily, "I am thirsty." (The Words From His Throne, Charles Slattery, 70.)

Vinegar to drink?

We should note that Jesus was offered something to drink on two different occasions; once before he was crucified and another just before he died. When he had tasted what they were offering him, he would not drink it.

The first drink offered. "And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is being interpreted, The place of the skull. And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh, but he received it not. And when they had crucified him. . . ." (Mark 15:22-24.)

It seems that they offered him the wine mingled with myrrh (gall) out of mockery. They knew he was exhausted and thirsty. Luke recorded, "And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself." (Luke 23:36-37.)

Two very different views. One view is that the soldiers gave Jesus something repulsive and bitter, when he wanted water to quench his thirst.

"Instead of giving him what help they could to slake his thirst, they dipped a sponge in a bitter and repulsive vinegar mixture and shoved it against his mouth in a last attempt to add what the could to his distress and loneliness. Their reaction is so mean and so unnecessary that some commentators have found themselves forced to interpret the passage as if the ‘vinegar’ was simply ordinary wine used by soldiers, and therefore really meant to help him." (Words of Triumph, Ronald S. Wallace, 63-64.)

The context of Psalms 69 is that it was done out of reproach. "I looked for some to take pity, but there was none. And for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." (69:20-21.)

The second view, not supported by Psalm 69 or Luke 23, is that these hardened Roman soldiers showed some decency and kindness by offering Jesus a powerful drink to kill the pain of the scourging and crucifixion.

"This was a cup Jesus would not drink seeing it was a stupefying concoction given to those prepared for crucifixion to deaden their sense of pain. . . It was a kind of ancient form of chloroform and was provided in a humane spirit by those who wanted to help condemned malefactors become oblivious to the terrible sufferings and fate before them." (Seven Words of Love, Herbert Lockyer, 106.)

The biblical evidence supports the view that the soldiers gave Jesus this drink out of mockery. It was not done out of humane spirit at first. Note Psalm 22:1-18.

The second drink. When Jesus cried, I thirst, it was near the end of the six hours on the cross. Three hours of darkness had covered the earth, making even the hardened to question what was happening. One soldier standing at the foot of the cross exclaimed, Truly this was the Son of God!

Jesus accepted the second drink because it was different from the first. The Bible does not say that this drink was mixed with gall. It seems to have been the common drink of the soldiers, wine mixed with water. It was offered to Jesus on a reed from a sponge. The reed from the hyssop plant grew to about 3 feet in length. This tells us the approximate height of Jesus on the cross from the ground. The soldiers standing on the ground extended the drink up to Jesus. It would have been about ten feet up to the top of the cross.

Jesus’ death was very near when he accepted this drink. The soldier ran to prepare it for him. This was an act of compassion brought on by what they saw and heard during his suffering. The hearts of several were touched; the thief and the soldier notable among them.

He Offers Us Living Water!

It is ironic that the One who cries, I thirst, offers to lost man living waters. He once asked the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well a drink of water. On the cross, he did specifically request a drink, though such is implied. But at the well, he said, Give me to drink. (John 4:7.) We do not know if she ever gave him the drink of water. She was amazed that a Jew would drink from the container of a Samaritan.

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water. (John 4:10.)

The woman failing to understand his words said, But you have nothing with which to draw water. How can you offer this living water? Jesus said, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life." (4:13-14.)

"The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, and call thy husband and come hither." (4:15.) She did not understand his offer.

His offer to that woman is made to all of us. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Rev. 22:17.)

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (John 7:37-39.)

The One who was thirsty offers water to us. Our lips are dry and parched in a sinful land. We need this water more than Jesus needed water to cool his lips.

This paradox is often found in Scripture. The one who was thirsty gives water to others. He who turned 80 gallons of water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee was thirsty! The One who hungered in the wilderness is the Bread of Life. If we eat of this bread, we shall never die. The One who was crucified in weakness is the strongest of all. Through his weakness, we are redeemed and reconciled to God. This humble One is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Some see in this word, dipso, far more than is intended. One interpretation is that Jesus was thirsty for the souls of men. Just like the physical wine and water cooled his lips, so the obedience of men likewise satisfies the longing of Jesus for the souls of men.

I believe that this reads far more into the text than was ever intended. Jesus certainly does long for man’s salvation, but there is no indication that this is what Jesus meant by this saying.

1) "I thirst" (John 19:28.)

2) "Burning of a green tree"

"For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" (Luke 23:31.) If they (the Romans) treat me this way, the Innocent and the Holy, what shall they do to the guilty and evil? A person would not normally cut a green tree for a fire. A dry tree is suited for burning. The sinner is adapted for suffering, but not the innocent.

3) "baptism"

"But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what you ask. Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father." (Matt. 20:22-23.)

4) "stripes"

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2:24.) Stripes (molops) means a bruise or wound---singular not plural. It could refer to the one-time offering of Jesus on the cross; or that he was so beaten that his back was one massive wound.

5) "marks"

"From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." (Gal. 6:17.) The Greek word is stigma, a sign or identification. Worshippers of false gods had marks in their bodies to identify them with their god. Jews had the mark of circumcision. Some had the mark of the beast, showing that they worshipped the image of Caesar. Paul had marks similar to those inflicted upon Jesus. He was beaten 5 times with 40 stripes save one. That is 195 stripes! Three times he was beaten with rods; one time stoned and left for dead. (2 Cor. 11:24.)

6) "passion"

"To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." (Acts 1:3.) The word, passion, refers to the complex flood of emotions that flooded his mind upon being scourged and crucified. Imagine what emotions and feelings! They burst forth with the cry, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? His concern for Mary; the lostness of mankind; his personal pain and agony. That was his passion.

7) "bruised"

"But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed." (Isa. 53:5.) "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him." (53:10.) The word is daka which means crushed. It is not a minor spot on your arm, but a crushing of the life from a person. See Genesis 3:15 and Romans 16:20.