19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews1 answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic2 Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.3 He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
The Crucifixion
So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic.4 But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
“They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
The Death of Jesus
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Jesus’ Side Is Pierced
31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”
Jesus Is Buried
38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus5 by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds6 in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 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. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Footnotes
[1]19:7Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time; also verses 12, 14, 31, 38 [2]19:13Or Hebrew; also verses 17, 20 [3]19:14That is, about noon [4]19:23Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin [5]19:39Greek him [6]19:39Greek one hundred litras; a litra (or Roman pound) was equal to about 11 1/2 ounces or 327 grams
19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews1 answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic2 Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.3 He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
The Crucifixion
So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic.4 But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
“They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
The Death of Jesus
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Jesus’ Side Is Pierced
31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”
Jesus Is Buried
38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus5 by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds6 in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 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. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Footnotes
[1]19:7Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time; also verses 12, 14, 31, 38 [2]19:13Or Hebrew; also verses 17, 20 [3]19:14That is, about noon [4]19:23Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin [5]19:39Greek him [6]19:39Greek one hundred litras; a litra (or Roman pound) was equal to about 11 1/2 ounces or 327 grams
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Joel Brooks:
If you really want to understand someone, you see how they respond in the face of danger, in the face of death, and then their true colors come out. Jesus, when you look at them in that light, he died such an utterly unique death. Unlike any death of any other person, especially of any other religious leader that's out there. The head of our faith, Jesus Christ, he died alone on a cross, screaming out according to Mark that God had abandoned him. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Joel Brooks:
That's the leader of our faith alone on a cross, screaming, God, you've left me. You have abandoned me, utterly forsaken me. For this reason alone, this the fact that this was recorded and preserved in Scripture, I think, gives convincing evidence to the authenticity of Scripture. That that somebody is not making this up about Jesus. Because if you were gonna create a religion, you know, if you were gonna go maybe out some distant part of Texas and you were gonna start a religion there, you're you're not going to to to come up with your leader as this.
Joel Brooks:
This isn't your leader. That God forsakes them. Or if, if you look at all the martyrs, Christian martyrs over the centuries, or or martyrs of other faiths over the centuries, they die better deaths than this. But you look at Jesus's death and he's screaming that God had left him, or something as as little as, I'm thirsty. I'm thirsty.
Joel Brooks:
No one wishing to create a religion would ever have their leader do this or write that at the time of death, all of his followers and friends left. These words, they're in John 19 that, that came, that we just read was after Jesus had been on the cross for about 6 hours. He's only gonna say a few more words before he finally dies, but they're crucial to understand all the words that Jesus says when he's on the cross, if you wanna understand what he means when he says, I thirst. This is what it said after he cries out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Then he says, I am thirsty.
Joel Brooks:
Then he says, It is finished. Then he says, father in thy hands I commit my spirit. Now this could be expected to be said of someone as they're suffering under crucifixion. Jesus had just carried his cross under the heat of the midday sun. I'm sure that he is worn down.
Joel Brooks:
I'm sure that he is exhausted and dehydrated. His throat had to be parched. Actually, many people, who were crucified, they died not of the the blows, not even of suffocation, but a lot of them died of dehydration, which I've heard is a agonizing way to die. It's like being on fire in the inside. It's being burned from the inside out.
Joel Brooks:
And so the fact that Jesus expresses thirst should not come as any surprise. Yet in light of all the crucifixion narratives, this does jump out at us. Because up to this point, Jesus has not opened his mouth and he has not complained. Jesus had spent the night earlier in intense prayer, so intense that his capillaries burst and his sweat becomes like drops of blood. He's arrested, he's sent to this mock, you you can't even call it a trial.
Joel Brooks:
False accusations go up against him, he doesn't say a word. People spit on him. They hit him and they say, prophesy who hit you. And he doesn't say a word. He's severely scourged.
Joel Brooks:
And you know, you you've you've probably heard that that whip, it would have all of these pieces of bone, or glass, or rock at the end of it, and it would rip flesh out and his whole back would have been laid open, yet he doesn't say a word when that happens. Thorns are placed around his head, beaten into his brow, and he doesn't say anything. Totally silent. He's carrying the wooden cross all the way to the hill and that cross is on his back, his exposed and open back, and yet he doesn't say anything. Large nails hammered through his hands, hammered through his feet, and he doesn't say, this hurts.
Joel Brooks:
He doesn't. He never complains. That's why it is so unusual and it really jumps out at you that his first and his only complaint is this, I'm thirsty. I'm thirsty. I mean he makes it all the way to the end, only moments, just a few minutes and he will be dead.
Joel Brooks:
Yet he complains at this moment that he's thirsty. These words tell us something very profound, I think, about the strength of Jesus, About the suffering of Jesus. John 1928 says that Jesus said these words in order to fulfill Scripture. Now this is pretty amazing that, if you think of this, despite all of the pain, despite the lack of sleep, all the confusion, the loss of blood, Jesus still has enough clarity to remember scripture, to remember what was prophesied to take place. He still has that much clarity.
Joel Brooks:
And you might even say that Jesus lived and he breathed Scripture. And I don't know if you've noticed as you've read through the gospels how often scripture was on Jesus's lips. He's always quoting it. I just kind of glanced through Matthew and and just in Matthew, you know, all the temptations. In Matthew 4, he's quoting from Deuteronomy, or he's quoting from the Psalms.
Joel Brooks:
He quotes from First Samuel. He quotes from Hosea. He quotes from Isaiah. Quote quotes from Malachi. He's quoting all over the place, just in a cursory reading through Matthew.
Joel Brooks:
You see all of those times. Jesus didn't just read scripture, He didn't memorize scripture, it became a very part of His being. His thoughts were so drenched in scripture that even at this very trying, improving time, it flows out of him. I've I've seen this to some degree, through the journals of Jim Elliott that I read several years ago. Jim Elliott is one of my heroes in the faith, and he was a missionary, he died when he was 29.
Joel Brooks:
He was a martyr trying to reach the Auca Indians in Ecuador, and probably many of you are familiar with that story. It's made famous through Gates of Splendor, the book that Elizabeth Elliott wrote. But he has a journal that you can also read, the life and testament of Jim Elliott, and if you read through it, it is amazing. Scripture has so saturated his being that when I read his journal entries, I'm thinking, well, was that scripture or was that not scripture? And then I read the next one.
Joel Brooks:
I was like, well, is he quoting scripture, is he not quoting scripture? Because it was so infused in him, he went in and out, in and out of scripture, all as he wrote. It was just part of who he was. And and you see this, that that gives you a hint of what Christ was like. Literally, if you poked Christ, he bled scripture.
Joel Brooks:
For Jesus, scripture was more than just a way to fight temptation. It was more than just a way to gain a correct theology or understanding of God. For Jesus, especially at this moment, it's the only rock that he has to hold on to. Because everything else is gone. His friends are gone.
Joel Brooks:
The disciples, gone. He is forsaken from his father. He's got nothing. So what is Jesus's rock at this moment? It's the word.
Joel Brooks:
It comes out. That's the only thing that is sustaining him at this moment. And so we see here I think where Jesus gains his strength. Not just in the end but really through his whole life, through dedication to his word. But we also hear in these words an indescribable suffering.
Joel Brooks:
And we're allowed to see what's really happening on the cross through the words, I thirst. It gives us an insight to what is really happening as so much more than just a painful death. I thirst. No other time in scripture does Jesus complain, does he show need. Yet here he says, I thirst.
Joel Brooks:
And John understands why. You know, John was the only disciple that was at least there for part of the crucifixion. He was the only one. So this is only in his account. He's the only one who heard it there, one of the disciples.
Joel Brooks:
It's one of the reasons he included this. And in John chapter 4, he also includes another story story that is completely unique to Jesus. And you should see these two stories together. John does this a lot in his gospel, in which something he introduces at the beginning of his book, he brings back at the end, things like Jesus' first miracle, he turns water into wine. Well it's only in John's gospel that you see Jesus partaking.
Joel Brooks:
He takes of the wine on the cross, and then they poke him and water comes out. It's a reversal of that initial, initial miracle. And John wants you to see those 2 in light of each other. And here, John, when he's talking about thirst, he wants you to think of another story talking about the same thing in John chapter 4, if you would turn there. John 4 verse 6.
Joel Brooks:
This is a very familiar story. Verse 6, Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the 6th hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.
Joel Brooks:
The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father, Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock. Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever.
Joel Brooks:
The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come here. The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you're right in saying you have no husband for you have had 5 husbands.
Joel Brooks:
And the one you were you have is not your husband. What you have said is true. Jesus stops at this well, and he asked this Samaritan woman for a drink. She's somewhat surprised because this Jewish man is even talking to her. And Jesus responds that, that if she knew who he was, she would be asking him for a drink.
Joel Brooks:
Verse 13, he says, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water I will give him will never be thirsty forever. Jesus tells this woman, if you ask me, I'm gonna place in you a fountain, you'll never ever be thirsty again. And then Jesus says something curious. He he tells her to go and call her husband. She responds that she has no husband.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus says, I know. You've had 5. Currently, the one you're living with is not your husband. Now, why does Jesus do this? He's he's in this real spiritual conversation and all of a sudden he says, go and call your husband.
Joel Brooks:
I had to take, it was the bane of my existence at Beeson Divinity School. They made me take an evangelism class. I'm not against evangelism. I think it's a good thing. It was just the person who was teaching it, you know, as steer every conversation you have into some kind of spiritual thing.
Joel Brooks:
You know, put your foot in the door. Don't let people slam it. And it's like it was this big formula. And here you have Jesus doing the exact opposite of what I was taught in my evangelism class. You're talking about eternal life.
Joel Brooks:
You're talking about spiritual things. And you're getting somewhere, and then Jesus says, go get your husband. Like, what is What's the detour there? It's not a detour. Jesus is getting to the heart of the matter.
Joel Brooks:
He's actually forcing the subject on her. He's not gonna let her wiggle away. He's talking about eternal life. He's talking about a spring of water, then he says, Go get your husband, And he's not changing the subject. What he is saying is you have been going to other places for your satisfaction.
Joel Brooks:
You only find satisfaction and meaning in the arms of another. When you go to take a drink, you find your drink in men. You're going to get a drink in this man, then you're going to get a drink in that man, you're going to get a drink in that man. I am the only one that you can drink from, and you will be satisfied. I'm the only one.
Joel Brooks:
Come to me. I'm the only one who will satisfy your longings. And I want you to notice that this is a religious woman. This is a woman who knows about God. She asked him later a really good theological question.
Joel Brooks:
So she's even got a fairly decent theology, but she hasn't opened up her heart. We're not really different from her, especially in the South. Well, if you grew up in the South and you're a Christian, or religious, people grow up in the South very religious, they go to church, they can even quote a few Bible verses, everybody knows judge not. I mean that's one of the main things. Everybody can at least quote 3 or 4 bible verses in the south.
Joel Brooks:
But when it comes to do you really know God, does he fill through work. You put yourself through work, you give yourself to work, you try to get praise in work, you try to to climb a corporate ladder, you try to get money. Money is how you're gonna fill this void. Some of you try to do it through relationships. You are gonna keep going to the arms of another person, trying to fill this void in your life, or you bank all of your hope on, once I find my spouse, once I finally get married, I'll have companionship.
Joel Brooks:
Finally, I'll be satisfied. And what we do is the same thing as this woman, we put our hope and our desire in something else. We drink from other fountains. And Christ says, you do that you will always be thirsty. Me alone can satisfy.
Joel Brooks:
What Jesus is offering her is forgiveness and friendship with God. God alone can satisfy your longings. Not being religious, not marriage, not work. You were made to enjoy God. Made to enjoy Him.
Joel Brooks:
The deepest longing that you have cannot be filled with other things. Now understanding this helps us to understand Jesus's words on the cross with greater clarity. It helps us to understand what he's saying. Jesus is saying, I have in me a fountain in which if I give it to you, you will never thirst again. That fountain is a relationship with God.
Joel Brooks:
That's what I have. Yet on the cross, Jesus doesn't have that fountain. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Gone. He's not talking about physical thirst here.
Joel Brooks:
I'm thirsty. For the first time in his life, he has now got this desire to be have communion with God, and it is denied. Denied. And he is no longer receiving the joy from his father, he is receiving the wrath from his father. And he says, I am thirsty.
Joel Brooks:
That life giving relationship is gone. Jesus, you could say, is experiencing hell. He's experiencing hell. Now we've looked at this in the past at Redeemer, but do not think of hell as some place that you go, that angry God throws you, kicking and screaming because, you know, you didn't do something right. And you're like, no, I don't wanna go.
Joel Brooks:
And he's like, no. You know, this angry God just kinda throwing you in with a pitchfork. There you go forever. And a lot of us, that is our Biblical view of Hell, and that is not a Biblical view, that's Dante's Inferno, but it is not the God of the Bible. That's not the picture of hell that God presents.
Joel Brooks:
You need to think of hell as a state that one can be in. It's more of a state than a place. More of that. It's a state in which you willingly choose to reject God as your fountain of life, and you try to find satisfaction in other things. Fire is the metaphor that you feel when you forever deny yourself of that life giving water.
Joel Brooks:
That life giving presence of God. Hell is when God allows you, says, fine, you wanna go that way? Go that way. And he allows you to forever pursue the things you want, the things that you think will give you satisfaction, the things that you think will finally satisfy the longings of your heart. Hell is when God says, fine, go.
Joel Brooks:
Have your own way, go. And all those things bring about is a incurable thirst. You think of it like, you know, in this life, remember that we are our our souls are immortal. In this life, you might pursue those things and feel a little thirsty, but if you pursue that for all of eternity, you could go without water for so far and be okay. But then you get more and more thirsty, more and more thirsty, so it drives you crazy.
Joel Brooks:
That's a biblical view of hell. You deny me and pursue other things. And this is what Jesus is experiencing here on the cross, is now there is a separation. There is no longer that life giving connection. Lamentations 112, this is a poem that written by the prophet Jeremiah.
Joel Brooks:
That's about the destruction of Jerusalem, but it quickly goes into something else. It gets very prophetic and it gets prophetic about this event. Listen to these words. Is it nothing to you all, you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.
Joel Brooks:
From on high he sent fire. Into my bones he made it descend. He spread a net for my feet. He turned me back. He has left me stunned, faint all the day long.
Joel Brooks:
This is what Jesus is experiencing. On the day of the Lord's fierce anger, he sent fire into my bones. Jesus is experiencing the wrath of God. He can keep his mouth shut with every blow he receives. Every false accusation, he's silent.
Joel Brooks:
Every nail that pierces flesh, he is silent. But when his father abandons him, he says, I thirst. I thirst. In Luke 16, Jesus told a parable of a rich man who was in hell. And this rich man, he cries out for help and he says, Abraham, will you send your servant Lazarus to just tip his finger in some water and cool my tongue, because I'm in agony.
Joel Brooks:
This rich man doesn't ask to get out of hell, he just wants some relief, some relief. He is thirsty, yet he's still seeking other things. For the first time, Jesus is experiencing that same thirst, and he is in agony. For the first time ever, the Son of God, the one who created the universe, the one who's always had perfect communion with the Father, he felt a burning desire that could not be satisfied. Now, why does Jesus stay there?
Joel Brooks:
Why does he stay there? Well I mean why go through this at any point? He could have just come off the cross, you know, legion of angels, come and deliver him. We also get a hint of why he stays there also in John chapter 4, just a hint. And that story that we just read about the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus is thirsty.
Joel Brooks:
He's been traveling all day. He's in the midday sun, yet he doesn't get a drink. He waits for the woman. He waits for the woman to give him a drink, which tells a lot also about Jesus's thirst. Jesus is also thirsty for a relationship with us.
Joel Brooks:
Thirsty for relationship with us. We are part of his longings. He desires to commune with us. And so when we hear Jesus saying, I thirst on the cross, we understand his torment, His separation from God, that life giving fountain being removed. But we also understand the reason He's doing that is because He is thirsty for a relationship with us.
Joel Brooks:
And so when he finally, he goes through with it, his dying breath, and he says, Testelestai, it is finished. He says, I did it. What he's saying is, I finally won them. I finally got them. I'm getting my heart's desire.
Joel Brooks:
I'm, I'm, I'm getting these people to me. They are now forgiven. They are now in a relationship with me. I did it. I did it.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus was denied the presence of God so we don't have to be denied the presence of God. Jesus was thirsty so we don't have to be thirsty. And so when you look at the cross, you can see 2 things. You can either see your deliverance or you can see your destiny when you look at the cross. Your deliverance because Christ went through hell receiving the wrath of God for your behalf where you can see your destiny in which you will forever cry, I thirst, as you search for satisfaction in other things.
Joel Brooks:
This is how we understand the cross. This is the meaning behind those two little words that means so much when Jesus says, I thirst. And what we're gonna do is we're gonna celebrate that tonight. We're gonna take communion. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, He wanted us to remember everything I just talked about.
Joel Brooks:
And He had a meal with His disciples, and He took 2 very ordinary elements. He took bread and He took wine, as part of a a Passover meal, and he said, This bread is actually the bread of affliction. He said, This bread is my body. And he went and he took and he broke it. It says basically the the affliction that Israel suffered pointed to my affliction.
Joel Brooks:
My body is broken for you. And then he took a cup and he said, this cup cup is actually my blood poured out for the forgiveness of many. So as often as you eat this bread and you drink of this cup, do this remembering me. Remembering what I am going to go through. Remembering my separation, my agony, my thirst, so you do not have to experience that.
Joel Brooks:
So that's what we're gonna celebrate tonight. If the musicians would come up here, This is how I ask that you would partake in communion. If we could form a line down the middle here, and we'll we'll just work around, and we're not gonna do it row by row, just just as you want. And what I ask of you is not to try to pray and to make your life perfect. Because if you do that, you make a mockery of Jesus's words when he says it is finished.
Joel Brooks:
Anytime you you try to, you know, really do a good work to gain a little righteousness, pray an extra little hard to get that extra bit of forgiveness, you make a mockery of Jesus's words. I heard the illustration. It's like, if I made you a piece of furniture for you, and I put a 1,000 coats of shellac on it, And it is as great as it can be, I give it to you, and you're like, That's wonderful. I'm just going to put on one more coat. But, no.
Joel Brooks:
It's finished. You don't try to add to it. Anytime you try to add to it, you run it. It's finished. And so when you come here, you come, yes, in humbleness, and you ask for forgiveness, but you can never ask for forgiveness for all your sins.
Joel Brooks:
What you do is Christ realizing he paid for that penalty, and it's finished. You don't have to thirst. He's done that on your behalf. And so come as you feel the Spirit leading you, and I ask that if you would take a piece of the bread and if you would dip it in the cup and take, and then go back to your seat. Pray with me now.
Joel Brooks:
Lord, all that your soul desires, you do. That's what your word tells us in Job. All that your soul desires you do. Desire is another word for thirst. Strongly wanting something.
Joel Brooks:
You wanted us. That's why you stayed on the cross, and then you did it. All that your soul desires you do. You have brought us into fellowship with yourself, and we give you thanks for that. Thank you for going to the depths and receiving the wrath of God so that we don't don't have to.
Joel Brooks:
And, Lord, all of us have experienced a small degree hell in this lifetime when we have clung to other things, and we know that that cistern is dry. It is not life giving water. Let us not cling to that for all of eternity. We cling to you. We pray this in the name of Jesus.