Daily Dose of the Word of God - John 19: 28-30

Erin Pacheco, Director of Worship

Transcript

Erin Pacheco  0:08

 
Welcome to Elmhurst CRC’s Daily Dose of the Word of God.  I’m Erin Pacheco.  It’s April 3, and on this Good Friday, as evening approaches, we turn our gaze upon Jesus in the hour of his death. Here’s John 19:28-30.

 
Erin Pacheco  0:27  

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 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. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Erin Pacheco  1:00  

Finished and fulfilled. That’s what John says — and what Jesus says — about this moment. From a human vantage point, it looks like everything has fallen apart. But in the design of God, all is exactly as it was meant to be. All of scripture has been pointing to this moment. And so John includes, in this critical hour, two curious details that almost seem out of place.  First, Jesus says “I am thirsty” and so they give him sour wine. Random, perhaps, except for how perfectly it fulfills Psalm 69:21: “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.” The suffering of the psalmist — and of all who pray in the night — is now Christ’s own. Second, did you notice that John specifically mentions the kind of plant they used to bring the drink to Jesus’ lips? I’ve passed over that detail so often without really paying attention to it, but the hyssop plant is specifically mentioned here for a powerful reason. All the way back in Exodus, the hyssop plant was what God told the Israelites to use to paint the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorposts. The blood that covered and protected their families from death, and led to their freedom from slavery in Egypt. John says, Come and see. Look at this bloody and beautiful scene. Jesus our Passover lamb is sacrificed for us. His death in exchange for our life, our covering, our freedom. “Behold the Lamb, who takes away the sin of the world.” All that is broken and wrong and awful and evil, in us and around us, is nailed with him to the cross. Today is Friday, but Sunday is coming. 

Erin Pacheco   3:27  

Jesus, thank you. All our words fall short, but thank you. Thank you for the cross.