The Fifth Cry from the Cross

“When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. 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 spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.”

We have looked at the fourth of the Lord’s seven cries from the cross. As far as we know that was the only cry He made during the time of darkness. He made that cry at the ninth hour but  the light had returned by the time He made the fifth. As it was after the ninth hour the sun would be close to setting.

Even though the third cry and this cry are reported in John while the fourth cry is recorded in Matthew and Mark we can assume that this cry came after the fourth cry. The best explanation is that John obeyed the Lord’s command when He told John to take care of His mother. In verse 27 we are told, “From that hour that disciple took her unto his own home”. This would mean that John was not by the cross during those dark hours, however he came back to see the Lord on the cross after taking Mary to his home.

This cry was made to fulfil Scripture. In Psalm 69: 20, 21 we see this in prophecy concerning the Lord and it is said that he was given gall to eat and vinegar to drink for his thirst. When the Lord was first on the cross they offered him wine mingled with gall (Matt 27: 34) but he refused to drink this because gall was a drug that would help deaden the pain but He was suffering for our sins so He refused to take the drug that would diminish His pain. This is not to say that the Lord enjoyed pain; He endured the cross (Heb 12: 2, 3) but He completed the task the task that He came to accomplish. However after crying out in thirst they gave Him vinegar to drink (Matt 27: 48).

Vinegar was the common drink of the average Roman soldier. The Romans knew that water could cause serious stomach upsets and they didn’t let their soldiers drink the local water. However, this fact also reminds us that the Lord made Himself of no reputation and took upon Himself the form of a servant (Phil 2: 7). No one is too low or of too humble an origin to be saved by grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The first time we come across thirst in the Bible was when the people thirsted in the wilderness of Sin. However in that case they murmured against Moses. Thirst is always associated with extreme suffering. In good conditions a person can last up to five days without water but when conditions are severe they will die much sooner. If a person is in extreme pain it makes the thirst even worse. As a person becomes more and more thirsty they experience a dryness in the throat and mouth followed by pain in the throat; it feels as though your throat is bleeding and then the tongue begins to swell in the mouth.

This demonstrates the fact that the Lord suffered both spiritually and physically. When Adam and Eve sinned the Lord told them that on the day they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would surely die. On the day that they ate that fruit the died spiritually immediately and they began the long, slow, painful process of physical death at the same moment. There is also a reminder of the torments of the rich man in Luke 16: 24 where he asked Abraham to send Lazarus to cool his tongue because he was in torment in the flames.

The Lord’s fourth cry emphasises the fact that He suffered spiritually and emotionally in His extreme loneliness but this cry emphasises the fact that He suffered extreme physical torment as well. The Lord Jesus Christ came to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; His blood was shed to remit our sins (see Heb 9: 22). However as our substitute the Lord Jesus Christ experienced the full consequences or our sin. He suffered all the torments of hell in every respect. We must remember His spiritual suffering, His emotional suffering and His physical suffering. No aspect of His suffering is more important than any other aspect, it was all essential for our salvation.

It is interesting to note that the Lord Jesus Christ thirsted when He said that He is the living water. Even though our Saviour was thirsty at this time He was the Man Who promised the woman by the well that He could give living water. He was waiting by the side of the well and the woman came to draw water. At that stage the Lord asked her for water, He wanted the fresh, pure water from Jacob’s well to quench His thirst. She asked Him why He, a Jew, would ask her, a Samaritan, for water and He told her that He would be able to give her living water if she would but ask. He also told her that anyone who drank of the water from that well would thirst again but anyone who drank of the water that He gave would never thirst again.

In John 7: 37 the Lord went up to the Feast of Tabernacles and on the last, great day of the Feast He stood up and said, “if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth in Me out his his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

In Rev 7: 13-17, this same John talks to one of the elders who stand before the throne of God and asks him who the people arrayed in white robes are. He is told that they are the saints show have come out of the great tribulation, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They are before the throne of God and they shall neither hunger nor thirst anymore. The Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them to fountains of living water, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

We considered before that the Lord remained silent when He could easily have used the most powerful weapon in creation, the sword that comes out of His mouth, that is the word of God. However He chose to remain silent; He was saving others so He didn’t save Himself.

We also saw how He was forsaken by God, Who does not usually forsake men so that we can rejoice in the fact that we will never be forsaken and He will never fail us.

Here we come across another contradiction of the cross. The fountain of living water, Who was able to say that whoever drank of the water that He could supply would never thirst again. He thirsted so that we might have confidence in the fact that we will never thirst for eternity. Everlasting life has many certainties including the fact that there will be no thirst.

The first time that we come across thirst in the Bible is in Ex 17: 3, as we looked at earlier but the consequence of that experience was that the Lord told Moses to smite the rock and water came out and the people were able to drink. When the apostle Paul referred to that experience in 1 Cor 10: 1-5 He said that their fathers were all under the cloud in the wilderness and they all passed through the sea but he also said that they all drank the spiritual drink from the spiritual rock that followed them: and that Rod was Christ.

This comes after hardship but hardship is given to humble us, to prove what is in our hearts to see if we will obey and to do us good in the latter end (Deut 8: 2, 16). Moses also mentions that water came out of the rock in that context as well.

The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that the Lord Jesus Christ, even though He was a Son, learned obedience by the things that He suffered. This thirst was part of the process of learning obedience. This doesn’t mean that the Lord Jesus had to learn how to obey but when God tests us He tests us to prove us. Christ was tested to prove that He is perfectly obedient and that He is the perfect example to follow.

The gospel of John reminds us consistently that spiritual things are understood by those will spiritual understanding, that is, by those who have everlasting life because we believe in the Only Begotten Son. Those who believe in the Only Begotten Son and have eternal life will quickly understand the importance of our Saviour’s thirst. The first time the Lord’s people thirsted the Moses struck the rock. In this case the Rock was struck and the blood flowed causing Him to thirst but ensuring that we, who are redeemed by his blood will never thirst again.