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"After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst". (Jn. 19:28)Jesus says, “I thirst”, and they give Him vinegar. Who drinks vinegar when they’re thirsty? Was this comfort or was it further punishment? The vessel was full as if anticipating the need for it. Hyssop was prepared along with a sponge nearby. What was the purpose of vinegar?Standing on the ground, it’s hard to imagine what it’s like to be suspended in mid-air for six hours, nailed to a Cross. The weight of the body being pulled down by gravitational force only to be comforted by pushing upward by feet that are nailed to the Cross. In addition, the hands nailed can only serve to assist the feet in lifting the body in order to breathe. Bleeding from the head, back and chest ripped to shreds from the flogging and beating; blood everywhere, and the body almost depleted or emptied of its fluids. Unrecognizable because of the torment and punishment inflicted upon Him, Jesus speaks these words, “I Thirst”.The Savior of all humanity, Who on the last Great Day of the Feast of Tabernacles said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink (Jn. 7:37)...”, Who also said to the woman at the well, “…whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst (Jn. 4:14)…”, is now suspended on the Cross saying, “I Thirst”. It’s understandable, in the natural sensebecause He has endured everything done to Him up to this point. In His thirst, they bring Him vinegar.King David in Psalm Sixty-nine, verse twenty-one says, “in my thirst they gave me vinegar.” Vinegar is strong, sour and acrid,representing anger or bitterness, resentment and disappointment.We know this did not reflect the heart and life of Jesus, but we can definitely identify it in the lives of sinful humanity. Isaiah says it best, "Surely he hath borne our griefs (malady, anxiety, calamity), and carried our sorrows (anguish, afflictions): yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted" and "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:4, 6).”When the sponge filled with vinegar was offered to Jesus it was to assist with His physical thirst, but a broader meaning was fulfilling the Scripture as well as giving Him our junk. At the Cross you had both Jews and Gentiles contributing and sanctioning the crucifixion of Jesus. The Jews demanded it and the Romans/Gentiles carried it out – Jew and Gentile working together. It brings to light the Scripture, "But God commendethhis love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).” At the height or summit of all sin was the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior – but that was God’s plan of redemption. He took our junk and nailed it to the C
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