“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:1, 14
“Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.” – Psalm 69:20, 21
“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine o a hyssop branch and held it to His mouth.” – John 19:28, 29
Today we begin to look at the shortest of the seven phrases that Jesus says from the cross. In fact, this is just one word in the Greek, dipsao…”I thirst”. John lets us know that even this one word was spoken by Jesus for a reason. There was a purpose behind it. He reminds us that every moment, every action, and every word was planned from the beginning. Yes, even this one word reminds us again that this was all God’s idea. It was all part of the divine plan to redeem the world to Himself. Even this one word was spoken “to fulfill the Scripture”.
Today we must remember that the crucifixion of Jesus was no accident. It was God’s intention from the beginning. God had revealed it through His prophets in the Old Testament and mapped out everything. From the miraculous virgin birth in Bethlehem to the burial in the garden tomb. Every detail…every word. The cross was God’s demonstration of His love for us (Romans 5:8).
Therefore, it was not Satan’s evil plot to defeat God and take over the world. He did not “win” the day or, even the hour. The cross was not a battle. It was not a temporary victory for evil. It was not a “set back” for our Creator. The victory has always been the Lord’s! Jesus went to the cross for you willingly as part of the eternal plan of our loving Father. He has always been the Almighty God and He has no rival. Contrary to some of our traditions, the Scripture tells us that the last thing our enemy wanted was for Jesus to die for our sins. He took every opportunity to tempt Jesus away from the cross. Matthew tells us that he even used the disciples to try to distract Jesus from His purpose and keep Him from going the way of the cross.
“From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.'” – Matthew 16:21-23
Today on our Lenten journey we need to be reminded that Jesus died for our sin willingly as a fulfillment of God’s loving plan for our salvation. Today let us be grateful for every moment, every detail and, yes, every word that was offered for our salvation.