John 19:28

The thirst and death of Jesus, John 19:28-30.

28. After this That is, subsequent not merely to the event last narrated, but to all the events narrated. The last preceding event was the cry of Jesus, “Eloi, Eloi;” and the present furnishing of drink is parallel with Matthew 27:48.

All things… accomplished All his sufferings up to the now closing point.

Scripture… fulfilled Some commentators refer this clause to what precedes; and the sense would then be that all things were accomplished in order to the fulfilment of Scripture. Stier more properly refers it to what follows; and the sense would then be that Jesus, in order to the fulfilment of Scripture, said, “I thirst.” We would, however, so extend as to include 29, 30. In order to the fulfilment of Scripture, Jesus, after the satisfaction of his predicted thirst, uttered the final “It is finished,” and expired.

I thirst The briefest but not least significant of the Lord’s utterances upon the cross. The reference may be to Psalms 22:15, or rather to Psalms 69:21: “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” It must not be conceived that our Lord, in a servile way, directed his mind to the interpretation of Scripture in these agonizing moments; yet, in a full, calm, glorious consciousness, he trod the path foreknown of God. He acts in the full spirit of Psalms 40:7: “Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God.” Hitherto in the great agonies of his soul there had been little thought for the pains of the body. His utterance, as Lange well says, “is like the words of a hero, to whose consciousness it now first occurs that his wounds are bleeding, and that he needs some invigoration after the heat of the conflict has been sustained.” And thirst is a deeper suffering than hunger. After the bloody sweat of Gethsemane, the sleepless night of his trial, the scourgings, the loss of blood, and the unknown mental agonies, the fluids of his system became exhausted, and the glorious sufferer has not, perhaps, strength to utter his cry of final triumph. Meekly, like a lamb bleating to its slaughterers, he utters the feeble expression of his need. He consents to receive the aid of his murderers. Invigorated in body by the natural supply, he hastens in spirit, with brief, rapid utterances, to the consummation.