“I Thirst; Father, Into Your Hands
I Commit My Spirit”
John 19:28; Luke 23:46
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… Tonight we consider our Lord’s 5th and 7th statements from the cross; the 6th we will consider on Good Friday.
Jesus’ 5th word or statement from the cross is “I thirst.” In the Greek it’s one word: “dipso.” In English, just two simple words, two syllables. But by speaking these words Jesus communicates so very much about the suffering that He was experiencing. They are words which show the pitiful condition He was in, having to ask a favor of His merciless enemies.
Jesus had gone now almost a full day without food or drink. After having been handed over to His captors by one of His own, Judas, Jesus had been led away to face a disgustingly unfair trial. All through the previous night He had been interrogated and mocked and ultimately convicted by people that hated Him and by a process that was as corrupt as it could be.
And now on the cross, Jesus had been exposed to the elements for several hours without any clothing. He had lost a lot of blood. He was dehydrated. Hanging by His arms His body was contorted so that He would have had to push Himself up by His legs to breathe. He is now parched, feverish, and in excruciating pain. His tongue would have been sticking to the roof of His mouth because of the dehydration. His heart could barely pump His blood anymore because of the effects of His crucifixion. He could scarcely enunciate these two words, “I thirst.”
The evening before, Jesus had thirsted for the Passover, the Last Supper, with his disciples. Instead, He gave it for them to drink, and put Himself into it – His very body and blood – vowing that He would drink it with them anew in the kingdom of God. Now he thirsted and longed for a cooling drink.
The thirst Jesus endured was a genuine thirst; it was a genuine human need, a genuine and very real human pain. In His human nature Jesus suffered human feelings, human disappointment, and human pain. Therefore, His pain is our pain and our thirst. He bore the bone-drying effects of our sin so that we might be washed in the pure water of His Spirit. Jesus drank deeply of our human thirst so that in our thirst we might drink deeply of Him. Remember how Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Mt 5:6).
Jesus, the very well of life, is here dried up, parched, and cracked for you, so that He may become for you in His resurrection a fountain of living water. Jesus declared to the woman at the well, “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (Jn 4:14). And later Jesus also said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (Jn 7:37-38). This He spoke concerning the Holy Spirit.
Here on the cross Jesus said “I thirst” in order to fulfill the Scriptures. The Scriptures that are being spoken of here are the Psalms. Jesus put Himself in your place and prayed the Psalms on your behalf on the cross. The Old Testament Psalms which cry out to God in suffering, in repentance, and in faith, Jesus prayed for you, in your place, so that the Father would hear your cries and your prayers and deliver you. Psalm 69:20-21 says, “Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”
Remember Jesus’ thirst so that you may know the thirst for the Holy Supper when you are suffering and in pain, for His Supper is medicine for the soul. Remember His thirst so that you may learn to have mercy on those who are hungry and thirsty. For Jesus still cries out, “I thirst,” through them, and He waits for you to care for Him through them with something more than vinegar. Remember His pain so that in your pain you may know the comfort and the company of Him who brings true refreshment and relief.
Finally, Jesus says, “Father, into Your hands, I commit My spirit.” These also are words of Psalm 31. This Psalm is one which expresses faith and trust in God. Listen to Jesus’ words in the context of the full Psalm. “In you, O Yahweh, I trust. . . quickly deliver me! . . . For you are my rock and my fortress . . . You will bring me out of the net they hid for me, for you are my stronghold. Into your hands I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Yahweh, God of truth. . . I will rejoice and be glad in your faithfulness.”
After Jesus’ other anguished words on the cross, here He expresses serene confidence in His Father’s love and faithfulness. He breathes His last, certain that the Father will deliver Him and raise Him up again in spite of everything He has thus far suffered.
As one who is not only fully divine but also fully human, Jesus has a spirit, a human soul. At this moment of His death, He entrusted His spirit to His Father. He died like a child falling asleep in the arms of his father.
Remember Stephen. When he was being stoned to death, he said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). At the instant his body and spirit were being separated, Stephen was in the hands of the Lord Jesus. His body was left pummeled under stones and would soon be put to rest in a grave where it would sleep until the Last Day. But Stephen, from that very moment, was and is with Jesus and with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. At one instant Stephen took his last breath in this world and in the next instant he was with the Lord in Paradise. Immediately Jesus answered Stephen’s petition. And He will do no less for you when you call to Him on your deathbed.
And there is more to this last word from the cross. Jesus’ words, “Father, into Thy hands I commit My Spirit,” are a prayer, but not only for Himself. Remember, Jesus is the High Priest who has interceded on your behalf throughout His life. Therefore, this is a petitionary prayer on your behalf, for, as St. Paul says, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? (Rom 6:3). And “If we died with Christ we will also live with Him.” (Rom 6:8).
In His High Priestly prayer Jesus most certainly prayed for Himself, He absolutely prayed for His disciples who had been with Him, and also truly He prayed for you. But He did not stop there with his intercessory thoughts, words, and deeds.
While on Calvary’s holy mountain and while enthroned on the altar of the cross – even as He was dying and as death approached – at the ninth hour Jesus was in complete command and control. Nothing happened without His allowance and permission. No one took His life away from Him. Jesus gave up His life of His own accord and will. He gave up Himself to pay for the sins of all mankind; He gave up His life for you. And in taking your death upon Himself He has offered You His eternal life which is yours by God-given faith and trust in Him.
Remember these words of Jesus when the time comes for you to breathe your last breath. Remember that by entrusting Himself to the Father, Jesus has entrusted you to the Father. By faith your spirit even now is held safely in His hands. You live in Christ, and He is in the Father.
When you are experiencing anguish and pain in your last days and last moments, you also are given to pray these words with serene trust, and to breathe your last in peace. You can pray “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit” knowing for certain that God will deliver you and raise you up again.
Dear Christian, hear what our Lord Jesus has done for you; hear what our Lord Jesus has prayed for you. And in those words hear what great love our Lord Jesus has for you: “Father, into Thy hands I commit My Spirit.” And having said this, He breathed His last.” For you.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
