John 19:28
The scripture to which this fulfillment seems to be alluding is Psalm 69:21
"They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they
gave me vinegar to drink."
This is more apparent by reading the next verse in John, 19:29
"A jar full of sour wine was standing there.
So they put a sponge full of the wine on
a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth."
Each of the gospel writers include sour wine being offered to Jesus in the last moments before he breathes his last. For Matthew, Mark and John, it is the very last thing that occurs before his death. In Luke, there are the conversations involving Jesus and the 2 bandits / criminals / others, after the offering of the sour wine.
John is the only gospel writer who specifically states that Jesus drank ("received") the wine that was held to his mouth by a branch of hyssop (vs. 30). And its only in John that the wine is given in response to a statement of thirst by Jesus.
I've often wondered if this offering of the sour wine could be seen as a momentary break in the horrible cruelty. Could this represent, even the slightest sliver, the briefest moment of human kindness? Maybe not, but there's always been a part of me that's wanted to interpret vs. 29 this way.
Years ago a friend gave me a bottle of wine. It had been a gift received several years prior and never opened. It remained with me for several years before I opened it. When I opened the bottle, the cork fell apart, pieces of it breaking off and crumbling into the bottle. When I poured the wine into a glass, it looked dark, not a healthy color of red. When I sniffed the wine, it was the unmistakable smell of vinegar. Air had seeped into the bottle through the disintegrated cork, and had soured the wine.
I poured the dark wine from the glass, and the remainder of the bottle down the sink. I have no desire to drink sour wine. But then again, if I was as thirsty as Jesus must have been on the cross, I believe I could have gotten down a sip or two.
By this point on the cross, Jesus' death is immanent, his last breath drawing near. Though John's Gospel is often viewed as the gospel that most fully champions the divinity of Jesus (the Word made flesh), it is John's account that gives us this very human moment, "I am thirsty."
Imagine for a moment what this thirst for Jesus might have felt like. His mouth dry, unable to swallow, his tongue swelling and sticking to the roof of his mouth, his lips chapped and cracking.
John's description of the crucifixion lacks the mocking of Jesus found in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). In John, he doesn't cry out from the cross. The temple veil is not torn in two from top to bottom at the moment of his death. The centurion doesn't speak. But, in this gospel, known for its very high Christological content that provides us with some of our most treasured examples and enduring images of Jesus' divine nature, it is his human nature most fully on display in the final heartbeats of his life. "I am thirsty."
In "The Incarnation of the Word", St. Athanasius wrote,
"He became what we are that we might become what he is."
Seeing Jesus' full humanity on display is a very comforting thing, serving to remind us that in Christ, the Word indeed became flesh. As such he was susceptible to the normal frailties of our human flesh, sickness and pain, fatigue and impatience, hunger and thirst.
In "Letters to Marc About Jesus", Henri Nouwen describes a painting of the crucifixion by Matthias Grunewald completed many years ago in Europe during the time of the great plague. The painting hung in a hospital, and showed the crucified Jesus suffering from plague-like sores, blisters and boils. Nouwen saw this as the artist's attempt to encourage those who were suffering from the plague to experience some solidarity with the suffering of Jesus on the cross.
I think, maybe, that's something akin to what John is doing here. In this gospel that so strongly bears witness to Jesus' divinity, we are reminded in this tender moment of his life, that he really was one of us....
...the Word really did become flesh.
Thanks be to God!
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