Biblical Focus: John 19:28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty.

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1 April 6 th, 2014 Adam Hamilton s Study: Final Words From The Cross: Session 5: I Thirst (Pastor Bob) Fifth Sunday in Lent (Communion Sunday) Biblical Focus: John 19:28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." Scripture Lesson: John 19:28-30 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Traditional Worship Service: Hymn of Praise: # 530 Are Ye Able Prayer Hymn: #471 Move Me Holy Communion: Prayer of Confession: # 890

2 Do you remember who Nicodemus the Pharisee was in the gospels? 1. Nicodemus was a Religious leader and teacher and was a Pharisee. 2. Nicodemus came to Jesus at night to learn more and ask questions. 3. He could not understand the Born Again concept, but wanted to know more of Jesus teachings. 4. He was a conflicted soul being trained and taught to worship through the physical and obeying the O.T. laws, yet wanting to understand more about accepting the spiritual concepts Jesus was teaching. He was Israel s teacher. (John 3:16) 5. Considering Jesus had such a difficult time with the Pharisees, this was one Pharisee, who was a good guy towards Jesus. 6. He was also there when Jesus was under trial and also when Jesus was being crucified and he along with Joseph of Arimathea helped take Jesus body down and place him in the tomb.

3 Nicodemus The Pharisee: I was drawn to Jesus since the first time I laid eyes on him. Three years later I stood by as he was crucified. My name is Nicodemus, and the first time I heard Jesus speak was in Jerusalem. He preached with power and conviction, and his words were accompanied by the most remarkable deeds. The sick were healed, sinners came to God, and demons were cast out. He had a knack, however, for alienating my colleagues in the Sanhedrin. He healed on the Sabbath, he did not follow our rituals and customs, and he had the irritating habit of pointing out our sins. Yet perhaps for these very reasons I was drawn to him. I could not let my colleagues know of my interest in this radical preacher. When I finally met with him, I requested a meeting by night so that no one would see us together. It was at that meeting that he looked me in the eyes and said, "Nicodemus, you must be born again. You must be born not only of water but of the Spirit as well." What an utterly odd thing to say! But it was just like Jesus. I left him that night confused, feeling like I, a scholar and leader among our people, was a mere child in the eyes of this man. Once more I was deeply drawn to him. The night before Jesus was crucified, the Sanhedrin had been called together for a hastily arranged meeting. My heart sank when Jesus was brought in by the Temple guard. I'm ashamed to say that I was silent as the others called for his death. I wanted to speak up for him, but I was too afraid. I knew I could lose everything if I spoke out against the High Priest and the others involved in this charade. Even now I'm embarrassed to tell you of my cowardice. That night he was sentenced to

4 die, and I said nothing. I was so ashamed I dared not even look up at him as he stood there like a lamb before the butchers. The next morning, as they led him to be crucified, I wanted to run and hide. Yet I knew that by my silence, I had allowed this to happen. I decided that at least I could have the courage to show up and see what my silence had wrought. I wanted him to see in my eyes my sorrow and pain and the deep regret I felt in not speaking out for him. The women came to him just before he was crucified. They were given permission to offer him one last drink. The Romans did not know that the women, in compassion, had laced the cup of wine with poison meant to deaden the pain and to hasten his death. He tasted it, but noting its bitterness and understanding what they were doing, he refused to drink it. I turned away as he was nailed to the cross, and then I watched in silent agony as his cross was raised. I listened as my fellow priests hurled insults. Still I was silent. After some time the soldiers mocked him, offering him wine a kind of toast to the crucified king but they kept it just out of reach as he sought to drink. Near the end of the ordeal, after he had hung there for six hours, he spoke again. He hadn't said a word in hours. He said, "I thirst." I could not stand it any more. At this point, watching him die, I found some small amount of courage. I no longer cared what anyone else thought. I took a branch, fastened a sponge to it, dipped it in wine, and lifted it to his lips. He drew from the sponge, and, shortly after, he breathed his last. Hamilton, Adam ( ). Final Words: From the Cross (Kindle Locations ). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.

5 I thirst seems a bit odd to say as Jesus was so near death. I guess if I was being crucified I would say something like: 1. Would someone please get me down off of here! 2. However, after three hours nailed to a wooden cross, in the hot sun and after you had been nearly beaten to death, how could he not have been thirsty? Illustration: As I am with families in the hospital and they are with their loved one who are about to die, the nurses give them ice chips to alleviate their dry mouth. They also sometimes use a stick with a flavored sponge on it to relieve their thirst. They are usually a sweet flavor such as strawberry. It is a gentle act of mercy. This sponge on a long stick is how Jesus received the wine as he was nailed on the cross. As they dipped the sponge in cheap wine and lifted it up to the mouth of the person that was being crucified, he would suck the wine from the sponge.

6 Jesus was actually offering wine three different times through the trial, beating and crucifixion process. Wine Mixed with Gall: Matthew 27:33-34 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. Wine Mixed with Myrrh: Mark 15:22-23 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). 23 Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. It is interesting that at an earlier point in the trial, beating and crucifixion process, Jesus was offered wine with gall & Myrrh. But after tasting it Jesus refused the drink. Gall & Myrrh at that time was used as a medicine to deaden the pain and make the physical agony of crucifixion somewhat bearable. Perhaps this is some sort of way of offering mercy through a painkiller to the person being crucified. Some biblical scholars think that it was one of the women with Jesus who offered this drink of mercy to him.

7 But Jesus refused the wine with gall as mentioned in Matthew and also with Myrrh as mentioned in the gospel of Mark, in an effort to be totally coherent during the crucifixion process. He would not allow this painkilling substance to take away his passion and pain to fulfill his role as savior to the world. Jesus chose to face the pain and agony of death for the sins of the world without numbing anesthesia. Thank you Jesus! Mission Trips: I am a pastor who takes a lot of mission trips with the people of the churches I have served. Most of the time we go to either very poor communities or to places where tornadoes, floods or hurricanes have ravaged a community. I have taken ministry teams down to the Katrina torn south five different times. I have been to third world Central America 6 different times. I have been to one of the poorest places on the planet in the continent of Africa. (Wougadogu, Burkina Faso) I have been to dozens of places with mission teams here in the United States in my 25 years of ministry. In nearly all of those situations the housing accommodations have not be all that great at all. Most of the time the people I have taken have slept on the hard floor of a church fellowship hall or gym. When I was in Africa, I slept on an old army cot under the stars, hoping & praying not to be visited by a flying bat, poisonous snake or stinging scorpion in the middle of the night. Most all of the short term missions folks I took to these many places around the world to minister, could have easily got out their credit card and stayed at a very nice modern motel, with all the amenities of home. Then each day the elite would step out of their palace to serve the broken and hurting in their shacks. But I always thought it was best to live in humility and a bit of discomfort when serving those whose lives have been torn apart by tragedy, storms, hurricanes, poverty, and strife. I felt the ministry team needed to feel a bit of pain ourselves when serving the hurting and broken.

8 Perhaps this is what Jesus was doing on our behalf. Not wanting to take away the pain of the crucifixion process, but to willingly accept it and become the suffering servant as mention in the book of Isaiah. Jesus would feel the pain of being broken to one day heal the broken. Give Up Something For Lent: 1. Have some of you given up something for Lent this year? Many of you have decided to give up something for Lent out of appreciation and honor of the pain and agony of what Jesus suffered on the cross of Calvary. I am proud of you if you are sacrificing in this way. Could you imagine coming to the season of Lent and wanting to give something up because Christ suffered for us on the cross, later to find out Jesus was physically drunk on gall and myrrh and didn t really feel or experience the pain of death much at all on the cross. That would put a different understanding of the passion and death of Christ.

9 The Suffering Servant: Let s not forget the words of Isaiah over a thousand years early in Isaiah 53:4-6 (Look this up in your bibles.) ISA 53:4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. Jesus took our sin sickness upon himself. ISA 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 1. Pierced in three places: (Hands, Feet and side with a spear); why? Because of our sinful mistakes and his commitment to save us. 2. Crushed because of our stubbornness and failure to follow God. 3. He took our punishment to bring us peace. 4. Because of all of this our spiritual wounds are healed. Seminary Cheating: A fellow seminarian I knew while I was attending seminary was caught cheating on a term paper. He was caught dead to rights and was brought before the dean of students to find out his fate. Typically academic cheating is cause to ask a student to leave the school and go somewhere else, if they can get accepted or start over again the next year or semester. He admitted to cheating on this paper and knew for sure that he was toast and would be kicked out of school. He was so ashamed and did not know what he was going to tell his wife or the small church he served. He was a very busy man with a family, several children, serving as a pastor at a small church, and going to school full time. (Seminary Masters work is a full time job just by itself!!!) Welcome to the Majors!!! His only excuse was that he just did not have enough time to accomplish the paper the way it should have been done. So he took some short cuts and plagiarized part of his paper. When the dean of students called him into his office they looked over the paper and saw exactly what he had done. He knew he deserved

10 to get kicked out and probably not get accepted back into the school. However the dean of students gave him a huge gift, by asking him to do the paper over. As the dean of students he would take the heat for him in the eyes of the professors and ask for mercy and grace; even though he didn t deserve either. With tears in his eyes he thanked that seminary dean for showing such grace and forgiveness to he and his family. That young pastor walked out of that office a different person. He understood a bit more the meaning of undeserved mercy, total forgiveness and God s grace. It was as if a thousand pound weight had been lifted off of his body and he was whole again. He was clean once again! Folks, do you know what it is like to have a thousand pound weight taken off of you? Do you know what it means to feel clean? Do you understand the undeserved Mercy, Grace & Total Forgiveness Jesus offers you because of his sacrifice on the cross? God can take your sins away so that you can experience all of that and more! Because Jesus was the Suffering Servant verse 6 gives us his reward. ISA 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Sheep tend to wander off and go their own way without a shepherd. I have never had sheep, but when our dog was younger, if we let the gate of the fence open, he was gone!!! He just simply went his own way and it took us hours to find him. Blizzard needed a master. I need a master and shepherd. Someone to guide me. But more importantly, someone to take away my sins and place them on himself. That is the Great Shepherd we serve!

11 Prophecy Fulfilled: Old Testament Prophecy Fulfilled. John 19:28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." What scripture needed to be fulfilled when Jesus said he was thirsty and asked for a drink? Psalms 69:21 They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst. Here we find the Old Testament being fulfilled in the New Testament. Holy Communion: As we move into Holy Communion this morning I want us to consider the cup of Christ. Not only is the cup of Christ a reminder of salvation, forgiveness and healing, it is also a pointed reminder of the pain and suffering of Jesus through his death. Let us not forget the wine or grape juice symbolizes Jesus blood poured out for us. 1. The Last Supper: At the Last Supper, Jesus took the cup and said, "This is my blood of the new covenant" (Matthew 26: 28 NKJV). 2. James and John Seating Arrangements: Jesus is recorded as asking James and John, who wanted to sit at his right hand and his left hand, "Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" (Matthew 20: 22). 3. John 18: 11 states, as Jesus was being arrested, Peter drew his sword; but Jesus told him, "Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?" In each of these instances, Jesus used the metaphor of drinking as a way of describing the suffering he would "drink" as he suffered and died on the cross.

12 This morning you have the opportunity to commune with the Spirit of God through Holy Communion. Not only is this a remembering, it is a sacred and holy moment to touch God with your soul. The Spirit of God is among us folks. He is in this very room, wanting to talk to you. You will taste the bread which represents his body, which was badly broken on our behalf. You will taste the grapes that make the juice or wine that helps us remember the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and the blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I ask you a question today: What do you thirst for? 1. God s Righteousness. 2. Comfort and the easy life. 3. Serving others in Jesus name. 4. A promotion, bigger house, new car, bigger bank account? 5. Do you thirst for the heart of God in your life to be lived out in your actions, thoughts and deeds? 6. Do you thirst for Holy Communion and time alone with God? Let s come to the Lord s Table today. Words of Wisdom: If we personally experience the Lord s death at Holy Communion on Sunday Sabbath, we must illustrate the Lord s life & Love in our lives to the world on Monday and the rest of the week. Benediction: During this Lenten season, May the thirst Jesus felt, help make us thirsty for water from the well that will never run dry. May we learn more about sacrifice from our Savior s example. Amen.