Reading: John 19:28-29
When Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am
thirsty." John 19:28.
This text includes two qualifiers as Jesus asks for a drink: knowing that all was finished and to
fulfill the scriptures. We meditate on the second qualifier today, the other one tomorrow.
With the words "I am thirsty" Jesus is fulfilling the scriptures. Which ones? In Psalm 69:21,
King David bemoans to God that his adversaries "gave me poison for food, and for my thirst
they gave me vinegar to drink." As Jesus walks the circle of thorns, he replicates David's life,
and ours as well, taking into himself all the vinegar that adversaries pour into our lives.
Yet the greater adversary that sinners confront is not just mean people, as bitter as that cup
indeed can be. There is, as the OT prophets say, a more deadly cup confronting all the children
of Adam and Eve. It is the "cup" of God's own rebuke. Divine vinegar, you might say.
Before we can ever drink the "cup of salvation," someone has to take that other cup. On the
cross, Jesus is taking it, taking it willingly. He drinks our vinegar, and in its place puts into our
hand the cup of salvation. That cup, by contrast, is sweet -- like fresh water after vinegar, or like
honey, the Bible's sweetest metaphor. He invites us to "taste and see how gracious the Lord is."
.
Prayer: Lord, the vinegars of daily experience have not left our lives. Pour into our cup the
sweetness of your salvation, that cup of gladness, the cup of Christ's new covenant with us.
Amen
When Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am
thirsty." John 19:28.
This text includes two qualifiers as Jesus asks for a drink: knowing that all was finished and to
fulfill the scriptures. We meditate on the second qualifier today, the other one tomorrow.
With the words "I am thirsty" Jesus is fulfilling the scriptures. Which ones? In Psalm 69:21,
King David bemoans to God that his adversaries "gave me poison for food, and for my thirst
they gave me vinegar to drink." As Jesus walks the circle of thorns, he replicates David's life,
and ours as well, taking into himself all the vinegar that adversaries pour into our lives.
Yet the greater adversary that sinners confront is not just mean people, as bitter as that cup
indeed can be. There is, as the OT prophets say, a more deadly cup confronting all the children
of Adam and Eve. It is the "cup" of God's own rebuke. Divine vinegar, you might say.
Before we can ever drink the "cup of salvation," someone has to take that other cup. On the
cross, Jesus is taking it, taking it willingly. He drinks our vinegar, and in its place puts into our
hand the cup of salvation. That cup, by contrast, is sweet -- like fresh water after vinegar, or like
honey, the Bible's sweetest metaphor. He invites us to "taste and see how gracious the Lord is."
.
Prayer: Lord, the vinegars of daily experience have not left our lives. Pour into our cup the
sweetness of your salvation, that cup of gladness, the cup of Christ's new covenant with us.
Amen
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