Broken For You

 The following post is adapted from a Communion Meditation given at Remsen Bible Fellowship on 11/7/2021.

Remembrance

In Luke 22:19, Jesus tells us that when we come to the communion table we are to do so, "in remembrance of me." In this post, I want us to fix our minds on, to remember, one particular passage . Let's examine the words of Jesus in John 19:28-29.

 

"28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth." (ESV)

As we briefly consider these verses, I want to organize our thoughts under two headings, plan and pain.

Plan

First, plan. Note in verse 28, John tells us that Jesus spoke. His words were not mere incoherent cries., they were words intended to bring a particular result - the fulfillment of Scripture. Psalm 69:21 says,

 

"for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink." 


When Jesus said, "I thirst," there stood nearby a jar full of sour wine, wine vinegar. And they filled a sponge to give to him.

Passages like this aren't what we normally think of when we contemplate the Scriptures being fulfilled. But Psalm 69 gives us a pattern or a type. A servant of the Lord, suffering unjustly, with enemies on every side. This pattern finds its true expression - its fulfillment - in Jesus at the cross. Remember that this was God's plan.

Pain

Remember also the pain which Jesus suffered. His words of thirst were not mere trickery to get those Scriptures fulfilled. As a true man Jesus suffered tremendously on the cross. His body was broken. And he thirsted. But friends, because of the plan, the pain had meaning. Jesus thirsted so that all who come to him might have streams of living water flow from within. Jesus drank the sour wine of God's wrath that those who receive him might enjoy the sweet wine at his wedding supper. Jesus suffered and thirsted and died that all those who hunger and thirst for righteousness might be blessed - blessed by receiving satisfaction in and from him. 

So remember. Remember what Jesus did, and why he did. Jesus died for you.

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