John 19:28-30

John 19:28-30

After this – Jesus having known that now at last everything was having been completed – in order that Scripture should be fulfilled, He said, “I thirst.”  A full jar of sour wine stood there; therefore after placing a sponge full of sour wine upon a hyssop branch they brought it to His mouth.  Therefore when Jesus received the sour wine He said, “It has been finished.”  And He bowed His head and handed over His spirit.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

The verse that John is referring to being fulfilled is Psalm 69:21.  John includes this note for two reasons.  First, it is another means in which the Old Testament spoke about Christ.  However, in John’s day it also speaks to the fact that Jesus did indeed suffer on the cross.  In His divinity, Jesus was not free of the pain.  It was an ordeal for Him.

What does it mean to you to focus on the fact that Jesus did suffer?  Why is it important that He did suffer?  How does this make you feel about yourself?

Second Thought:

I think John 19:30 contains one of my favorite uses of the perfect tense passive voice.  As is often the case with our English Bibles, many Bibles mess it up.  Jesus does not say, “It is finished.”  That would imply that Jesus is trying to make the theological point that He has finally completed everything the Father wanted Him to do.  But Jesus’ expression is not a theological point about the complete obedience of the Son.  Neither is it a point to say that the work of salvation is also now behind Him.  In using the perfect tense here, Jesus is saying that everything has been accomplished and the effects of that action remain into the present and will remain into the future.  Jesus is making a theological commentary that the work of salvation is completed and the effects of salvation can never be undone.  When we add the passive voice to the perfect tense we get the understanding that the work was God’s work.  Thus, is a single Greek word, tetelestai (τετέλεσται), and the surrounding greater context of the crucifixion, Jesus makes this whole claim: the work of salvation that God has been doing throughout all of history is now complete and the effects of that work – the free gift of salvation – will remain forever.

How powerful is this understanding?  What does this teach us about God’s patience in how He worked throughout all of human history to bring about this one act of true salvation for all who will receive it?

Third Thought:

I’m going to talk in depth here as to why I never say that “Judas betrayed Jesus.”  When I give communion, when I preach on those words, and when I teach on those words I always use the words “handed over.”  We see in this passage – as well as a couple of days ago in John 19:16 – the perfect reason to not do so.  The Greek word in John 19:16, John 19:30, and the case of Judas (See John 18:2 as an example) is paradidomi (παραδίδωμι).  It is two words, “para” which means “over/across” and “didomi” which means “to give.”  Literally in this passage Jesus gives His Spirit over to God.  In John 19:16 Pilate gives Jesus over to the Jewish leaders.  It would never make sense to say here that “Jesus betrayed His Spirit.”  It might make sense – but would theologically miss John’s point about Pilate that we’ve been studying so intently – to say in John 19:16 that “Pilate betrayed Jesus to be crucified.”  If it doesn’t make sense to say “betrayed” in either of these cases, then it doesn’t make sense to say betrayed in the case of Judas, either.  We’ve been culturally indoctrinated to believe Judas betrayed Jesus.  He didn’t.  Yes, Judas did hand Jesus over.  But there was never any more intent by the authors of the Bible to make Judas a betrayer than there was to make Pilate a betrayer or even Jesus a betrayer here in this verse.

What do you think John is trying to say here when he writes that Jesus “handed over His spirit?”  How can this point us to the idea of submission?

Passage for Tomorrow: John 19:31-36