John 19:25-30

²⁵Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," ²⁷and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. ²⁸Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." ²⁹A 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. ³⁰When He had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Notice the women present at this horrible place; they reveal their genuine love for Jesus by their presence. V25-30 serve as John’s illustration of the King’s last acts. Note the first of three sayings that John records Jesus saying from the cross, “Woman, behold your son.” This demonstrates that, as Jesus hung upon the cross, He was intentionally aware of those individuals for whom He was dying, and was actively working to secure their good. We ought to devote ourselves to the interests of men, so as not in any degree to interfere with the worship and obedience which we owe to God. When we have obeyed God, it will then be the proper time to think about parents, and wife, and children; as Christ attends to His mother, but it is after that He is on the cross, to which He has been called by His Father’s decree.

Jesus here provides for the welfare of His own mother, entrusting her to the care of His beloved disciple John, as He was about to leave (at this time, one must remember, Jesus’ own brothers were not yet believers, and may have not even been in Jerusalem). “Woman” is a polite term, but Jesus is speaking to her not as her Son, but as her King. And John obeys Jesus. In the same way, Jesus is concerned to take care of every one of His followers, and provides for their individual good, even in the smallest matters. How encouraging this should be for us! Jesus did not only die for the Church as a whole – He died for every person within that Church, and He loves each one individually. There are times when He speaks to us as a brother, and there are times when He speaks to us as children. He never speaks to us as enemies, because of what He has done. While we were still enemies, Christ died for the ungodly.

Some time later, after the events described by the other gospel writers happened, Jesus knew that His work had been accomplished. He had felt the abandonment of His Father on our behalf. Remember His outcry, “My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?” And now, Jesus, having intentionally fulfilled every prophecy down to the smallest detail, professes His thirst so that the prophecies of Psalm 22:15 and Psalm 69:21 might be fulfilled. Out of Jesus flows the living water of life, and yet He thirsts. He thirsts, so we don’t have to. He said in John 7, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” He pours out of Himself the water of life, and He thirsts for us. In this short statement, “I thirst,” Jesus signals the forthcoming outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.

John points out a customary item present at crucifixion – the jar of wine vinegar. It is thought that this was a beverage (gall) intended to accelerate the death of a criminal who had been tortured enough. They gave it to Jesus, and He took it. Some are perplexed at this event, but it is easily explained. Jesus had done all that He was instructed to do. The only thing left to do was die, and there was nothing prohibiting that from coming more swiftly. He had borne the full extent of God’s wrath against the elect, and that’s why He said, “It is finished.” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

We recognize in Jesus’ final word, tetelestai, “It is finished,” that there is nothing left to be done for our justification (except the resurrection) – God’s plan for redemption has been fully and finally completed, and we who have trusted in Jesus are secure forevermore! When Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished,” He was making a definite assertion that no price remained to be paid for our redemption; He had suffered God’s full wrath against our sins, and He had satisfied the law’s fullest demands for justice. The word means, “Paid in full.” Everything that contributes to the salvation of men is to be found in Christ and ought not to be sought anywhere else.

However, this did not mean that the story of redemption was complete: for even though Jesus had made satisfaction for sin, the final seal of the efficacy of that satisfaction and of His eternal victory over death and the grave (sin’s bitter effects), was yet to come, three days later. The resurrection of Christ is the necessary conclusion to His sacrificial death. If His death really did overcome sin and its results; if it really did deal the deathblow to the Serpent who had waged war against mankind by tempting them to sin; then it was impossible that death should hold Him (Acts 2:22-28). Jesus won the victory on the cross; but the victory that He won was displayed three days later in His resurrection from the dead. In His death, He won for all of His children an eternal, resurrection life. To borrow the title of John Owen’s outstanding work, we have certainly encountered “the death of death in the death of Christ.”