ACC ~ John 19 v28 - 30

OVERVIEW:

Although Jesus is suffering in agony, this seems not to affect his enemies (CHRYSOSTOM). Just as he thirsted for the faith of the Samaritan woman at the well, so he thirsts here at the cross for those who have rejected him (AUGUSTINE). The fact of his physical thirst proves his humanity (JOHN OF DAMASCUS). But the one who changed water into wine—all he is given for his thirst is vinegar. He who is sweetness and desire destroys its bitter taste (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS). The wine that turned sour indicated the abrupt change that would soon occur in Jesus’ circumstances (DIONYSIUS). Jesus asks for fruit of the vine, which he had planted in Israel, but receives only a sponge filled with the vinegar (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM) of unfaithfulness (AUGUSTINE). Having tasted the wine of his vineyard that had gone sour, he proclaims his work finished, that is, that the Scriptures are fulfilled (LEO) and sins are forgiven (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM).

Jesus lays down his life showing that he was God (AUGUSTINE). Death had only the power that had been given to it (HILARY). It was not long before he had completed everything he had been waiting to complete (AUGUSTINE). He freely gave up his spirit then. He did not wait for death to take him; rather, he freely received death (EUSEBIUS). But no one should think that it was a death in appearance only (ADAMANTIUS). It is simply that he gave up his spirit rather than his spirit being taken away against his will (AUGUSTINE). He went to sleep “like a lion,” in full control of his death (AUGUSTINE). The good Shepherd does indeed lay down his life for the sheep (PETER CHRYSOLOGUS).

19:28 | I Thirst

JESUS’ SUFFERING HAS NO EFFECT ON ENEMIES

CHRYSOSTOM: “I thirst.” Jesus here again fulfills a prophecy. [1] But consider, I ask you, the cursed nature of the bystanders. Though we have ten thousand enemies and have suffered intolerable things at their hands, yet when we see them perishing, we relent. But these people made no such peace with Jesus, nor were they tamed by what they saw. In fact, they became more savage and increased their mockery. They brought to him vinegar on a sponge, as one would bring it to someone condemned, and they gave it to him to drink. It is also on this account [of the prophecy] that the hyssop is added. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 85.3. [2]

[1] See Ps 69:21 (68:22 LXX); 22:15 (21:16 LXX).

[2] NPNF 1 14:318-19**.

JESUS THIRSTED FOR THEIR FAITH

AUGUSTINE: The Samaritan woman at the well found the Lord thirsting, and by him thirsting, she was filled. She first found him thirsting in order that he might drink from her faith. And when he was on the cross, he said, “I thirst,” although they did not give him that for which he was thirsting. For he was thirsting for them. EXPLANATION OF PSALM 62.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 8:253-54.

BY CHRIST’S HUMILITY, WE ARE CLEANSED

AUGUSTINE: Jesus said, “I thirst,” as if he were saying, There is one thing still you have failed to do, that is, to give me what you are. For the Jews were themselves the vinegar, degenerated as they were from the wine of the patriarchs and prophets and filled like a full vessel with the wickedness of this world, with hearts like a sponge, deceitful in the formation of its cavernous and tortuous recesses. But the hyssop, on which they placed the sponge filled with vinegar, being a lowly herb and purging the heart, we rightly take for the humility of Christ himself. This humility is what they enclosed and imagined that they had completely ensnared. And so we have it said in the psalm, “You shall purge me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed.” [1] For it is by Christ’s humility that we are cleansed because, if he had not humbled himself and became obedient unto the death of the cross, [2] his blood certainly would not have been shed for the remission of sins or, in other words, for our cleansing. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 119.4. [3]

[1] Ps 51:7 (50:9 LXX).

[2] Phil 2:8.

[3] NPNF 1 7:433-34**.

JESUS THIRSTED AS MAN

JOHN OF DAMASCUS: If, on the one hand it was as God that Jesus suffered thirst and when he had tasted would not drink, surely he must be subject to passion [1] also as God. For thirst and taste are passions. [2] But if it was not as God but altogether as man that he was thirsty, similarly as man he must be endowed with will. ORTHODOX FAITH 3.14. [3]

[1] Gk empathēs.

[2] Gk pathos.

[3] NPNF 2 9:59**.

19:29 | Vinegar on a Branch of Hyssop

HUMILIATION OF THE EXALTED ONE

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: He is given vinegar to drink mingled with gall. Who? He who turned water into wine, [1] the destroyer of the bitter taste who is sweetness and altogether desire. ON THE SON, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 3(29).20. [2]

[1] Jn 2:1-11.

[2] NPNF 2 7:309.

WINE TURNED SOUR INDICATES CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES

DIONYSIUS OF ALEXANDRIA: The sour wine perhaps signified the sharp turn and change that happened to Jesus—freedom from suffering instead of suffering, immortality instead of death, incorruption instead of corruption, judging instead of being judged, reigning as king instead of suffering from tyranny. For the sponge, as I think, signified the entire and complete infusion of the Holy Spirit that was in him. The reed implied the royal scepter and the divine law. The hyssop showed his living and saving resurrection through which he restored us also to health. FRAGMENT 42. [1]

[1] AEG 6:79; LDA 240-41.

THE VINE OF ISRAEL OFFERS JESUS VINEGAR

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Jesus says, “I thirst”—he who had brought forth water for them out of the craggy rock. Then he asked for fruit of the vine that he had planted. But what does the vine do? When the Lord was thirsty, this vine … having filled a sponge and put it on a reed, offers him vinegar. “They gave me also gall for my food, and in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.” [1] See how clear the prophet’s description is. But what sort of gall did they put into my mouth? “They gave him,” it says, “wine mingled with myrrh.” [2] Now myrrh tastes a lot like gall, and very bitter. Are these things how you reward the Lord? Are these your offerings, O vine, for your master? The prophet Isaiah was right when in times past he wailed, “My beloved had a vineyard in a hill in a fruitful place … and I waited for it to bring forth grapes.” I thirsted, and it should have given me wine “but sprouted thorns instead.” [3] CATECHETICAL LECTURES 13.29. [4]

[1] Ps 69:21 (68:22 LXX).

[2] Mk 15:23.

[3] Is 5:1, 2.

[4] NPNF 2 7:90**.

THE VINEGAR OF FAITHLESSNESS

AUGUSTINE: When he said, “I thirst,” he was looking for faith from his own people. But because “he came to his own possessions, but his own people did not receive him,” [1] instead of the sweetness of faith, they gave him the vinegar of faithlessness—and that in a sponge! They are indeed comparable to a sponge, a thing not solid but swollen; not open with straight access of confession but hollow with the tortuous twists and turns of treachery. It is true that that drink also contained hyssop, which is a lowly herb, said to have an extremely strong root with which to cling to the rock. There were some, that is to say, among that people, for whom this dark deed was kept as a means of humbling their souls by their repudiation of it later on and their repentance. The one who accepted the hyssop with the vinegar knew who they were. After all, as the other Evangelist bears witness, he even prayed for them when hanging on the cross. He said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” [2] SERMON 218.11. [3]

[1] Jn 1:11.

[2] Lk 23:34.

[3] WSA 3 6:186*.

19:30 | It Is Finished

THE SCRIPTURES ARE FULFILLED

LEO THE GREAT: Having now tasted the vinegar, the produce of that vineyard that had degenerated in spite of its divine planter and had turned to the sourness of a foreign vine, [1] the Lord says, “It is finished,” that is, the Scriptures are fulfilled. There is nothing more to endure from these raging people. I have endured all that I foretold I should suffer. The mysteries of weakness are completed. Let the proofs of power be produced. And so he bowed the head and yielded up his spirit and gave that body that would be raised again on the third day the rest of peaceful slumber. SERMON 55.4. [2]

[1] See Is 5:1-5.

[2] NPNF 2 12:168**.

SCRIPTURE FULFILLED, SINS FORGIVEN

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: When he had drunk the wine mingled with myrrh and vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” For the mystery has been fulfilled. The things that are written have been accomplished. Sins are forgiven. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 13.32. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 7:91**.

CHRIST FREELY GIVES UP HIS SPIRIT

TERTULLIAN: Nailed upon the cross, he exhibited many notable signs by which his death was distinguished from all others. By his own free will, he dismissed from him his spirit with a word, anticipating the executioner’s work. APOLOGY 21. [1]

[1] ANF 3:35

DEATH HAD NO POWER

HILARY OF POITIERS: The only-begotten God had the power of laying down his life and of taking it up again. [1] After the drought of vinegar, when he had shown that his work of human suffering was finished and in order to accomplish in himself the mystery of death, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. If it has been granted to our mortal nature of its own will to breathe its last breath and seek rest in death—if the buffeted soul may depart without the breaking up of the body and the spirit burst forth and flee away without being as it were violated in its own home by the breaking and piercing and crushing of limbs—then fear of death might have seized the Lord of life. This is true if, that is, when he gave up the ghost and died, his death was not an exercise of his own free will. But if he died of his own will and through his own will gave back his spirit, death had no terror, because it was in his own power. ON THE TRINITY 10.11. [2]

[1] Jn 10:18.

[2] NPNF 2 9:185*.

A POWERFUL DEATH

AUGUSTINE: Who can sleep like this when he pleases, as Jesus died when he pleased? Who is there that puts off his garment like this when he pleases, as he put off his flesh at his pleasure? Who is there who leaves like this when he pleases, as he left this life at his pleasure? How great the power, to be hoped for or dreaded, that must be his as judge, if such was the power he exhibited as a dying man! TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 119.6. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:434*.

JESUS DOES NOT WAIT FOR DEATH

EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: He cried out with a loud voice to the Father, “I commend my spirit” and freely departed from the body. He did not wait for death, which was lagging behind as it were in fear to come to him. Instead, he pursued it from behind and drove it on and trampled it under his feet as it was fleeing. He burst the eternal gates of death’s dark realms and made a road of return back again to life for the dead bound there with the bonds of death. PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 4.12.3. [1]

[1] POG 1:186**.

A REAL DEATH, NOT IN APPEARANCE ONLY

ADAMANTIUS (ORIGEN): It was not in appearance only that he died. It was a true death. … The spirit did not expire since it was eternal and incorruptible. But there was one who had the spirit who indeed expired who, while expiring, commended the spirit to the Father. He is the one whom Joseph wrapped in the linen cloth and buried. He did not wrap up and bury a shadow but him who was nailed to the tree. CONCERNING RIGHT FAITH IN GOD 4. [1]

[1] PG 11:1848-49; TLG 2950.001,198.7.

THE SPIRIT DOES NOT LEAVE AGAINST CHRIST’S WILL

AUGUSTINE: The spirit is to be preferred to the body. The death of the spirit means that God has abandoned it, but the death of the body means that the spirit has abandoned it. The punishment in the death of the body lies in this, that the spirit abandons the body unwillingly because it has willingly abandoned God. Therefore, the spirit must abandon the body, even though it does not want to, because by its will it has abandoned God. Nor may it abandon the body when it wants to, unless it inflicts some form of violence on itself by which the body itself is destroyed. The spirit of the Mediator has shown how it was not any punishment for sin that brought about the death of his flesh because he did not abandon it unwillingly. Rather, the spirit left because he willed it to, and it left at the time in the manner that he wanted it to leave. For since he is so commingled with the flesh by the Word of God as to be one with it, he says, “I have the power to lay down my life, and I have the power to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I therefore lay it down of myself, and I take it up again.” [1] ON THE TRINITY 4.13.16. [2]

[1] Jn 10:17-18.

[2] NPNF 1 3:77**.

HE GOES TO SLEEP LIKE A LION

AUGUSTINE: He had the authority to lay down his life, as he himself had declared. And he gave up the spirit in humility, that is, with a bowed head. He would receive it back again by rising again with a raised head. This death and bowing of the head were acts of great power, as was shown by that ancestor Jacob when he blessed Judah and said, “You have gone up lying down; you have slept like a lion.” [1] By “going up” he signified his death; by “like a lion” he signified his power. SERMON 218.12. [2]

[1] Gen 49:9.

[2] WSA 3 6:186*.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS SHEEP

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: But what do the sheep gain from the death of their shepherd? We can see from Christ’s own death that it leaves the beloved flock a prey to wild beasts, exposed to depredation and slaughter, as indeed the apostles experienced after Jesus had laid down his life for his sheep, consenting to his own murder, and they found themselves uprooted and scattered abroad. The same story is told by the blood of martyrs shed throughout the world, the bodies of Christians thrown to wild beasts, burned at the stake or flung into rivers: all this suffering was brought about by the death of their shepherd, and his life could have prevented it.

But it is by dying that your shepherd proved his love for you. When danger threatens his sheep and he sees himself unable to protect them, he chooses to die rather than to see calamity overtake his flock. What am I saying? Could Life himself die unless he chose to? Could anyone take life from its author against his will? He himself declared, “I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again; no one takes it from me.” [1] To die, therefore, was his own choice. Immortal though he was, he allowed himself to be put to death.

By allowing himself to be taken captive, he overpowered his opponent. By submitting, he overcame him. By his own execution, he penalized his enemy, and by dying he opened the door to the conquest of death for his whole flock. And so the good Shepherd lost none of his sheep when he laid down his life for them. He did not desert them but kept them safe. He did not abandon them but called them to follow him, leading them by the way of death through the lowlands of this passing world to the pastures of life. SERMON 40. [2]

[1] Jn 10:18.

[2] JFC 44; PL 52:313-14. See also Romanus Melodus Kontakion on the Victory of the Cross, where he records the dialogue between Hades and the serpent lamenting their defeat at the hands of the cross (TLG 2881.1: 38.1-18).