Through Weakness Power is Perfected

The fifth and sixth words of Jesus from the cross go together. They are found in John 19:28 – 30, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scriptures), ‘I thirst.’ A jar of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his moth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

Both of these statements are closely related to the humanity of Jesus as the Son of Man. This was Jesus’ favorite term for Himself. It revealed Jesus’ identity with humanity as being fully human, just like you. He was also the Son of God, being fully divine, the fullness of the Godhead in the flesh. As God the Son, He came to inaugurate the new humanity in the new creation as the sole remnant from the old creation.

God the Father was looking at God the Son as He fashioned Adam from the dust of the ground to form him in His image and likeness in the same way that Moses was shown the pattern for the Tabernacle from the true Altar and Temple in heaven, which is also Christ Jesus.

As Son of Man, Jesus had all of the thoughts, feelings, choices, bodily functions, and desires as you have, yet without ever violating any of God’s commands, and always fulfilling every word from God. He accomplished this in His life on earth in the same way that God the Father had established Adam and Eve to, by faith in His word. Adam and Eve failed in the garden. Jesus succeeded in the wilderness of the Promised Land.

As Jesus hung on the cross, He experienced the devastating effects of physical pain and misery, including dehydration. He had already lost an enormous amount of blood from the flogging and beatings. His body, especially His throat, was parched. To fulfill the Scripture, He had one more message to preach and teach, but was unable to vocalize the message because of His weakened condition. You see the humanity of Jesus in this moment like no other. He said, “I thirst.”

Some who were standing there heard Him and put a sponge on a hyssop branch with sour wine and put it up to His mouth. With it, Jesus was able to preach His last message, “It is finished.” It is one word in the Greek, tetelistai. This was a word to describe something that had been carried out to completion with nothing left undone. It is sometimes translated “perfected,” for that reason. It is also in the perfect passive tense of the verb, which adds emphasis to the completed, or perfected, state. Being passive means that the action is done to the person rather than by the person. In this case, Jesus is pointing to the fact that the Father had fully completed His work in His life. Jesus gave all the credit and glory to the Father for the work of salvation that He had completed in His life, finalized on the cross. Hallelujah!

During the day today, reflect upon this scene and the magnitude of the statement, tetelistai, it is finished, and the powerful declaration of praise it was at that moment. Consider the weakness of Jesus and His need for the smallest bit of sour wine to express His worship of and to the Father. Think on this amazing way of God; in weakness He has perfected power through praise. This is what it means to worship the Father in spirit and truth.