Scripture reading:
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A 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. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 19:28-30
Sacrifices around the world
Sacrificing is not something new to us. Many societies from the creation of the world have practiced it, from the Nordics to the Nigerians, from the Greco-Romans to the Native Americans. There is no continent that has not been permeated by the ritual of spilling blood, ending life to accomplish a religious exchange. The internet is rife with information on religious sacrifices:
What is sacrificed?
On the Asian continent, In Nepal, thousands of animals – mainly water buffalo and goats – are slaughtered annually as an offering to the goddess Gadhimai. The Quechua people in Peru (S.America) practice animal sacrifice as part of their worship of Pachamama, the Earth Mother. Other animals that have been sacrificed include chickens, reindeer, mammoths, dogs, calves, and lambs. Late historian J. Z. Smith, in his book “The domestication of sacrifice”, wrote that “Animal sacrifice appears to be, universally, the ritual killing of domesticated animals by agrarian or pastoral societies.”
The Aztecs, who lived in what is now Mexico from the 14th to the 16th century, believed that offering human blood to the gods was necessary to ensure the continued survival of the world and the sun. The Celts of the Iron Age believed that sacrificing humans to their gods would bring prosperity and protection to their communities. The ancient Egyptians believed in sacrificing humans, particularly slaves or prisoners of war, to accompany their pharaohs into the afterlife. This practice was known as “retainership”.
Why do we sacrifice?
- It is seen as a way to honour, appease, create a direct link between the human worshipper and the divine,
- And to offer a gift or payment to the gods in exchange for their blessings or protection.
But isn’t it interesting that these same people, all over the world, feel the need to make sacrifices in the first place? Why do human beings feel the need for more blessings, more power, more protection? Why do they presume they can bribe the gods to provide these? Many of them have never read the Bible, but in Jeremiah 17:9, the prophet tells us why and he writes, “The heart (of man) is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know (/understand) it?”. THEY want blessing. THEY want power. THEY want protection. And they will kill foreigner, friend, and even family, to attain these. They are almost not even interested in the gods they sacrifice to, they only care that the gods keep up their end of the deal. But those are the ‘greedy’ ones; what about the more ‘humble’ ones? Why do they feel the need to appease the gods, to atone for their sins, to create a link between them and their creator? They have never heard of King David but they would agree with Him in Psalm 51:5, when he cries out, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” The law of God written on all human hearts testifies against them. They know there is a God out there, and that they have failed to live up to His commands of them. So they feel the need to atone. They sense the need for a sacrifice. But while they sacrifice animals and even fellow people, the Bible – which is God’s word – tells us of the one true sacrifice – Jesus Christ.
Christ’s sacrifice, once for all
In the portion of scripture we read, John documents his eye-witness account of this sacrificial death. Prior to his crucifixion, Jesus had been distressed and praying to his father in the garden of Gethsemane. He had been arrested, and put on trial by His own people – the jews. They wanted to kill him, but had no power because they were under Roman occupation. He had then been sent to Pilate, their Roman authority, for another trial. Pilate, who had found no need to crucify him, had had him punched, spat on, mocked, abused, stripped and flogged with whips that clawed into his back and tore off bits of muscle and tendon as the Roman soldiers pulled them back just to whip him again. Pilate had done this to appease the blood-thirsty crowd. But they didn’t just want Jesus punished, they wanted him DEAD, shouting, “(Let) His blood be on us, and on our children.” Jesus had been made to carry his cross beams to just outside the city. There, by the roadside, he was nailed to the cross and lifted up, for all coming and going to see.
Verse 28
Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” At verse 28, He is hanging on the cross, and all the events He and the OT prophets before Him had prophesied, leading up to his death on the cross as a sacrifice for mankind, have come to pass. The verse continues; Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” talk about the economy of words on the cross. You might recall that in Matthew’s account, Matthew 27:34, Jesus was earlier offered “wine mixed with gall” and he refused it. That was a drink given as a sedative, to ease the pain of the one being crucified, and it made it easier for the Roman killers to nail them to a cross. Our sacrifice, Jesus Christ, refused to take the ‘easy way out’, and bore all our sin with his full senses. Example of hospital/dental visit and anaesthetic to numb the pain.
Verse 29
A 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. So now, Jesus was given a few drops of this cheap local wine vinegar. It was made by fermenting wine in the presence of acetic acid bacteria, which convert the alcohol in the wine into acetic acid. This process results in a sour-tasting liquid with a tangy flavour and a slightly acidic smell. It was used as a condiment, preservative, and an antiseptic/antibacterial. So, on the one hand, Jesus Christ is refusing what could numb the pain, and accepting what could prolong His suffering. And notice the sponge was on the stalk of the hyssop plant – why did the Holy Spirit leave that detail in there? Well, if we go back to Exodus chapter 12, we read of God judging Egypt with ten plagues so that Pharaoh can release God’s people Israel from slavery. The tenth plague was killing all the first born animals and people in Egypt. Israel was told to slaughter a lamb and smear its blood on their door frames and lintels, so the death would pass over and not kill their firstborns. This same hyssop branch is what they used to paint that blood of the passover lamb that had died as a sacrifice, in the place of their firstborns.
Verse 30
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. He is hanging there on the cross, bleeding from his arms, torso, face and feet, struggling to breathe, with muscle aches and spasms, exposed wounds rubbing against the rough wooden cross beams, experiencing piercing pain, AND carrying yours and my sins, and facing the FULL anger and wrath of a Holy, Just, and Righteous God. After the drops of drink I believe lubricate his parched mouth and throat, his final words are, “IT IS FINISHED”. Those three words are what make Jesus’ sacrifice the one true sacrifice for the world. And I want to add more on those three words, but the verse continues to say, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. If you read that and wondered what it meant, we can look back at His words in John 10:18, “No one takes it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” And so, while criminals who were crucified lasted days, and some up to a week on the crosses, when Jesus’ work of carrying our sins and being punished on our behalf was complete, He gave up His spirit heavenward, and died bodily.
It is finished
Now, about those three words. Those three words, “IT IS FINISHED”, are what make Jesus’ sacrifice the one true sacrifice for the world. What was finished? He, by his perfect birth, was God not just above, but entering INTO the world of man. He, by his perfect life, had shown hate for sin, and compassion to the sinner, offering salvation to man. And now, He, by his perfect death, had taken on the sin of all mankind, not just one tribe or one society, but ALL of mankind, from Adam all the way to our great grandchildren’s children, and beyond.
Similar to other sacrifices?
There were two general reasons people sacrificed – I’d shared these earlier. The first was to honour, appease, connect the human worshipper and the divine. Did Christ’s sacrifice do this? YES! Romans 3:25: “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished” What about creating a direct link between the worshipper and the divine? Jesus Christ IS that link; 2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
The second was to bribe or pay off the gods for blessings or protection. So there’s the part of payment, and the part of benefits. For the payment, the God of heaven and earth, cannot be bribed and cannot be paid off – Deuteronomy 10:17, which says, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.” – Psalm 50:10-12, which says, “For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.”, That’s for payment. Now what about the benefits? Jesus’ sacrifice connects us to a God who delights in blessing and protecting His people – first with salvation through Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death Ephesians 2:8-9, which says: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”, and with day to day blessings of common grace James 1:17 – “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”.
Better than other sacrifices?
Other sacrifices never end. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is once and for all. People are always trying to be in the right relationship with the divine. They are always trying to bribe the gods in exchange for a better life. So they must always slaughter more animals, fellow men, women, and children. Hebrews 10:12-14: “But when this priest [Jesus] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
Other sacrifices have no proof of trustworthiness. Jesus’ sacrificial death can be trusted, because God raised him up on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures. If Jesus had told even one lie, he would not have returned from that grave. If Jesus hadn’t bore all the sin of mankind, he would not have been resurrected by God the Father. And if he hadn’t been resurrected, the apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”
What it means for us, living sacrifices in the NT
In the time of Exodus, Israel was trapped. They were slaves, and couldn’t escape the Egyptian bondage. Even the children they produced were born slaves. Only God made a way for their firstborns to escape death by providing a sacrifice – lambs from God.
In a similar way, our entire world is trapped. We are slaves, and cannot escape the bondage to sin and wickedness. Even the children we produce are born slaves to sin. But praise be to God that He has made a way for us to escape death, by providing a sacrifice. Not just a lamb from God, but the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
Sacrifices of the graphic nature may be far from our eyes in the technological world, and here in Swansea, but we may still be sacrificing. If we are still sacrificing time, money, good works to bribe or appease God, to buy our way to heaven, just like the Nepalese, the Aztecs, and Egyptians, these sacrifices we make will never be enough. In John 14:6, our sacrifice Jesus Christ says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If you find in your heart that you have been sacrificing things, to be on the Lord’s good side, will you give it all up today? Will you accept Jesus Christ, who gave His life as a sacrifice for you?
And for those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ, and His sacrifice, may the Lord resound the words He spoke in Exodus 8, ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me.’ Indeed we have been let go, so now may we worship Him with our whole lives. Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” May we tell our family, friends, and foreigners – who are still sacrificing – that their sacrifices will never be enough, but the sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is.
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