John did not mention the darkness that came over the land as the other evangelists did (cf. Matt. 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44-45). This is noteworthy in view of John's interest in the light and darkness motif. Perhaps he did not want to detract attention from the person of Jesus. He also omitted Jesus' words that indicated that the Father had withdrawn from Him (cf. Matt. 27:46-47; Mark 15:34-35). This is understandable since throughout this Gospel John stressed the Son's essential unity with the Father. The Father's temporary separation from the Son in judgment did not vitiate their essential unity.
19:28 All things necessary for the fulfillment of Scripture that predicted the provision of redemption were almost accomplished (Gr. teleiothe). John was speaking proleptically again (cf. 12:23; 17:1, 4). Obviously Jesus still had to die. As the moment of His death drew nearer, Jesus expressed His thirst. This showed His true humanity. A man in Jesus' physical condition hung up under a Near Eastern sun would have also experienced torture by dehydration. It is paradoxical that the Water of Life should confess thirst (cf. 4:4:14; 7:38-39). The solution obviously is that Jesus had referred to Himself as the source of spiritual rather than physical water.
"One may no more assume that John's emphasis on the cross as the exaltation of Jesus excludes his desolation of spirit than his emphasis on the deity of the Son excludes the Son's true humanity."597
The Scripture that spoke of Messiah's thirst may be Psalm 22:15 (cf. v. 24) and or Psalm 69:21 (cf. 2:17; 15:25). Jesus' mention of His thirst resulted in the soldier callously giving Him vinegar to drink, which Psalm 69:21 mentioned. Thus John stressed that Jesus' death not only fulfilled God's will but also prophetic Scripture.
19:29 Evidently it was customary to offer wine vinegar (Gr. oxos) to the victims of crucifixion since John described the jar of it as "standing there"or "set there."Only John mentioned that the soldiers put the sponge soaked with wine vinegar on a branch of hyssop that they extended to Jesus. Hyssop was readily available since it grew out of many rocky crevices as a weed. The hyssop reference may simply be a detail in the testimony of an eyewitness to Jesus' crucifixion. However, it may hint at Jesus being the Lamb of God since the Jews used hyssop to sprinkle blood on their door-posts and lintels at Passover (cf. Exod. 12:22; 1 Cor. 5:7). The sponge was evidently small enough so Jesus could put at least some of it in His mouth. The hyssop branch was obviously strong enough to remain erect under the sponge's weight. Jesus was probably not extremely high above ground level as He hung on the cross, many famous paintings notwithstanding (cf. 3:14).
19:30 Jesus' reception of the sour wine did not relieve His pain though it did moisten his parched throat so He could speak. It also fulfilled Scripture (Ps. 69:21).
"The vinegar' was probably the cheap sour wine the legionnaires drank. Though it provided some refreshment, it was a strong astringent that could contract the throat muscles and prevent the condemned victim from crying out with pain.598
Nevertheless Jesus cried out with a loud voice (Mark 15:37), "It is finished"(Gr. tetelestai). He probably shouted with a cry of victory. The verb teleodenotes the completing of a task. Jesus was not just announcing that He was about to die. He was also declaring proleptically that He had fulfilled God's will for Him (cf. 17:4). The use of the perfect tense here signifies proleptically that Jesus had finished His work of providing redemption completely and that it presently stands finished. Nothing more needed or needs doing. This finished work of Jesus Christ is the basis for our salvation (cf. 2 Cor. 5:21).
"Papyri receipts for taxes have been recovered with the word tetelestaiwritten across them, meaning paid in full.'"599
Having thus spoken Jesus handed over (Gr. paredoken) His spirit to His Father (cf. Luke 23:46) and bowed His head in peaceful death. Normally victims of crucifixion experienced the gradual ebbing away of life, and then their heads would slump forward. All the evangelists presented Jesus as laying down His life of His own accord. No one took it from Him (cf. 10:10, 14, 17-18). He did this in harmony with His Father's will (cf. 8:29; 14:31).
John did not record Jesus' final utterance from the cross (Luke 23:46). He evidently ended his account of Jesus' death as he did to stress the completion of the work of redemption that Jesus' sixth saying expressed. John stressed Jesus' divine sovereign control over His own destiny in submission to His Father's will.
