That is “the profit of the cross”.  All that Christ gave up on the cross was for our gain.  It’s called The Great Exchange.  Listen to Paul in II Corinthians 8:9.

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”

God exchanged all that Christ is for all that we are.  His riches for our poverty…His righteousness for our sinfulness…His perfection for our imperfection…His obedience for our disobedience…His power for our weakness…His life for our death…His heaven for our hell…His all for our all!  That is the profit of the cross.

Again, in Hebrews, we find the promise of all that is ours, of all that we profit from, because of Christ’s passion for us.  On the basis of His finished work “once for all”, let us study the following verses.

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for His who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.  Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”  (Hebrews 10:19-25)

Time and space do not permit us to go to great lengths in examining these verses, but let’s outline 10 of them that naturally flow from this passage.

1. New Covenant:  First of all, the author began by saying “brothers”.  That means we are in a new covenant relationship.  Jesus did not come to make us slaves – but God’s sons and His brothers.  As Jesus said earlier in Hebrews 2:10-12, “Both the One who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.  So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.  He says, ‘I will declare Your name to My brothers…’”  This was a family message to the sons and daughters of God – and now to us!
2. New Confidence:  We no longer have to shrink back from God, or be reluctant to approach Him.  “We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place.”  Christ’s passion invites us to move close to Him, and not just once a year like the Old Testament saints did on the Day of Atonement, but any time…from any place…for any reason because God welcomes our presence and loves for us to come to Him.  See Hebrews 4:16.
3. New Comfort: “…and we have a great priest…”  Hebrews 4:15 confirms this: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin.”  Sympathize comes from the Greek word, sympatheo: sun, meaning “with” and pascho meaning “to suffer”.  We are comforted because Jesus suffers with us when we are tempted and tested in our Christian lives.  He can sympathize with us because He suffered first.  Buddha cannot offer that kind of sympathy and comfort.  Neither can Mohammed, Allah or Krishna, just to name a few.  Only Jesus is the sensitive and sympathetic High Priest, our comforter.
4. New Calling: “…over the house of God…”  Our new calling as believers is to be members of God’s house, His church.  The word for church in the New Testament is ecclesia, meaning “those who are called out”.  So we are called out of the world and called into the Body of Christ.  We are a part of His house because we are believers who are brothers and belongers!
5. New Conviction: “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith…”  We are not separated from Christ and far away from God.  We have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:12-13), and this gives us the firm conviction that His blood has provided the way.  We have no doubts or fears that we are somehow still foreigners.  Rather, we have the “blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!”
6. New Cleansing: “…having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”  Because of sin, every person lives with a guilty conscience, a condemning sense that we are unclean inside and out.  But because of Christ, our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with His blood. We have been washed and are now clean.  It is not the water of baptism that cleanses us, but the “water of the word”.  (Ephesians 5:26)  We are “washed by the blood” unto salvation and we are “washed by the water of the word” unto sanctification.
7. New Certainty: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”  Hope is one of the great themes of the Bible.  In the New Testament, it comes from the root word elpo meaning “confident expectation” or “solid assurance”.  We as Christians have this hope because of the faithfulness of God.  God’s nature is immutable, that is, it never changes.  He cannot be anything but a faithful God because faithfulness is His nature.  Even when our faith fails, His NEVER does!  We can put our   full weight down on that fact and face life with a new certainty.
8. New Compassion: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” On the basis of Christ’s passion for us, we have passion for Him and for others.  We are to be concerned for fellow Christians, exciting and stirring up their love and good deeds.  As you may already know, the word here for love is agape.  It is not self-serving love, but self-giving love full of good deeds.  It is the kind of love that caused Jesus to be moved with compassion by the spiritual and physical needs of the people, to the degree that He did good works on their behalf.  (Matthew 9:36; 14:14; 15:32)
9. New Communion: “Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing…” We must spend time together as believers.  That’s why the words koinonia…together…fellowship…communion were the normative and descriptive words of the early church in the book of Acts (2:42-47).  They just loved being together.  Of course, it was the person of Jesus Christ that was their basis of communion.  Without Him they were a very diverse and divided lot!  But the agape passion of Jesus drew them together in a radical new fellowship called “the brethren’ – which also included “the sistern”!  But, if you “give up meeting together”, and try to “go it alone”, there cannot be any communion.  And without it, you lose one of Christ’s aims for His family, the communion of the saints.
10. New Concern: “…Let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”  One of the reasons for not giving up meeting together was so that they could encourage one another.  The gift of encouragement is one of the greatest and most practical ways for us to express our love and concern for each other.  It does not cost anything to give it.  All it takes is some thoughtfulness, availability, time, kind words, appreciation and agape.  Jesus said it would be this kind of love and concern that would prove to the watching world that we were His disciples.  (John 13:34-35)  This concern is to increase more and more as we get closer to “the Day”: the second coming of Christ, the judgment day.

So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, there is great “Profit in the Passion” for us and for others if we will believe it by faith, lay hold of it in hope, and express it through love!

Several New Testament passages use this word.  (The King James Version, New American Standard and English Standard use the word “propitiation”.  The New International Version uses the word “atoning sacrifice”.)  As you read through them below, note that propitiation leads us into the very heart of the Gospel and into the presence of God.  Take the time to meditate on these verses because the concept will deepen your spiritual life, moving you from the “milk of the word” (I Peter 2:2) to the “meat of the word” (Hebrews 5:12).  It is a theological truth for serious Christians who have left the “…elementary teachings about Christ” and have gone “…on to maturity”.  (Hebrews 6:1)

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.”  (Romans 3:23-25)

“My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin.  And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”  (I John 2:1-2)

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”  (I John 4:9-10)

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil…for surely it is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham.  Therefore, He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:14-17)

The question around which the whole issue of propitiation revolves is: “How can sinful man approach a holy God?”

Without exception, this question is at the heart of every religion.  And every religion’s answer, except Christianity’s, is: “We approach God by good works.”  Whether it is the myriad of pujas or offerings in Hinduism, the 8-Fold Path of Buddhism, or the 5 Pillars of Islam, every religion is based on “works righteousness”.  But the problem with works righteousness raises another question. “How do I know if my work is good enough or if I have done enough?”  In other words, “How can a sinful person ever produce ‘good works’ that are good enough to meet the standards of a Holy God?” The answer is: “He can’t!”

All of our good works are ineffective and inadequate.  We’re trying to please God with counterfeit currency.  Besides, we have nothing to offer God.  It is only what He offers us. The spiritual principle, from the writings of Paul, showed us that, “What God’s holiness demanded, His grace provided.”  And he said it best in Ephesians 2:8-9.

“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.”

God extended grace to us because “God is love.”  (I John 4:8)  As we stop depending on our good works and accept by faith Christ’s perfect work for us on the cross, we understand propitiation.  The primary word in the Old Testament, used 150 times, that pointed to propitiation was the word atonement, meaning: “a covering that conceals a person’s sin and makes it possible for him to approach God”.  (Expository Dictionary of Bible Words, Lawrence Richards, p. 82)

Perhaps you are asking, “What provided the ‘covering for sin’?”  Great question.  The answer brings us to the very heart of the Passion of God as demonstrated in the Passion of Christ.  The covering was provided by nothing less than blood!  This “principle of blood” runs from Genesis to Revelation.  It is the scarlet thread that weaves the Old and New Testament together.  Let’s look at one scripture from each of the Testaments.

“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. “ (Leviticus 17:11)

“This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep…In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”  (Hebrews 9:20-22)

Under the Old Covenant, animal sacrifice was required, “blood for blood” or “life for life”.  Atonement was not possible otherwise.  But with Christ’s coming and sacrifice, the normative word was propitiation, a merciful, atoning sacrifice, not of animals or human life, but the once- for-all blood of Christ’s on the cross.  His blood fulfilled the law’s requirements.  There was a finality about Christ’s sacrifice of Himself for us.  “Tetelestai!”  Remember our study of that word?!

The book of Hebrews connects the spiritual dots from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant…from the earthly tabernacle to the Heavenly Tabernacle…from the human high priests to Christ our perfect High Priest…from the covering of the atonement to the propitiation of the blood of Christ.  Note these words of finality concerning Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross.

“When Christ came as High Priest…He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”  (Hebrews 9:11-12)

“…we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all…because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”  (Hebrews 10:10, 14)

I hope and pray that this chapter has brought you spiritual assurance.  The Passion of Christ and the Propitiation of Christ – the atoning sacrifice of Christ – are inseparable.  Through His blood, you are clean and can approach God with confidence!

One of the great Gospel songs, text and music by Robert Lowry, summarizes the all-sufficiency of the blood of Jesus.

“What can wash away my sin?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon this I see, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my cleansing, this my plea, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Nothing can for sin atone, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Naught of good that I have done, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

This is all my hope and peace.  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my righteousness.  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain:
Oh! Precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Jesus, however, made one crucial addition to the prayer.  He prefaced it with the word, “Father”.  His final prayer was very personal.  His first words had been very personal, “Father, forgive them…” and now His last were a prayer of committal, “Father, into Your hands…”  As Bible expositor, William Barclay, wrote: “Even on a cross, Jesus died like a child falling asleep in his father’s arms.” (The Gospel of Luke, page 302)

After this last and final cry from the cross, John recorded that Jesus “…bowed His head and gave up His spirit”.  (John 19:30)  Luke recorded, “when He had said this, He breathed His last”.  (Luke 23:46)  Both Matthew and Mark said, “He gave up His spirit”.  None of the Gospel writers said that “Jesus died.”  While it is true that He died physically, that is not how the four Gospels recorded it.  To have stated it that way would have suggested that it was the crucifixion that killed Jesus.  But that was not the case.  The cross didn’t take Jesus’ life – He gave up His life on the cross.

Once again, when we put all of these accounts together, we can see that Jesus was fully in charge of the moment of His physical death.  He had clearly told His disciples this well in advance of His crucifixion.

“I am the good shepherd…I lay down My life for the Sheep…The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life – only to take it up again.  No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord.  I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”  (John 10:14-18)

It is crucial to state again that the cross did not take Christ’s life from Him.  He gave up His life by an act of His own will – an authority He had been given by God.  Once man, demons and sin had done their worst to Him on the cross…once the work of redemption was completed for time and eternity…once the Father’s justice was fully satisfied – then and only then did Jesus “give up His spirit” to His heavenly Father by an act of His will. 

As was mentioned earlier in this Lenten series, to speed the process of dying along, the Roman executioners would often break the criminals’ legs so they would not linger between life and death.  While the soldiers did that to the two thieves (John 19:31), it was not necessary to do it to Jesus. He was already dead.  Because Jesus knew that the debt had been paid, He “bowed His head” and gave up His spirit.  This was another fulfillment of prophecy, “He protects all of His bones, not one of them will be broken.”  (Psalm 34:20)

Just as Jesus’ birth was in the perfect “…fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4), so His death was “…just at the right time” in every way.  (Romans 5:6)  No one took His life from Him.  It was Jesus who gave up His own life at the exact time when everything He had come to do was Tetelestai.

At the precise moment that Jesus “bowed His head and gave up His spirit”, something unbelievable took place in the Temple.  What had been perfectly planned and orchestrated in eternity past now took place in the Holy of Holies.  Dramatically symbolizing that the work of salvation was complete, the Temple veil was torn in two.  All three synoptic Gospels give the same account, “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”  (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45)

Apparently the cause of this “rending of the temple veil” was a great earthquake that shook the city of Jerusalem and surrounding area.  For we read that, “The earth shook and the rocks split.” (Matthew 27:51)  The writer of Hebrews clearly related this dramatic event in the Holy of Holies to the death of Christ.  He did so to remind us that Christ alone is the basis of our confidence and assurance before God.

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith…” (Hebrews 10:19-22)

As you will recall from the Old Testament, only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, once a year, on the Day of Atonement, to make a sacrifice for the people.  (Leviticus 16:1-34)  But because Jesus was the perfect sacrifice on the cross, He opened a “new and living way for us through the curtain, that is, His body”.  The veil was rent in two “…from top to bottom” to show that this was the work of God – not man.  This was God’s perfect work of salvation from start to finish.  It was 100% the work of grace.

Another dramatic event took place as a result of the earthquake.

“The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.  They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” (Matthew 27:53)

This is another nugget of Biblical revelation that we do not fully understand.  But it would appear that these physical resurrections were a manifestation of the “first fruits” (I Corinthians 15:23) of the full “resurrection harvest” that is to come, when every believer will be raised with a new resurrection body, like that of the Lord Jesus.  (I Corinthians 15:49)

These cataclysmic events certainly got the attention of the crucifixion party – especially the Roman guards.  Even though they had no doubt carried out many executions in their lives, this one was unique.  They had never seen such physical manifestations nor witnessed such love and compassion from the one they were crucifying.  Again, the synoptic writers call our attention to the testimony of the Roman soldier who had been in charge of Jesus’ crucifixion.

“The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, ‘Surely this was a righteous man.’”  (Luke 23:47)

“And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard His cry and saw how He died, he said, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God.’” (Mark 15:39)

“When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely He was the Son of God!’”  (Matthew 27:54)

After Jesus’ death, those who hated Him left the crucifixion scene – no doubt with a sick satisfaction that they had “won the day.”  But on the edges of the crowd were those who stayed on a while longer, in grief and in lingering love, contemplating what had taken place.

“When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.  But all those who knew Him, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching these things.” (Luke 23:48-49)

As you have “watched these things” afresh, as you have heard these seven last words from the cross, know in your heart that God was thinking about you “before time began”.  Be assured that if you personally know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then God made provision for your salvation in His perfect Lamb who was “…slain from the creation of the world”.  (Revelation 13:8)  That’s right.  His love for you began long before your love for Him.  That’s why Paul reminded his readers that “This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” (II Timothy 1:9)

If you have never accepted Christ or fully surrendered your life to Him, I pray that this very day will be that “day of salvation” for you!  Why wait?  You are missing out on an unbeatable life because of His unconditional love and unconditional forgiveness that are a result of His unmerited favor!

When Jesus used that word, He was crying out that the debt for sin has been paid in full…it is finished…prophecy is fulfilled…God’s justice has been fully satisfied…sin has been totally atoned for…salvation is completed…the victory has been won! The writer of Hebrews echoed this truth when he wrote about Christ’s crucifixion as the final and perfect fulfillment of all the blood sacrifices in the Old Testament:

“This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you to keep…In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness…Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one, He entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence…But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.  Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people…we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all…because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”  (Hebrews 9:20-28; 10:10,14)

When Jesus cried out Tetelestai, He was declaring that the work of redemption was fully completed.  Everything that the earthly tabernacle and many animal sacrifices pointed to was now completed…fulfilled…finished.  The earthly shadow of the heavenly reality was totally fulfilled by Christ.  There was no more need for animal sacrifices in the temple.  As the holy “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), the perfect sacrifice had now been made.  This was the fulfillment of what Christ had told His disciples the night before His crucifixion at the last Passover meal, when He gave them the wine to drink.  “This is My blood of the new covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  (Matthew 26:28)

Because of Christ’s virgin birth…sinless life….and perfect death – there was absolutely nothing left to be done.  Not only was His physical and spiritual suffering of spirit, soul and body completed, but everything necessary for our full and final redemption was finished.

Notice that Jesus did not say, “I am finished.”  But rather, “It is finished.”  The cross did not “finish off” Jesus.  Rather, on the cross, Jesus “finished off” sin and all of its consequences.  So this is a clear clarion “cry of victory” rather than in any way a “cry of defeat.”  We know by coupling this word with the words that immediately followed, that Jesus cried out with a “loud voice”.  (Matthew 27:50; Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46)

Tetelestai proves that Jesus died with a loud shout of victory! He did not die with a quiet, gasping whisper of defeat.  As God’s Messiah, He had fully faced and defeated our sin and all of its consequences on the cross, just like He would defeat our last enemy – death – in three days through His resurrection from the grave.  (I Corinthians 15:26)  As a result, our salvation is secured for time and eternity because He has written across all of our unpayable debts to God: “Paid in full!”

There is a praise chorus that I love to sing that expresses this simple yet profound truth. I don’t know the author but the words go like this:

“Tetelestai!  It is finished!”

Then, John’s parallel account:

“Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus lips.  When He had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’”  (John 19:28-30)

Although no time period was mentioned except the word “Later…”, we can assume that it meant after the three hours of darkness.  And, in spite of the incredible physical and spiritual pain Christ had endured up to this point, we know from these fifth words that He was fully conscious and cognitive of everything that was happening to Him. John specifically emphasized that Jesus knew that “…all was now completed” and that Jesus wanted to make sure “…the Scripture would be fulfilled”.  It was His resolve to fulfill to the letter the prophecies about how the Messiah would die.

It is important to note that this was the first time that Jesus had asked anything for Himself.  Thus far, throughout His arrest, His trial, His beatings and His crucifixion, He had not uttered a word for Himself.  Every word had been to others and for others.  He said, “I am thirsty”, but He did not say it until “all was completed”.  The work of redemption was done…completed… finished.  Now that His work for us was done, He could give brief attention to His own great physical need.

There were two very specific prophecies that Jesus was fulfilling in this request, found in Psalm 42 and Psalm 63. 

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God?  My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’”  (Psalm 42:1-3)

“O God, you are My God, earnestly I seek You; My soul thirsts for You, My body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”  (Psalm 63:1)

Certainly there was an incredible and incomprehensible paradox in this request.  How can the One who was (and is) the very “water of life” (John 4:14; 7:38-39) cry out, “I am thirsty”?  Here was/is the One, who is God’s own spiritual Water for thirsty humanity, literally dying of thirst.  He, who had become God’s water of life to the multitudes, was now asking others for something to quench His dying thirst.  We just have to bow in reverential silence before this great spiritual mystery.

The very fact that Jesus was given sour wine to drink was another fulfillment of prophecy.  Psalm 69:21 specifically foretold, “They put gall in My food and gave Me vinegar for My thirst.”  This was just one more incredible proof for the divine inspiration of the Scriptures and proof of Christ’s deity.  There would have been absolutely no way Jesus could have orchestrated the fulfillment of this Scripture while impaled on a cross.  But, as John had said, this small detail took place, “…so that Scripture would be fulfilled”.

Finally, it is important to note that this last drink offered to Jesus was done with a soggy sponge “…on a stalk of hyssop plant.”  You may wonder why this is significant.  Just this.  If you go back and re-read the Exodus story, you will see a very interesting detail about the “hyssop plant”.  God specifically told the people through Moses:

“Go at once and slaughter the Passover lamb.  Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe.  Not one of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.  When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and He will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.”  (Exodus 12:21-23)


Was the use of this “hyssop plant” just a capricious fiat of fate?  Hardly.  I believe it was yet another very clear revelation that Jesus was indeed God’s perfect Passover Lamb, who was being slain for the salvation of the world!  It was now His sinless blood that was going to be applied to our lives to the degree that we would not come under God’s judgment – just like the ancient Israelites.  Because of His blood poured out on the cross, we too experience God’s protection.  We too are passed over by God’s judgment because we have “…crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).  As the Apostle Paul proclaimed, “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).  And the “hyssop plant” is proof!

As we conclude these fifth words from the cross, let’s remember that this was not a god or demi-god dying, untouched by the human condition.  No, this was perfect humanity dying in thirst – just like millions of others who have died of thirst.  In some mysterious way, every child, young person and adult who cries out in times of personal drought, whether physically or spiritually, echos Christ’s cry from the cross!  And best of all, He understands their thirst!  Their thirst, their dry mouth, their parched lips, their need to drink.  Once again, no one can ever say to Christ, “But you don’t know what I’m going through.”  Let me assure you, He knows.