John 19:28-30

The Death of Jesus

²⁸ After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” ²⁹ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. ³⁰ •When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

This year I started some True Hyssop seeds for my garden. Hyssop is a useful plant that has had a variety of uses for thousands of years. There’s always been a connection between hyssop and medicinal uses, and a lot of people today will use hyssop oil to treat respiratory problems.

I never quite understood how the traditional Good Friday gospel reading that records the death of Jesus says that a sponge of sour wine was brought up to Jesus using a hyssop branch. Hyssop doesn’t really have branches like that, long sticks you could use to lift something up. Its branches are a bit flimsy.

Hyssop is an herb in the mint family, not some sort of tree. One of my husband’s Good Fridays sermons from a few years ago helped me break down what’s going on here.

A more literal rendering of John’s words here says “Therefore a sponge filled with the sour wine with hyssop wrapped around it, they carried to the mouth of Him (Jesus).”

It’s not a sponge of sour wine on a hyssop branch, it’s a sponge full of sour wine with hyssop wrapped around it that’s lifted up to Jesus’ mouth for Him to drink.

Oh, how things had changed since the early days of Jesus’ ministry. The first miracle recorded by John that Jesus did also included wine in a jar. But the wine in today’s Bible reading isn’t the good stuff that Jesus created in Cana; it’s sour. We might even call it “vinegar” at this point. Jesus, the True Vine, is drinking sour wine instead of the good wine He created for the wedding feast. He’s taking the cup of God’s wrath on our behalf. 

But why hyssop?

And why does John record that Jesus said this to fulfill the Scripture? 

Did the Old Testament prophesy that the messiah would drink sour wine? No. Did the Old Testament predict that the Messiah would thirst?  No.

So then what biblical text is Jesus fulfilling in asking for a drink?

David wrote in Psalm 51, “Wash me with hyssop and I shall be clean, cleanse me and I shall be purer than snow.” But Jesus isn’t taking a bath here.

Why would you wrap hyssop around a sponge of sour wine? 

The answer comes from the event that Jesus was completing by His crucifixion, the holiday that everyone else in Jerusalem was trying to prepare for: the Passover.

Exodus 12 says,

“Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.  For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.” (Ex. 12:22-23)

What this means is that ever since the Passover, priests in Israel always used Hyssop when applying sacrificial blood to anything.

Hyssop is God’s chosen delivery system for the blood that cleanses us from sins.

It’s not like they used hyssop to give drinks to people being crucified on a regular basis. This stands out because God is connecting the blood of Jesus to wine from there on out. We see this when taking communion in church.

By using hyssop to bring sour wine to Jesus’ lips, we can see that Jesus is fulfilling the Promise that the Passover had been pointing to all along!

But wait a minute here.

They don’t lift blood up to Jesus’ mouth in a sponge, it’s…wine. Jesus has plenty of blood up there already. It’s…wine. Are we talking about blood or wine here? The answer is “Yes”.

Didn’t Jesus just say last night (Maundy Thursday) that He wouldn’t drink wine again until he drinks it anew in the Kingdom? Is this the Kingdom? Is this what Jesus’ Kingship looks like? This is why Jesus declares, “It is finished”, or “It is accomplished, completed, and fulfilled.”

God’s Kingdom didn’t look like what everyone may have been expecting. They thought perhaps Jesus would have run the Romans out of town, not allowed Himself to be crucified by them.

But the Kingdom of God has come in the fact that Jesus’ crucifixion and death has defeated sin and death forever. If sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake, there’s no power or authority on earth that can hold anything against us!

The Kingdom of God had arrived in its fullness at this moment when all was accomplished when Jesus breathed His last and partook of the fruit of the vine in the Father’s Kingdom.

The hyssop and wine raised up to Jesus was not because he needed it, but because we did.

He made good on His promise to them, His blood of the covenant was shed for the forgiveness of many. And we too are made partakers of that wine anew with Him in His kingdom, just as He said.

Jesus connects wine with His very own blood, the blood of the covenant. Just as the hyssop branch was used to mark the doorposts and lintels of the Israelites to spare them from the angel of death, so too are we marked with His blood to spare us from ultimate death.

And instead of the Egyptians suffering the loss of their firstborn, God Himself suffers the loss of His firstborn.

The True Vine is cut off for the sake of His branches, and He establishes wine, the fruit of our earthly grapevines as a delivery system for the fruits of His crucifixion. Jesus gave up His life so that we may truly live. But He certainly didn’t stay that way…(Stay tuned)

Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, the source of all goodness and life, in your thirst upon the Cross you established the Cup which brings us everlasting life. You were anointed with hyssop as our great sacrifice, and offered Yourself as our Great High Priest. Keep us always in faith in Your promises, because You have accomplished everything needed for our salvation and won the victory over death forever. Amen.