Knowing that everything had now been finished. (John 19:28)
Expanded Passage: John 19:16-37
“Everything looks so far and small,” said my daughter. She was using a set of binoculars but was holding them the wrong way. Instead of looking through the eyepiece, she was looking through the objective lens. What was meant to magnify her vision was making everything look distant.
The Gospel of John invites us to see the crucifixion through a set of binoculars that can see beyond the immediate text. Focus, for example, on Jesus’ thirst. The last time Jesus asked for a drink, he was talking to a Samaritan woman about the living water he possesses. His water forever quenched her thirst (John 4:7–15). Rotate the focusing ring. You now see Jesus telling people that those who believe in him will never be thirsty (6:35; 7:37–39). Turn the focusing ring again. The image you see is that of a wedding. Jesus’ mother noticed that the hosts were out of wine. Jesus knew his hour had not yet come, but even so, he turned water into wine (2:3–11). Focus again on the cross. The One who offers living water is thirsty. The hour has now come.
At the cross, Jesus was drinking the cup of the Father (18:11) so that we would not thirst anymore. He drank the worst we could offer; he offered his best for all.
Set aside time to read the Gospel of John in one sitting.
Luigi Peñaranda is the former director of graduate programs in Spanish at Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University.
© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
