John 19:28

John 19:28 says, After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, "I thirst." We do not read of Jesus saying anything while He was being scourged, but now He said He was thirsty.  That would be normal after all He had been through, but it was also a fulfillment of Scripture.  Again, though we can be certain that Jesus knew the scriptures better than anyone, I do not believe this was His checking off a list.  Looking back, John saw the scripture fulfilled by this request.  Psalms 69:21 says, They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.  Verse twenty-nine adds, Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth. Though Jesus may have known the scriptures, the Roman soldiers likely did not, yet by their actions, they filled the scripture.  They gave Jesus vinegar, not water to drink.  We can also know that the religious leaders would have also known the scriptures and would have done everything they could to keep them from being fulfilled by Jesus.  I believe we can also see another aspect to Jesus saying, "I thirst."  He was taking on the sins of the world and was being cut off from the very living water He came to bring.  Jesus thirsted spiritually.  I believe this was the greater thirst and implication of His statement. Yes, scripture was fulfilled when they gave Jesus vinegar to drink, but I believe He was speaking of a spiritual thirst.  The beating and carrying the cross brought no complaint because Jesus was not being separated from the Father, and now He was.  We tend to complain more about the physical things in life, but we need to be in more distress about the spiritual.  When we are in a bad situation, we need to thirst for the Living Water.  When we are fully in the hands of God, everything will be ok.  Again, we cannot force the fulfillment of the scripture, but we can thirst after the knowledge of God.