#5 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled saith, I thirst.” John 19:28
The shortest of all the sayings of Jesus from the cross, “I thirst” is only one word in the Greek, and though you may be tempted to think short and sweet. This saying is as bitter as the vinegar offered to him to satisfy. “I thirst”, proves that Jesus who hung on the cross was no mere phantom or spirit, but suffered the most carnal of human appetite. For while a person may live for many weeks without food, it is only eight to ten days without water before the average person dies. Water makes up the majority of bodies, and is at the core of our needs as mammals.
The next time you have been out riding your bike or exercising and you are thirsty remember these words of Jesus. God who became man, who identifies with every experience you go through as a person. It is remarkable and an unbelievable story. God who created the entire ocean, who provides the snow that during the spring melts and supplies our entire state with water, is thirsty.
Just a shocking is that while Jesus spoke to the woman at the well he says, “Whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” It is only through Jesus becoming thirsty, the one who refers to Himself as the Living Water that, anyone can be satisfied.
For Jesus what it meant for Him to believe the Gospel was for him to deny everything. He denied every right and privilege that was his to take. When God asked, “Who should save humanity?” And the choir of angels stood silent throughout all of heaven, it was the Son of God a king in his own right who stepped forward and took the responsibility to become man and save humanity. At his birth there was no room for him at the inn, he lived a life with no where to lay his head, and now at his death there is not even a cold glass of water to satisfy his thirst. Those who he came to save rejected, mocked, cursed, and crucified Him. And the vinegar given to him by the soldier was far too small a token, only highlighting the humiliation of Jesus the King.
Even now Jesus is thirsty. If you remember in Luke 22, at the last supper, Jesus once again in his life denies himself. This time it is the last cup of a series of cups at the Passover meal. You see the last cup of Passover is the cup of blessing, and Jesus says to his disciples I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God. But he passes the cup and encourages them to drink. Jesus says, you believe the Gospel, take all the blessing of God, drink of living water, all that I have is yours. But for me I will wait and my thirst will remind me of you until we celebrate that blessed day in heaven. He is awaiting our reunion with him. It is only because Jesus denied himself what the body craved, that you and I may have the thirst of our soul quenched.
The shortest of all the sayings of Jesus from the cross, “I thirst” is only one word in the Greek, and though you may be tempted to think short and sweet. This saying is as bitter as the vinegar offered to him to satisfy. “I thirst”, proves that Jesus who hung on the cross was no mere phantom or spirit, but suffered the most carnal of human appetite. For while a person may live for many weeks without food, it is only eight to ten days without water before the average person dies. Water makes up the majority of bodies, and is at the core of our needs as mammals.
The next time you have been out riding your bike or exercising and you are thirsty remember these words of Jesus. God who became man, who identifies with every experience you go through as a person. It is remarkable and an unbelievable story. God who created the entire ocean, who provides the snow that during the spring melts and supplies our entire state with water, is thirsty.
Just a shocking is that while Jesus spoke to the woman at the well he says, “Whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” It is only through Jesus becoming thirsty, the one who refers to Himself as the Living Water that, anyone can be satisfied.
For Jesus what it meant for Him to believe the Gospel was for him to deny everything. He denied every right and privilege that was his to take. When God asked, “Who should save humanity?” And the choir of angels stood silent throughout all of heaven, it was the Son of God a king in his own right who stepped forward and took the responsibility to become man and save humanity. At his birth there was no room for him at the inn, he lived a life with no where to lay his head, and now at his death there is not even a cold glass of water to satisfy his thirst. Those who he came to save rejected, mocked, cursed, and crucified Him. And the vinegar given to him by the soldier was far too small a token, only highlighting the humiliation of Jesus the King.
Even now Jesus is thirsty. If you remember in Luke 22, at the last supper, Jesus once again in his life denies himself. This time it is the last cup of a series of cups at the Passover meal. You see the last cup of Passover is the cup of blessing, and Jesus says to his disciples I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God. But he passes the cup and encourages them to drink. Jesus says, you believe the Gospel, take all the blessing of God, drink of living water, all that I have is yours. But for me I will wait and my thirst will remind me of you until we celebrate that blessed day in heaven. He is awaiting our reunion with him. It is only because Jesus denied himself what the body craved, that you and I may have the thirst of our soul quenched.
posted by michaelstevensrev at 10:38 AM
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