I Am Thirsty

Rebecca Sheridan
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
John 19:28-30

“I am thirsty,” Jesus says. It’s probably the most ordinary of phrases that Jesus says in his seven last words on the cross. We’ve all said it without thinking – “I’m thirsty, I think I’ll get something to drink.”  Yet this short sentence on the cross is full of meaning.  John tells us that Jesus says this to fulfill the scripture, specifically Psalm 69 that says for “my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”  First of all, knowing Jesus is thirsty highlights his suffering on the cross for our sakes: a violent, terrible way to die.  He is in pain, he truly is both fully divine and fully human and is thirsty, because who wouldn’t be, after all he’s gone through?
I am a bit of a water evangelist.  I carry a water bottle around with me almost all of the time.  If one of my kids says they have a headache or feels a little under the weather, I say, “Drink some water.”  We know water has many benefits – it can keep us from overeating, helps everything in our body system from digestive to circulation to our immune system.  People can go many days, even months without food, but the average human being can only live for about three days without water.  I hate the feeling of being really thirsty.  I can only imagine what Jesus was feeling on the cross when he says, “I am thirsty.”
And yet, spiritually, Jesus is thirsty for another reason.  He is the living water – he has promised this living water to those who follow him.  We might think especially of his conversation with the woman at the well, the longest conversation he has with anyone in the gospels, by the way.  There’s a sense in which Jesus shares his suffering and pain with those who are witnessing his crucifixion, but he also shares his plan of salvation through that same death on the cross.  Earlier when Peter cuts off the ear of the slave, Jesus asks Peter, “Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”  Jesus thirsts for the cup of salvation for humanity’s sake.  He is ready to die for us.  He accepts his death for our sake.  He is willing to drink from this particular cup on the cross, thanks be to God.
I don’t know if it was common to have sour wine just sitting around a crucifixion site, it seems odd to me, but when “they” hear Jesus is thirsty, they put a sponge full of wine on a branch of hyssop.  Hyssop is the branch the people of Israel use to put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts before leaving Egypt in the first Passover.  Jesus becomes the Passover lamb, slain for our redemption.  It is his cup of salvation, the blood of Christ, that we share every week in Holy Communion, so that we might never be truly spiritually thirsty again.  
And so while we may be able to keep ourselves hydrated or even take pride in our water-drinking habits like I do, we can ponder tonight on the ways that we are spiritually thirsty.  What areas of your life may need Jesus’ attention?  And how can Jesus satisfy your thirst?  We come tonight to be refreshed once again in worship and praise of all that Jesus has done for us, so that we might know him as living water, so we might never be truly thirsty again.  Amen.