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” I Am Thirsty”
“After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst.’” –John 19:28
As we approach Holy Week, we know where Jesus’ triumphant march into Jerusalem led him—to the cross. At one point during his crucifixion, he says, “I am thirsty.” Such a human experience—we all know what it is like to be thirsty and, most times, it is an easy problem to solve.
But Jesus is not talking about a physical thirst. Up to this point, through all the pain and suffering he had endured, he never uttered a word of complaint. And wasn’t it Jesus who, with God, created the oceans, river, rain and the cup the water would be put in? Jesus himself was the water of life.
The thirst Jesus was experiencing was not physical, it was spiritual. He was experiencing the ultimate thirst of spiritual longing—of separation from God his Father. He was experiencing the gut-wrenching agony that must come from the absence of ALL love and anything that love brings with it—peace, comfort, beauty, acceptance.
Jesus experienced the ultimate thirst of separation from God that you and I deserve so that we could have the living water of forgiveness, acceptance and eternal life. And his righteousness became ours.
Speaking of thirst reminds me of the song, Springs of Life by Ginny Owens
How many days, Lord, have I walked in this wilderness?
A thirsty pilgrim with no water to drink.
And this barren place is making me crazy,
But in my desperation, I am forced to think.
Seems like I have spent so much time searchin’
In a dry and weary land where there’s no Truth.
But I think I’m finally realizin’,
That my only hope of water is the well that comes from You.
Being human connection: This Holy Week, may we meditate on the thirst our Savior endured for us. This painting by Rubens is powerful. It doesn’t just paint the moment Jesus is taken down from the cross—he slows it down, softens it, and lets us feel the weight of it. Every hand, every fold of cloth, every beam of light invites us to consider not just what happened, but what it means to carry Christ even now.
Featured art: Peter Paul Rubens, The Descent from the Cross, c. 1614