"I Thirst"

Good Friday.
Tonight we will be having a Good Friday service at 7 p.m. This begins our series of "Easter weekend" services. Our Senior Pastor, Jim Hayford, has asked several of us to share on one of the final words of Jesus. The phrase that has been assigned to me is "I thirst". Maybe I've been dehydrated enough times as a distance runner to have some insight here! I believe that reflecting on the story of the cross and the sacrifice of Christ can transform a person's life. Take time this Good Friday to consider what a great price was paid for our peace. Here are my notes.

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst”. "I thirst!" (John 19:28)

Imagine yourself for a moment at the foot of the cross. What you see there is horrific and also amazing. The man hanging there is still alive. He has endured extreme punishment with an indescribable courage, dignity and grace. You’re captivated by the person.

His mouth is dry, parched. Dehydrated from a night and a day of excruciating suffering. He makes known the fact that the life of His human body is beginning to ebb away. He utters two words to express His suffering: “I thirst”.

The one who promised that “Whoever believes in me will never thirst”, now thirsts Himself.

John’s Gospel says that He spoke these words “so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.” What was being fulfilled when Jesus spoke these words?

#1: He fulfills words spoken prophetically hundreds of years earlier. Psalm 69:21 says, “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.” This verse is literally fulfilled in this moment which gives us a glimpse of the extreme extent of the human suffering that Jesus experienced on the cross, for you and for me. Because of His suffering, we now know with confidence that He is acquainted with pain and the limits of human strength. No matter what injustice or affliction you or I might endure, we have a God who is empathetic and understanding. He is our advocate and our source of living water. He is the suffering servant: Acquainted with sorrow, pain and grief. He Himself thirst that we might never thirst again.

Secondly, it wasn’t merely physical thirst from which He was suffering. Forsaken by the Father, the Son of God also was expressing His longing for restoration to His Father also fulfilling Psalm 42:2 “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” The Son of God is forsaken by the Father and the Trinity experiences a rift for the first time in eternity. The Son, as He fulfills the need for a perfect sacrifice for sin is left thirsting for His Father.

Hanging on the cross, time passes slowly. His spring of living water runs dry. He reaches the end of his strength. “I thirst!”

Because of the cross, Jesus knows what suffering is.
Because of the cross, He knows what it is to thirst for peace with God the Father.
Because of the cross, He knows what you and I experience and face in this broken world.
Because of the cross, “Whoever believes in Him will never thirst again.”