"I Thirst"

What this means to me this Easter 2025

When was the last time you were thirsty…I am not talking about wanting to wet your whistle- I mean really, really dehydrated and dying for a drink of anything cold?

I ran in a 10k race when we still lived in Ecuador… and in case you don’t speak Spanish, Ecuador means equator, the point on the earth closest to the sun.

The race started early enough to miss the worst of the heat, but even then it was still hovering around 30 degrees. The organizers of the race set up hydration stations for the runners all along the route to help us deal with temperatures that would reach 37 with sticky humidity too.

I just ran past the first few tables, feeling pretty good and thinking I could take advantage of the ones farther along the route. Well, unfortunately, by the time I got to those, they had been abandoned by the volunteers, so I and all the other amateur joggers around me, were left without any liquid as the temperatures spiked and exhaustion set in. I thought I was going to die. My mouth felt like a desert, and my legs were heavy. I didn’t know if I could keep going without fainting. Then, about 500 metres from the end, I spied a friendly face in the crowd. My friend was there to cheer on her son who was also running, and had a few bags of water in her hand. She stepped out of the crowd and handed one to me. I still remember the wonderful relief I felt after biting off its corner and downing the water- glorious! That drink gave me the strength to finish the race. I thought about that time as I reflected on Jesus on the cross and his statement: “I thirst”.

I wrote a series of sonnets based on what may have been going through Jesus’ mind as he spoke his final words from the cross.

Here is the one I wrote for “I Thirst”

One sweltering noon, I rested by a well, 
a woman from Samaria drew near,   
By most Jews deemed a lowly infidel,
I spoke with her, she considered me a seer.
I sought water, with it explained her need,
The time had come when worship is for all, 
Who from me a pure, living water plead.
She trusted me, went home, to her neighbours call. 

But now again, compelled by thirst I plead
For respite while on shameful cross I writhe
It looks as though, my enemy succeeds,
Defeats me, cuts me down as with a scythe
As my forefather David said it first,
With swollen tongue and dirt-dry mouth:“I thirst.”

We generally tend to give more importance to a person’s “last words”. I have been at a number of bedsides for those who know they are dying and even those in the last hours of their lives. Not all of those have been able to speak, to express what is going on inside their minds.

But, for those who have, those of us around have hung on their every word. Will they say something profound? Is there something they want us to do for them? Will they have a parting message for us, for the world?

Gospel writers have recorded the words Jesus uttered from the cross while in agony. These phrases are what was on his heart as his life ended. Amongst those powerfully revealing phrases, some of which we have already meditated on was this phrase:

“I thirst”

Seems rather mundane compared to “My God, My God why have you forsaken me”, or “Father, forgive them, they know not what they are doing”.

But he says a lot in those two words.

1/ First of all, those words remind me that Jesus became one of us. He had to become one of us, to redeem us, and he had to become what we are, in order to make us what he is.

He understands us. He got thirsty. He knew hunger and fatigue. He felt pain. He understands loneliness and betrayal. He understands grief. When we speak with him, he gets us.

And yet, he is so much more…

2/ He is the Messiah, The Saviour, the long awaited King in the line of King David.

Jesus left clues throughout his life that he was the one the world for whom the world was waiting. Here, even as his life flowed out of him, he quoted from the writings of King David. David wrote in Psalm 22: “my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, my tongue sticks to the roof on my mouth” and in Psalm 69: “my throat is parched, they gave me vinegar for my thirst.”

Jesus quoted these words and by doing so declared he was King David’s successor- the light of the world, the King who would bring his peace to the world. Jesus is Saviour. He is Lord of all.

Like his forefather David, he is the King, but he will reign for all eternity and he with open arms invites all to become part of His kingdom.

There is one final thing that God has put on my heart this Easter season.

3/ There is an account of a time Jesus visited the home of Simon the Leper in Bethany. He was on his way towards Jerusalem and the death he knew was waiting for him there. The writer John reports that his friend Lazarus and Mary were there, among others, his disciples included.

Mary had been waiting for this day. She loved Jesus. She adored him. She prepared a gift to express the depth of her love and appreciation for all Jesus meant to her. As he sat there, Mary entered the house and poured a rich, pungent ointment from an alabaster jar over his head. Then she bent down and washed his feet using that same ointment, an ointment so valuable, it cost a year’s salary to buy.

But then the grumblers and complainers spoke up. They murmured amongst themselves before Judas said out loud what they were thinking and criticised her for wasting such a valuable ointment, when it could have been sold and that money used to feed the poor.

Jesus responded firmly: “Leave her alone, the poor you will always have with you- but you won’t always have me.”

When I hear him say that it makes me feel uncomfortable. Was he telling them to give him priority over that faceless, nameless segment of society we call the poor, or the marginalised?

Was he saying their needs come second because they will always be there? Was he saying there will always be poverty so just throw up your hands because there is nothing you can do about it.

I am sure not.

For the one who said, you will always have the poor with you, also said:

“For I was hungry and you gave me food,

I was thirsty and you gave me drink,

I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

I was naked and you clothed me,

I was sick and you visited me,

I was in prison and you came to me.”

As he did throughout his life, Jesus identified with the poor. He identified with them enough to say that when we are kind and generous towards them, we are being kind to him. When Jesus said, “I thirst”, besides expressing very real physical, human need, he is also reminding us: he is the person in our neighbourhood, in our city or around the world who is poor.

We don’t know who it was that day who dipped the sponge in wine vinegar to offer it to Jesus. John only says “they” did it. But here is the thing- you and I can be that person whenever we, out of love for our Lord, show generous kindness to those around us, or around our world who have needs.