“I thirst” (Full Service)
Sermon starts at 25:22
Scripture: John 4: 4-15 and John 19: 28-29
In our Lenten sermon series, we’ve been focussing on Jesus’ Words from the Cross, on that first Good Friday. Each week we have added a reminder at the front of the sanctuary behind me…a reminder of what each of Jesus’ words focussed on. Today we’ve come to Jesus’ fifth spoken word from the cross…but first let’s do a quick review …so that we can put today’s word, “I thirst”, into context.
First, Jesus promised FORGIVENESS.
As Jesus gazed out over the gathered onlookers, his first anguished words from the cross were, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do…” True to form, even while Jesus was being crucified, he was focussed on the needs of others. The crucified one sought the forgiveness of God for those who were crucifying him.
Second, Jesus promised SALVATION.
As Jesus hung between two thieves on the cross, one of the thieves acknowledged Jesus’ righteousness and his own sin…and that thief pleaded with Jesus to remember him when Jesus came into his kingdom. And Jesus said to him, “Today you shall be with me in paradise.”
Third, Jesus promised enduring RELATIONSHIP.
From the cross, Jesus spoke to Mary and John, the loved ones closest to him, saying, “Woman, behold your son, and son behold your mother”. He offered them a new relationship of caring for one another within the family of God …and from that hour forward Mary was cared for by John.
By the time all of these words were spoken, the crucifixion had taken its toll on Jesus. The pain that Jesus felt was beyond existing words to describe…hence a new word was coined…”excruciating”…”meaning out of the cross”…excruciating pain… including dislocated shoulders, cramps in his legs, shortness of breath, a racing heart, low blood pressure, fever, dehydration, loss of blood… just some of the agony Jesus experienced for hours on end, as his life slowly ebbed away.
Fourth, Jesus felt ABANDONMENT.
And so, he cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” … in the moment of his deepest agony and despair, Jesus cried out to God the Father while the Father turned his face away. For God the Father could not look on the sin that Jesus was bearing for our sakes… Nevertheless, even though Jesus felt physically and spiritually abandoned, Jesus still reached out to God his Father in his pain.
The backdrop for each of these words from the cross was Jesus’ horrific suffering.
Twenty years ago, a movie called “the Passion of the Christ” by Mel Gibson was released in the theatres. I can guarantee that this movie is not one that you would pay to see twice. For to read or watch an account of everything Jesus went through during his crucifixion is traumatizing… definitely “R” rated… overwhelming to the point of being a distraction for many of us. The simple fact is that while Jesus was dying the worst imaginable death, he bore all the shame and all the guilt for the sins of the whole world, including mine and yours.
Finally, Jesus felt DISTRESS.
But it was only within moments of nearing life’s end, that Jesus mentioned his own suffering…more specifically his agonizing thirst…and so today’s word from the cross, “I thirst”, brings us face to face with Jesus’ humanity… These words were a fulfillment of a prophecy from Psalm 22, 900 years before crucifixion was even used as a method of torture in the Roman world.
In this word, we are reminded that Jesus was in every way as human as we are… when he declared the prophetic word…
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
15 My mouth[d] is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death. (Psalm 22: 14-16)
Jesus mouth was parched… dry, and barely able to form a word…
Physical thirst is something that we’ve all experienced to various degrees at one time or another…on a hot summer’s day, after a long race, or a hard day’s manual labour. We can go a relatively long time without food, but our thirst for water is unrelenting. Jesus’ thirst reminds us, that in his humanity, he suffered physically just as we do. Jesus who suffered for us, knew what it was like to be thirsty, hungry, tired, discouraged, and in pain.
In fact, Jesus had had nothing to eat or drink after the Last Supper…fasting in effect for 18 hours…that’s a long time to fast! He was dehydrated and weak. He would have been quite literally “dying for water.” It was from the cross, from this place of physical exhaustion that Jesus declared his thirst.
If you’ve been at the bedside of a loved one who is dying, you will have used the small sticks topped with sponges, to soak up small amounts of water to soften your loved one’s lips. This water is not enough to quench their thirst but rather only enough to moisten their mouth and lips, and to loosen their tongue from the roof of their mouth…so as to make them more comfortable and perhaps enable them to speak a few words. And on the cross, when Jesus cried out, “I thirst” the soldiers offered Jesus a mixture of vinegar and water, held up on a sponge attached to a hyssop branch. But in taking the sour wine to his lips, another dynamic was in play as the sour wine became a symbol of the cup of suffering that Jesus endured for our sakes. On the cross, in addition to his physical thirst, Jesus also demonstrated his spiritual thirst for God the Father. In the loneliness and darkness of that hour…after having suffered so much…Jesus’ cry, “I thirst”… also pointed to his spiritual thirst.
Do you remember when Peter attempted to prevent Jesus from being arrested, that Jesus responded this way…”Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?” (John 18:11)…
And on the night of His arrest, as Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, He committed His all to the task: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22: 42). Jesus was again referring to the cup of suffering that had been prophesied. Despite Jesus’ prayer that the cup of suffering would be taken from him, in the providence of God, the cup of suffering was not taken away; no, Jesus drank it all for us. For he knew that there was no other way for us to be saved except through his suffering and death.
Spiritual thirst is something that is addressed many times in the scriptures. For Inside each of our hearts is a God-shaped vacuum that only God can fill… we have a Spirit- induced craving for him… a spiritual thirst that only he can satisfy.
We hear this spiritual longing in the chorus that we’ve sung this morning,
As the deer pants for the water
So my soul longs after you
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship you.
We hear this spiritual longing in Christ’s call in the Sermon on the Mount to “hunger and thirst after righteousness”. (Matthew 5:6)
Perhaps you are experiencing a spiritual longing for God. That nagging question in your mind, “is this all there is?” that longing for more of God…that desire for his forgiveness and his cleansing…this is the Spirit of God calling to you, to come to him in humility and honesty and be cleansed, forgiven, and saved by his sacrifice for your sins on the cross.
That day on the cross Jesus made the connection for us, between physical thirst and spiritual thirst… he likened the feeling of us being physically thirsty to us being spiritually thirsty. This reminds us of the story of the Samaritan woman meeting Jesus at the well in John’s gospel. (John 4)
In ancient times, everyone knew Jacob’s well and they would plan their journeys around coming to this source of life-giving water! A modern corollary of this would be owning an electric car, and mapping out your route with the location of the plug-in stations top of mind.
So, Jesus asked the woman at the well for a drink of water- perhaps this was an ancient equivalent of a pick-up-line, we don’t really know, and somehow I don’t think so … Jesus was certainly physically thirsty, but his request for water also opened the door to further spiritual conversations. For more important than our physical thirst, which we are quick to address because of our discomfort, is our spiritual thirst. But there was this seemingly insurmountable cultural problem. Jesus was a Jew, and she was a Samaritan woman. He should not even have asked her for a drink at all! Yet Jesus responded to her question “Why” by saying “if you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10)
The woman didn’t understand right away, and thought Jesus was referring to the water from Jacob’s well which people came for every day. She was coming to the well out of a physical need, but he identified in her a more important spiritual need. The woman said to Jesus, Jacob’s well is very deep and you have no rope or bucket…how will you get this living water? In effect, how can you offer better water than this well provides…that Jacob’s sons and his cattle enjoyed?
Jesus told her that everyone will become thirsty again after drinking this well water. But the water Jesus will give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, springing up to eternal life. Jesus said in John’s gospel, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”(John 7: 38)
The other notable dynamic is that Jesus had to experience the physical thirst that preceded his death in order for our spiritual thirst to be relieved…he couldn’t be the one who provided the living water to us unless he went to the cross, suffered and died, and was raised to new life… so, Jesus who thirsts physically on the cross is also the one who becomes spiritually our never-ending source of living water…
What are you thirsting for today?
- Are you thirsting for the peace that only God can give?
- Are you thirsting for the forgiveness that only Jesus can offer?
- Are you thirsting for the assurance of your salvation?
Then come to him today…it’s level ground at the foot of the cross…we’re all sinners…all in need of God’s forgiveness. The Rev. Kyle Norman said it this way, “it’s because Jesus thirsted on the cross, that he can quench the longings of our soul. It’s because he died that Jesus meets us in the place of death and transforms it to a place of eternal life. “ At the cross Jesus invites us all to lay our burdens down…to invite him to be the Lord of our lives, and the source of living water… See his loving arms stretched out for you on the cross! He is calling to you and to me! Won’t you come to him today?
To God be the glory. AMEN
Moment of Reflection
In scripture, we are told that if we confess with our mouths, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) AND
”to all who receive him, he gives the right to become children of God (John 1: 12). Some of us are on the journey of faith already, and I know that there are some who would like to make a commitment to Jesus today.
For those of you who wish to commit yourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ today, I invite you, during this moment of reflection, to pray in the quietness of your heart, this prayer that I will give words to today. Let us pray.
Dear God, I recognize that I am a sinner and I need you. I recognize that I have sinned and fallen short of your glory. I know there is nothing that I can do to save myself. I confess my complete helplessness to forgive my own sin or to work my way to heaven.
I believe that Jesus Christ willingly bore my sins when He died on the cross. I believe that He has done everything that will ever be necessary to enable me to stand forgiven in your holy presence. I thank you that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead as a guarantee of my own salvation and my bodily resurrection through believing in him.
Thank you for receiving me as a child of God today despite my many sins and failures. It’s my desire to follow Jesus. Father, I take you at your Word. I thank you that I can face death because Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for the assurance that you will walk with me through the deep valley and that you will be with me every step of the way, until you bring me safely home to live forever with you in heaven. Thank you for hearing this prayer. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you prayed this prayer with me today, please reach out to tell someone…your elder, a friend or family member, or Pastor Duncan or me so that we can continue to pray for you, support you and equip you on your faith journey. May God richly bless you!