The Thirsty Jesus

“Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst” – John 19:48

Upon the cross, our dying King never lost His awareness of what was happening with Him. John testifies above that Jesus Christ was cognizant of the precision of the process of His own suffering. As the human eye would be convinced that everything was happening to Him, the Lord was keenly focused on what was happening with Him and around Him. He imports the Messianic prophecy from Psalm 69:21 as He cries out in fullness, “I thirst!”; centuries before, this exact moment was prefigured with the statement, “For my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.” Jesus Christ had just endured the midnight of His ministry when for three hours there was no light upon Him nor within Him. Sin’s suffocation had been heaped upon Jesus, and the living water of Heaven had been left with a parched throat. His humanity lies undeniably before us as the last liquid He is seen to have consumed was the wine He shared with His own disciples at the last Passover and first Communion. The intense heat of the Jerusalem afternoon sapped Him even further of whatever physical vitality remained after the brutal beating at the hands of the soldiers. Undoubtedly this is holy God dying for sinful man but, lest we forget, it is also perfect human dying for fallen man.

The Scriptures say of Jesus Christ, “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.” {1 Tim. 3:16}. The Gospels show Him marveling, praying and rejoicing as He experienced as a man all the gamut of life’s fruitful experience. See Him also in the Word as being weary, hungry, sleeping, weeping, suffering and groaning – He identifies completely with the misery associated with human life beneath the sun. And here our Lord is again…thirsting. The extent of irony is mind-boggling that the Creator of the earth’s seas was now thirsty. The miracle worker who burst onto the scene turning washing water into wedding wine now had neither of the two to drink. He walked on waves as the Master of the seas but was here denied in His suffering even one drop to minister to His thirst. This is another aspect of the King’s denial of Himself so that we might be eternally washed. His providential parching was wholly necessary for our refreshment of redemption. No comfort would be afforded Him under the wrath of God’s holy fire. He would suffer in the extreme and die with none of His thirst slaked. The only thing Jesus would drink on that afternoon would be a full cup of fury.

I offer us little practical application for what I’ve written today. Just soak there for a bit. Beaten on the outside, dried up on His inside…all of this for those who would believe. Have you believed upon Him? Do you believe Him still this moment? It must certainly still be a wonder that He would come for you. But also to live for you and commit to die for you? This is theology that demands a lifetime of reflection. In the midst of all of that we see also this oddly fitting aspect of His suffering:

He suffered thirst for you.

Now go and drink this life He has given until you are full. Then, quickly drink even more so that you will begin to overflow. There is no need for you to be dry when He has taken your thirsts and made them His own.