I Am Thirsty

John 19:28

March 29, 2024 (Good Friday Noon Community Service) • Mount Pleasant UMC

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty” (John 19:28).

It wasn’t that long ago when the two disciples (or their mother, depending on who you ask) came to Jesus and did what children do to their parents: “We’re going to ask you something, you only have to say yes.” Their request? To sit in the positions of power when Jesus was in his “glory,” when he established his kingdom. In other words, they were trying to get ahead of the rest of the disciples, get their bid in first. Jesus had paused, looked down at the ground and shook his head. “You don’t know what you are asking,” he told them. “Can you drink the cup I drink?” The two nodded confidently. “We can.” Then Jesus looked up, stared them in the face and said, “You will drink the cup I drink” (cf. Mark 10:35-39).

Last night, when he gathered them for the final time, in the middle of the meal, he overheard them arguing. Again. It wasn’t the first time they had fought over which one of them was the greatest, but he was determined it would be the last. Without saying a word, Jesus got up from the table, picked up the basin of water by the door and began to wash their feet. One by one. Even Judas, whose gaze he held for an extra moment. And suddenly, no one had anything to say—well, except Peter, who protested briefly. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked. And he glanced over at the table, where an empty wine glass sat, the words echoing in his mind: “Can you drink the cup I drink?” (cf. Luke 22:24; John 13:2-5, 12).

In many ways, of course, Jesus’ thirst on the cross speaks to his humanity. He is not some unmoved mover, not some distant deity. He is fully God and fully human, and as such he has human needs. He gets hungry. He gets tired. He has aches and pains and pimples. And he gets thirsty—especially now. Crucifixion was death by deprivation, and most of the time it did not happen quickly. It took time to starve and dehydrate a body. Most crucifixions happened over two or three days; there is one ancient report of a crucifixion where the victim lasted for eight days on the cross. I cannot even comprehend such horror. Of course Jesus was thirsty. Despite some who claim otherwise, he did not just appear to suffer on the cross. He really suffered. He was human (cf. Hamilton, Final Words, pgs. 91-93).

But I also believe there were things happening on another level than just the physical. Several times in the Gospels, Jesus talks about “drinking the cup” when he refers to his suffering. Even the night before, when Peter drew his sword to fight off the soldiers, Jesus had told him to put it away, and then said, “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” (John 18:11). Now, John tells us that everything has been finished, so if we were to extend the metaphor, we might say the cup has been drained and everything his suffering was meant to accomplish has been done. The cup is empty (cf. Hamilton 93-94). So at that point, when we finish a drink, usually we would say we are satisfied. Our thirst has been quenched. But that’s not what Jesus says. He has drained the cup and is still thirsty.

The one other time I remember Jesus speaking about thirsting was three years earlier, on a hillside in Galilee. A crowd had gathered to hear the rapidly-becoming-famous rabbi, and one of the things Jesus had taught them was this: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). Thirsting—for righteousness. The suffering he is going through on the cross is meant to allow you and me to experience the righteousness he dreamed of and hoped for on that hill. The way Jesus made for us on the cross should lead us to a different way of living, should make a difference in the world around us. What if God’s people truly hungered and thirsted for righteousness rather than swallowing the values and the ways of the world? How might our world be different?

As Jesus suffers for us, he is still thirsting for righteousness on the earth. And maybe as he thirsted he was longing for that day when, as he had said the night before, he would drink the “fruit of the vine” again (cf. Luke 22:18). What he suffered on the cross made a way that we could come to know him. He thirsted so that we don’t have to. He suffered in the place of the human race. And he still longs for the day when the kingdom of God will come on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus still thirsts.