Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said “I am thirsty.” (John 19:28 NIV)
“Knowing that all was completed…” Jesus, the suffering man and suffering God all in one body, was conscious of the cosmic drama drawing this scene to a close. Amid the unimaginable horror of the spiritual, mental and physical torture Jesus still maintained enough control to know that his work is virtually complete, his death at hand. He was conscious that his agony was fulfilling the Father’s plan and bringing it to a triumphant finish. “Completed” is the same word that he would later cry in the very next word from the cross. “All that was completed” means not only the work of our redemption, but the fulfillment of all the scriptures that pointed to that very moment.
But let us also remember another word from the 22nd Psalm: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels” (Ps 22:14) Hours of unimaginable pain cramped, bled and suffocated Jesus. Slowly, fluids began to fill the space inside his ribcage, compressing his heart.
And so his heart felt as if it was melting like wax.
When Jesus gasped in agony “I thirst” was that cry the reflex of a suffering body? Was it a word from the Spirit and will of the Son of God fulfilling the Psalms? Was it both?
The remarkable irony is that Jesus the Son of God, who invites everyone who is thirsty to come to him, who promises a drink that will never leave you and me thirsty again—this Jesus now suffered the torture of an unquenchable human thirst.
And Yet…”Knowing that all was completed” could his cry “I am thirsty” mean more? Could he have been thinking of the psalmist who cried with anticipation:
“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”
Psalm 42:2)
“O God you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you. My body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1)
“I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land”
(Psalm 143:6)
Was Jesus remembering the words of the prophet Isaiah as he longed with all that was left in his dying body to respond to the Father’s gracious invitation, “Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters…and your soul will delight in the richest of fare” (Isaiah 55:1)? Or was Jesus recalling with longing the words from his greatest sermon, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)
“Knowing that all was completed…” It is difficult to see his thirst simply as a cry just to relieve his physical body. Jesus seems to have been thirsting for something more—for an encounter with the living God, for the deep waters of the love of God, and for rivers of life through the Holy Spirit. Therefore to follow Jesus Christ and to share in the fellowship of his sufferings will mean that we too will thirst in our hearts for an encounter with the living God– even and especially in times of pain, and struggle and desolation..
No matter how desperate we may feel, or however lonely, whether we are confident that we are walking in his will—or couldn’t care less—we thirst. We need to be plunged into the deep and living waters of the Father’s love, acceptance and forgiveness. We need to be drenched, like Jesus, in the rivers of the Spirit. May we be the kind of people, like Jesus, who thirst beyond the static of our own pain for an encounter with the living God—through the cross of Jesus Christ, and nothing less.
The Rev. Canon Phil Ashey is CEO of the American Anglican Council
