Bible Studies

I THIRST Based on John 19 v 28 to 29

by GLENN PEASE
02/02/21
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Shortly before midnight on March 29, 1848 a farmer in upstate New York was
taking his late evening stroll. As he walked along and uneasy feeling possessed him.
Something was wrong, but he was not sure what it was. His anxiety turned to terror
when he suddenly realized that the familiar roar of near by Niagara Falls was absent. He
thought he was going deaf, but that was not the case, for he could hear the breaking of
twigs under his feet. He rushed to the falls and was horrified. The mighty Niagara had
stopped. He thought the world must be coming to an end. He ran home and told his
family, but they couldn’t believe it. The next morning however the did believe it, for all
the newspapers carried headlines about it. People began to panic, and thousands
gathered at the falls. Prayer vitals began out of fear that this was a sign of the end.
Thirty hours later, however, the terrific torrent of water began again to plunge over the
great falls. It was discovered the huge chunks of ice from Lake Erie had become welded
together in a solid block like ice cubes in a bowl, and they had blocked the mouth of the
Niagara temporarily.

Had this happened to the Podunk River in Nowhereville, people would not have
gotten excited about it, but when the mighty Niagara stops, people pay attention and
stand in awe as they search for meaning. So it is with the 5th word of Jesus from the
cross. If anyone else in the world would say these words, no body would get excited or
pay any attention. Everyone has said it at sometime that they are thirsty. It is the most
commonplace of statements. One of the first things a child learns to ask for is a drink.
The two thieves on the cross were likely thirsty as well, but so what? Everyone who has
ever lived has been thirsty and stated that they thirst. We don’t make anything of it, or
look for any meaning in it. It is just a simple fact of life. But when the Son of God says it,
it becomes news, and men stand in awe and ask questions about its meaning.

Every word that Jesus spoke has meaning, and this 5th word, like all the others, was
recorded for our edification. Had Jesus died by the Jewish method of capital
punishment, which was stoning, we would not have these 7 words. Stephen was only able
to repeat the first of Christ’s words from the cross, which was, “Father forgive them.” It
was because he was stoned, but Jesus died by the Roman method of crucifixion that we
might have all 7 of His final words. The meaning of this 5th word can be brought out by
asking two questions-why and when? Let’s consider first the

WHY?

This reveals a suffering Savior. Why should He who created the great Niagara and
all the oceans, lakes, rivers and streams of the world be dependent upon anyone for a
drink. Some poet wrote,

His are the thousand sparkling rills,
While from a thousand fountains burst
And fill with music all the hills,
And yet he cries-I thirst.

Why? It is because He entered fully into the experience of suffering humanity. He
did not have to suffer thirst, for He was the very water of life. He did not have to suffer
hunger, for He was the very bread of life. He did not have to suffer death, for He was the
very author of life. Jesus did not have to suffer anything, for He was sovereign, but He
became a suffering servant and entered the fullness of our manhood that He might lift us
to the fullness of His Godhood. He who was rich became poor that we might be made
rich. Jesus said, “I thirst,” because He did thirst, and He did because He gave up His
perfect position of self-sufficiency to become one of us, which means dependent, needy
and suffering.

The last time Jesus had a drink was with His disciples in the upper room on
Thursday evening when He instituted the Lord’s Supper. From there He went to
Gethsemane, where in deep distress He sweat great drops of blood. He was then taken by
force and put through a cruel and unjust trial all through the night, and finally He was
beaten and made to carry His cross to Golgotha. He was exhausted and dehydrated, and
His body would be burning with a need for liquid even before He was nailed to the cross.
Eliza Cook wrote, “Hunger is bitter, but the worst of hunger pangs, the most accursed of
wants fell scorpions, is thirst.”

The Greeks have a story about Tantalus, a wealthy king who committed a terrible sin.
He was punished by being placed in water up to his chin, and the water would recede
whenever he tried to drink it. This is where we get the word tantalizing, which means
something desirable kept just out of reach. What a horrible punishment, for it would be
enough to drive the strongest person mad. We know that many have gone made in a
state of desperate thirst. Many have made the cry, “I thirst,” but why Jesus? It was
because He took upon Himself the limitations of human flesh, and He suffered the full
depth of human suffering. “In every pang that rends the heart the Man of Sorrows had a
part.” The second question is-

WHEN ?

This reveals a satisfied Savior. The timing here is vital to our understanding of the
full significance of this word. Note that it comes after the 3 hours of silence and darkness
during which Jesus endured the pains of hell for us. It is only after the battle with the
forces of darkness and the flames of hell was finished, and the purpose of the cross was
accomplished, that Jesus said I thirst. In other words, we have here the request of an
exhausted victor when the battle is over. The Water of Life has been drained dry and the
very fires of hell, but He has conquered and quenched the flames, and now He is asking
for the comfort for a refreshing drink.

This gives us a picture of Jesus as a commander concentrating on only one thing and
that is victory until the battle for men’s souls is complete. He refused a drink that was
offered earlier, for there was no time to think of self in the midst of this life and death
conflict. The father who dashes into the flames of a burning home to rescue his child has
all his conscious powers focused on one object, and not until that goal is achieved does he
stop to think of his own needs and thirst. No soldier in hand-to-hand combat stops for a
drink, however thirsty he may be. No man in a race with competitors on his heels stops
to quench his thirst. He will go to the finish line first. So it is here on the cross where
Jesus was in hand-to-hand combat with all the powers of evil. He does not think of His
own needs and thirst until He has won the victory necessary for our salvation.

The thirst of Jesus was the thirst of an exhausted, but satisfied, Savior. He was
satisfied that He had accomplished all that was necessary for us, and so then He made
this request for Himself. After He suffered all the pangs of hell for us He simply makes
this humble request for a drink. Jesus was not just taking a tour through the world like a
wealthy visitor visits the slums. Jesus entered the world of human suffering to live,
suffer and die. He did so as the God-Man. Only God could conquer Satan and quench
the flames of hell, but only man would ask for a drink after the battle.

Gregory of Nazionzus, back in the 4th century, wrote this of Christ: “He thirsted,
but He cried, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He promised that those
who believe in Him should gush forth as a well. He was weary, but is Himself the rest of
the weary and heavy laden. He weeps, but He puts an end to weeping. He inquires where
Lazarus was laid, for He was man, but He raises Lazarus, for He was God. He is sold at a
contemptible rate, even 30 pieces of silver, but He ransoms the world, and at a great
price, even His own blood.”

Jesus was not ashamed to express a need. He had a need and was willing to ask for it
to be met by the help of man. Jesus needs us to meet the needs of others as well, for when
we meet another’s need we meet the need of Christ. Even a cup of cold water given in
His name will not go un-rewarded. He meets our needs through others and enables us to
say with the poet,

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Behold, I freely give
The living water, thirsty one,
Stoop down, and drink, and live.
I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.