After
this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill
the Scripture, said, "I am thirsty."
A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of
the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.
Insights: In our journey through
the week of Passion, we finally come to the cross. This coming weekend we celebrate the entire
Easter event which is the sine qua non
of our faith. In other words, without
Easter, we have no faith. It is the most
central ingredient to our relationship with God. In today’s verses we see the humanity of
Jesus fully exposed. He is the infinite
God-man and His thirst announces the depth of His human nature. I encourage you to read Psalm 22 to get a
fuller and more vivid picture of Jesus’ humanity. I would, at this time, like to take a
different tangent from this thought of Jesus’ thirst. I would like to think about thirst as being
identified with our desires. In other
words, we could say Jesus desired something to drink. All of us have thirsts/desires in our
lives. Some of these thirsts are
productive and helpful. They bring about
a richness of life and more fulfillment than could ever be imagined. Other thirsts, however, are destructive and
hurtful. They bring about a poverty of
life and more discontentment than could ever be conceived. These positive thirsts compel us toward God
and His beauty. These negative thirsts
drive us toward evil and its horror. In
the above verses, Jesus’ thirst was pronounced so He could receive a sponge of
sour wine. After having his parched
mouth moistened He was able to speak loudly the wonderful words, “It is
finished.” Jesus’ thirsts were to bring
His Father glory. He desired nothing more
than to point humanity to God and His immense love. Do we, as Christ-followers, display the same
kind of passion for God and His glory? I
challenge you this week in which we celebrate the Passion of the Christ to
reflect on your life. Take a few moments
to investigate your passions. What do
your thirsts say about your life? Do
they need to change? Beloved, let us
thirst after God this week and fix our eyes on Jesus and remember His work on
Calvary. To God be the glory!
Questions:
- What are you passions for which you thirst?
- Do your thirsts take you to the cross or away from it?
Prayer: Sweet Jesus, my Savior, I am so grateful You were fully human as
well as fully divine. Your humanity
gives You identification with me and helps me relate better with You. Transform my thirsts, Lord, to long for You. Amen.
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