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Good Friday, April 21, 2011
Washington Street Baptist Church
“I am thirsty”-- John 19:28-29
“I am thirsty”
Obvious—hanging on the cross under the hot desert sun
From the church fathers to Julian of Norwich to contemporary bloggers, descriptions agony
Many quite graphic—even gentle Julian—in the rather disgusting details of dehydration
Many quick to note dehydration usually precipitated death for crucified
Of course Jesus was thirsty
But why did he say it?
Did he think a drink of water or wine would really help?
Why didn’t he say, my hands hurt?
Don’t you think hanging by nailed hands would HURT like heck?
Why say “I am thirsty”
So our reading from John gives us one hint—it was to fulfill the scriptures
But which scriptures?
Maybe Psalm 69.21 “for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”
Or maybe Psalm 22.15 “my mouth is dried up like potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws”
But there are more than fifty Biblical references to thirst
Does the Evangelist John draw us to the thirst of Jesus on the cross just to connect us with the suffering
psalmist or the suffering servant?
I don’t know how many of you spend Sunday mornings with texts of RCL
Just a few weeks ago RCL gave us story of Samaritan Woman at the well
Evangelist John’s story—no other Gospel offers this extended narrative
5x married & living w/ a man, Samaritan woman drawing water in the heat of midday
isolated, outcast, untouchable
Yet Jesus asks her to get him water from the well; he is thirsty
Jesus engages her in extended, theological conversation “He told me everything I ever did”
Jesus offers her “Living water so that she might never thirst again”
The Lord of life offers living water so that she might never thirst again
So Jesus, the source of living water, hangs on the cross & says I am thirsty
So are we all… so are we all
Woman whose life is a mess who has been looking for love in all the wrong places
Alcoholic who can’t quench thirst for meaning & wholeness so he drinks his life away
Gay guy who wants to live & love openly-- worries what his family, friends, school, church will do
Depressed elder living alone who can’t muster the energy to eat or drink—dehydrated, ends up in
the hospital
Teen who can’t find a job—might as well party w/ friends every day
Successful parent who spends so many hrs at work she has no time to sit, eat, drink, talk… enjoy
children, partner, life
Each of us comes to the cross—each of us hangs on the cross THIRSTY
Thirsty for love, for life, for God
“As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the
living God.”
Like John’s Samaritan woman at the well (who from all reports exceeds even the most industrious sinners
among us in bad behavior),
we try to quench our thirst in all kinds of ways that do not lead to life.
But God knows our thirst. God knows our need for living water.
Why does Jesus on cross say “I am thirsty” & not “Man, my hands hurt?”
Because the Lord of life who offered living water to Samaritan woman, wants us to know that living water
is ours for the taking
Living water is ours
Drink and be satisfied because Jesus took our thirst to the cross with him
Drink and thirst no longer because Jesus is Lord
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