"I thirst."

“I thirst.” The two words uttered by Jesus near the conclusion of his suffering. Are you kidding? I don’t want to be sacrilegious, but doesn’t this just seem … strange? These words have somewhat of a “why is this in the Bible?” feel to them, at least for me they do. In chapter 19 of his gospel account, John writes of Jesus’s desire to have something to drink. Two verses before “it is finished,” Jesus wants a Sprite. Well... not quite. Two words I have always overlooked until earlier unlocked the crucifixion in a new, fresh way. I mean, I’ve known Jesus endured God’s wrath and for a short time exited the sweet intimacy they had shared for… forever… in eternity past. But this was new. You might be asking why in the world I’m getting this from, “I thirst,” but bear with me for a minute. Think back to a familiar story when Jesus spent some time at a well. Ready? Rewind.

15 chapters back, Jesus takes the disciples through Samaria. FUNNY JOKE. Good Jewish boys don’t go through Samaria, Jesus; you missed that memo? Usually you travel around Samaria, but Jesus chose to go through it. Not only that, “he had to pass through Samaria” (4:4). Why did Jesus have to do that? Another verse I just read over. It’s noon and Jesus decides to go to a well to quench his thirst (catch a theme here?). It’s hot. I mean, it’s hoooooooooottt. Nobody goes to the well at noon. Nobody. Maybe that’s why Jesus had to go then, because a nobody would be there. John 4:7 tells us that Jesus meets a Samaritan woman there and tells her to give him a drink. Now, all you guys who think this gives you justice to tell your girlfriend to fix you a glass of tea, refer back to the whole Jesus being God thing and think again (that justification is in chapter 2 when he calls his mom “woman”). psych. Anyway, Jesus is standing alone with the woman at the well; a Jewish man and a Samaritan woman are conversing. This is kind of a big deal. Look at verse 9! Homegirl even knows something’s going on: “‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?’ (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)” Pause. 

Jews were God’s chosen people. Samaritans were a half breed of disobedient Jews who had babies with Gentiles. They were kicked out into Samaria because they were considered less than human and dirty and stuff. Sad, huh? Now you see the weight of the story and why the woman is so surprised he takes the time to talk to her. Note the intention and love in his response. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” Bam. That’ll preach. Jesus is over here preaching the gospel, trying to quench the thirst the woman isn’t even aware she has, and she says, “Um, how are you going to give me water if you can’t draw from the well?” Baby girl… He just told you the answer before you even asked the question: “if you knew … who is talking to you (paraphrased, duh), you’d have asked me for water, living water.” He is offering her himself. Pause.

If you are offering everyone love, and grace, and forgiveness, and peace, and life, and joy, and heaven, and no hell, and no wrath, and no pain, and no death… but you never point them to the glory of Christ and the living water that GIVES all those glorious things.. I’m not sure you’re preaching the gospel. What good is giving someone wrapping paper without the GIFT that’s supposed to be wrapped in the paper? Right? So remember that offering someone all the good of Jesus without telling them of the costs of discipleship is just as much prosperity gospel as money and fame, it just looks a bit different.

He reveals her problem, “you don’t know me,” and her solution, drinking the living water (aka knowing him), to her in one beautiful, tight nit package of a sentence, laced with love. That’s my Jesus. 

She goes on to ask, “Where are you getting this living water? You’re just a man and this is just normal water.” To which he responds, “Silly girl, let me explain,” lovingly of course. “I give water that satisfies your thirst forever. The water I give will become a river of life IN you. I give life, living water, to those who are thirsty, and they will never thirst again. Ever.” 

Whoa. Sign me up for that. I’ll drink to that! Yes, it’s a pun, but in all seriousness. Jesus, thank you!

I’m not the only one who desires it; the Samaritan woman does, too! And because she desired it, Jesus used “her testimony,” her broken past, marriages, relationships, and worship, to bring “many Samaritans from that town to believe in him.” Maybe that’s why he had to go there. People were thirsty and he is the living water. He says in chapter 6, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (35). This is incredible news. This is the gospel.

This, the second member of the trinity, the eternal Word and Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ: Jesus became thirsty that we might never thirst again. Let me say that again.

Jesus thirsted so we might never thirst again. 

For those who are his, those whom he calls, Jesus thirsted so we would never thirst again.

Wow. This is the beauty of the gospel. He desired to become for us satisfaction and fulfillment, so much so that he stepped out of communion with the Father to bear our sin and shame and God’s holy, righteous wrath towards it. He took all of that on so that we would never thirst again. He took our thirst for him, our lack of belief in him, our not knowing him, so that we might never thirst again.. so that we could know him. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of Psalm 63:1, "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water." Hallelujah, Jesus is the living water.

He became thirsty to quench your thirst.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, and we all know it, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” He became thirsty, he became sin, he took on all of our iniquities and transgressions when he had never even known what it was like to commit sin; he COULDN’T commit a sin. SO THAT in him, by his sacrifice and offering of his body and blood for us, we might become the righteousness of God. SO THAT we might become spotless, blameless, perfect, beautiful, HIS. He wanted us! He wanted to quench our thirst! He wanted us to know him! God is the gift and He is giving Himself fully, forever, for all who believe, for all who are thirsty. 

"Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price" (Rev. 21:17).

If you are in Christ, if you’ve trusted in him and his atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of your sins and by his wounds you see him and desire him and love him and follow him, your thirst is quenched and you’ve been made alive. Hallelujah, to say the least. Welcome to the family. 

As we celebrate the resurrection tomorrow, every day for sure but traditionally tomorrow, keep this in mind. Because he became thirsty, we find life and satisfaction, we never thirst again. So stay thirsty for Him and point others to the fountain. Hallelujah, he is risen and in his life I find my all. I absolutely love you guys.