“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” - John 19:28
When Jesus was on the cross and said, “I thirst,” He was not only enduring the physical effects of crucifixion but also the psychological and spiritual effects of a life apart from God. Of course, there was a literal thirst. He was dehydrated from the entire ordeal of the trial and the beatings and carrying the cross to Golgotha and then the hours of struggle to breathe. Psalm 22:15 says…my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws. His mouth was so dry that His tongue stuck to his jaws. When our family lived in Arizona, I experienced dehydration one time. It was as if my whole body was thirsty, and I was sure that I could not drink enough water to quench that thirst. Often, the only way to get over this is through an I.V. infusion of fluid. But the thirst that Jesus was experiencing was far greater than anything water could satisfy. He was experiencing the dehydration of His soul. Psalm 42:1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. There was a spiritual thirst that could only be satisfied by being in communion with His Father. This deep spiritual thirst is the consequence of a life without God. When Jesus cried out, “I thirst,” He was crying out for union with His Father. He was experiencing the consequences of our sin, which is a life without God. He had to experience a life of separation from God so we could experience union with God. This is what He was thirsting for.
It is said that a person can live without water for about three days. This is only an estimate, but you can live much longer without food than water. Over time, as the dehydration becomes more severe, the effects are headaches, cramping, and eventually, your organs begin to shut down. If you were to see someone in a state of dehydration, you could easily not even know they were in that state. In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul encourages them to remember what life was like when they were dehydrated. Ephesians 2:12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Paul was writing to people whose city was home to the temple of Artemis, the Goddess of fertility and prosperity. To worship Artemis would be to live your life for the pleasures that come from sensual satisfaction and material possessions. Paul wants them to remember that way of life as a life that was defined as being “without hope and without God in the world.” Remember those days when you were dehydrated in your soul and trying to satisfy that thirst with things that were never designed to give you satisfaction? Remember when you were in the middle of the ocean, experiencing profound thirst and thinking that drinking out of the ocean would satisfy it? Remember how initially you experienced some degree of satisfaction, but in time, as your body began to work to expel the excess salt, you became more dehydrated and began to experience different levels of mental and emotional disorientation. And the more you drank of that water, the thirstier and more disoriented you became. And remember how, as you interacted with those around you, all they could see was the external appearance of health and prosperity, but inside, you knew that you were dying. Jesus was on the cross drinking all the salt water the world has to offer so you could be refreshed with the only water that can bring true satisfaction. He said, “I thirst,” so you could say, “I am refreshed and satisfied in my soul.” Paul goes on to say in the next verse, 13, But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Jesus bled and died so that He could bring us back to God.
Earlier in John’s gospel, in chapter 7, Jesus is in Jerusalem and stands up and cries out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” If I find myself in a state of severe dehydration, what I need is not a greater understanding of the principles of hydration or the molecular makeup of water. I need to get some water, whether through my mouth or veins, into my body. Jesus meets us in our states of spiritual dehydration and invites us to come to Him and drink. He is the living water. He says that He will not only satisfy our deepest thirst but also give us the privilege of being vessels overflowing with living water to satisfy a thirsty world. People all around us are dying of thirst, just like those in the world in which Paul lived. And just like that world, people living today can’t find ultimate satisfaction apart from being reconciled to God through Jesus. In his classic book “Mere Christianity” C.S. Lewis makes this observation: “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” Your tongue may not be sticking to your jaw, but you may be experiencing a thirst in your life that nothing you have tried has been able to satisfy. The story of Easter is the story of a God who loves you so much that He was willing to die of thirst so that you could be satisfied with living water. All you have to do is to acknowledge your thirst, come to Him through faith, and drink.