Have you ever been thirsty? I mean really thirsty? Dehydration can be a very painful and dangerous condition. With clean water easily avaible, we really don't have to worry about the kind of intense thirst that was often a reality in the arid Middle East.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was thirsty. You probably knew that, didn't you? But let's look a little closer at the exact words. John writes, "...knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, 'I am thirsty.'" (John 1:28 -NIV)
Did you see something new in that verse? I did. Jesus said He was thirsty so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. That Scripture is the 22nd Psalm, one of the Messianic Psalms (take a moment to read it and you'll understand why it's called that). Psalm 22 begins with My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (that should sound familiar).
Verses 14 and 15 then say, "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death." This describes the deepest of thirsts. Understanding the depth of Jesus' thirst should help us better grasp the signicance of His death for us.
The Agony of the Cell: Our bodies are 98% water. I have read that serious dehydration leads to a deep and profound burning from within. That is because each cell is crying out for more water. This is not a preference - this is a vital need. Without more water the cell ceases to be alive. In a very real sense, Jesus' suffering extended to every cell of His body. It wasn't just the brutal beatings; it was an internal (not just emotional) suffering - a 'cellular suffering.'
The Agony of the Soul: Now think about the spiritual reality behind this truth. Jesus' physical suffering reveals something about our spiritual needs and the inability to have those needs met. For this, I'd like to quote at length from an Easter devotional book I've been reading called Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross. In it, Joseph Ryan writes:
Spiritually speaking, if God is not at the center of our souls, then we do not have that which can ultimately meet our thirst and quench it. The real danger of that thirst is eternal death in hell. Hell is the place where we get more and more of what we have been seeking to quench our thirst. Hell is the place where we get more than we ever wanted of of those things that we are trying to stuff into our souls.Jesus tells the remarkable little parable in Luke 16 about a poor man, Lazarus, who is the servant of a wealthy man. Both of htem die within a short period of time; Lazarus goes to heaven, and the rich man goes to hell. From hell the rich man prays to Father Abraham, who is in heaven with Lazarus, "Father Abraham, would you send Lazarus down to dip his finger and give me just a littel taste of water, because it is so hot down here?" (see Luke 16:24).When Jesus says "I am thristy," He is saying, "I am thristy with a thrist that every sinner deserves to experience forever." ...You and I deserve that unquenchable, unremitting, agonizing thrist because we have sought to fill our lives with anything and everything but Him.At the cross, Jesus asks the question, what do you thirst after? Throughout Scripture, thirst is a metaphor for a deep, inward spiritual emptiness and need. Without God we will die, because the Bible says that what we most thirst for and need at the center of our lives is not stuff but God. The question always is, what do I drink to fill that deep and profound thirst within me?If you run out of water, the last thing you want to do is drink salt water. It will only increase your thrist and accelerate the process of dehydration. Every one of us puts our mouth down into salt water of whatever we use to meet our deepest needs. Jesus Christ became for you the One who thirsted unto death. Look to Jesus and say, "You are the only One who can satisfy my deepest need.From Grace, George.
The last thing my dad said, the evening before he died four years ago, was "Water, please." That tore my mom apart, not so much the request for the water, but that simple word, "Please." He never let go of that awareness of the service of others for his sake.
ReplyDeleteWhen the doctor told him that he did not have long left, and that hospice care would be arranged, he said that he wasn't scared of being dead, since he knew where he was going. But he was scared of dying. Not just for the discomfort, but also the grief and trouble it would bring to those of us who loved him. He did not want to disrupt anyone's life.
At his funeral, there was a line of visitors for over two hours, coming to say good-bye. Many of them were students in his Sunday school and Bible classes throughout the years, coming to tell us what a change he made in their lives.
Dad did not want to disrupt people's lives, but he in fact disrupted the lives of hundreds over the years. Disrupted them from the road they were going, and pointed them toward Christ.
I accepted Christ when I was 13, through the influence of someone at school. Being 13, however, I didn't say anything about it, until one day I came home from school to hear Dad say, "I've accepted Christ. Here's a Bible. We're going to church." His passion for Bible Study over the years influenced me greatly in my walk with Christ, developing in me a thirst for the Word of God. Now, anytime I open up my Bible to read, the words go through my mind: "Water, please."
Dad opened my eyes to what God has planned for me in this life. It was a bittersweet blessing that, when he died, I was the one to close his eyes, and hand him over to the arms of a loving Father.