In our series on 'The Word and Words of the Cross', we come this week to the fifth word, 'I thirst'.
There are two times in John's gospel where Jesus is thirsty. The first is in John 4 where he speaks to a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Here, although he has nothing to draw water with, Jesus offers the woman 'living water' that would become in her 'a spring of water welling up to eternal life'. Here on the cross, Jesus is again thirsty, but this time there is no well nearby. He has been forsaken by God– cut off from the source of the fountain of life altogether. Yet, he is still in control. He speaks this word so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. But, moreover, in a profound way, as he hangs, thirsty upon the cross, he draws all people to himself and invites us to drink from the River of Life.
So,'Come… come, all who are thirsty, and take the water of life without price'. |
