Saturday, April 7, 2007

I thirst


If you look closely at the picture to the left you can see the faint outline of the cross on a damp sidewalk. I was struck by this image as I walked across the Cambie Street Bridge with a friend this morning.

Last night a lovely group of people gathered to listen to Passio composed by Arvo Part and it was brilliant. The phrase that has stayed with me is "I thirst". The phrase was long, drawn out and thirsty. Jesus said, "I thirst" while He hung on the cross on Good Friday. As a friend and I were discussing this phrase we wondered when He actually spoke those words and according to The Gospel of John it was after He cried out, "My God, My God why have you forsaken me?" Up until this morning I took the phrase "I thirst" to mean that Jesus was just physically thirsty. Is it possible that He was speaking about so much more? Was He now actually thirsty to the depths of His soul? As thirsty as we are? As Jesus recognized that He was separated from the Father He thirst. This is where the thirstiness arises from. We need to be reconciled to the Father in order to have our thirst satisfied. Because Jesus cried out, "I thirst", and allowed Himself to thirst to the full extent of the word, I no longer have to. What a humbling, beautiful realization.

1 comment:

Beth said...

i think, because we're used to living with 'thirst,' we become desensitized to it. can you imagine how gut-wrenching it would have been for Jesus, who had never experienced this sort of thirst before?