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In the name of Jesus, amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the fifth words on the cross that Jesus spoke were two: “I thirst.” You may be asking yourself, why, with all the other phrases, all the words that have just evidence of why they were said, would Jesus say, “I thirst” upon the cross?
Coming after, “My God, my God, why hath Thou forsaken me?” and coming before, “It is finished.” It is true. He says these words because it was the fulfillment of the Scripture in Psalm 69, verse 21. And it is true that Jesus was like every other human being, except without sin. So in these kind of events, it would be obvious that he would say “I thirst.”
These words, it is true that Jesus says, are said because he is suffering and he is being deprived. So it’s easy, when you see these words that are saying at this point, “I thirst,” to see it in that linear line of the first word, the second word, the third word, the fourth word, the fifth word, the sixth word, and the seventh word. And it sort of gets lost in that line. But we all know about Jesus’ state of humiliation and a state of exaltation.
And you’ve all seen the diagrams where it starts up high with the Incarnation, and then the suffering and the death, and then it goes up the descent, the resurrection, and the ascension. So I would like for you to look at these same seven words in that same pattern. You can see the first word that Jesus spoke as He looked up to His Father in heaven, but He has those in front of Him on His mind. He looks up to His Father and He says, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do,” forgive them, not only those that were there, but as you and me as well.
The second words, not only looking up to His Father, but looking to the criminal, the thief that was to His left or to His right, whichever it was, that both were hurling insults at the beginning of the crucifixion. “If you can save yourself, save us too.” To the point, somewhere, seeing and hearing, “When you enter into your kingdom, remember me.” And Jesus says to him, “Today you will enter into paradise with me.”
And then as it goes down, He looks to the third word, and He looks out at His mother and the disciple, and the exchange that happens. But the very center of the seven words is the lowest point. It is at the place where Jesus will say, “My God, My God, why hath Thou forsaken Me?” talking to His Father in Heaven. As His Father turns His back upon Him, where there is no grace extended, turning His back on Him where there is no mercy extended, but only the punishment that was to be for you and me, His Father placed upon Him.
The fourth word. So now we have the fifth word, “I thirst.” I will contend that the fifth word no longer goes down, but goes up. Because Jesus paid for your sins and my sins at that point. And it was from there, after that excelling, realizing that He had just finished His mission. He had just accomplished His reason for coming into the world. It was done.
And like a runner who runs the race, who crosses the finish line and catches his breath, the first thing he wants is refreshments. So Jesus says, “I thirst.” And from there, it goes up. It is done. Jesus loves you and me so much that He allowed Himself to be hung upon a cross, that He would die, that we can live. And that was His mission, to come into the world to achieve that. And He did.
But do not let those little two words get lost in the seven; all they’re insignificant, but they’re just as important. Because it could be that Jesus exhaled and says, “It’s done. I thirst. It is done.” And He did it for you.
So for us, as the last verse that you just sung, we respond. May we thirst your love to know. Lead us in our sin and woe, where the healing water flows. Hear us, Holy Jesus.
Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
