After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth.”(John 19,28-29).
Certainly, Jesus on the cross had all the reasons to feel thirsty. He was experiencing the terrible raging thirst of that type of condemnation causing great loss of blood and sweat, and making every lamentation really stabbing. The wounds opened and exposed to the sun, were really burning. The sponge soaked in vinegar, placed on a hyssop stick and held up to the mouth of Jesus, only touched his lips as He did not want to taste it. There are two Psalms in which we could see the suffering of Jesus described with tenderness and bitterness: Psalm 21,16: “My mouth is dry as earthenware, my tongue sticks to my jaw.” And Psalm 68, 22: “They gave me vinegar to drink when I was thirsty.”
A THIRST OF LOVE
Even though the physical suffering of Jesus on the Cross was really heavy, in his Gospel, Saint John enables us to discover in the cry of Jesus a greater meaning. His thirst was not only physical. It was a tremendous thirst of love given and received. In fact, this cry of Jesus expressed first of all a cry of love and of passion for the salvation of the whole of humanity, especially for the many sheep lost in the immense desert of evil. When I was in Uganda, surrounded by diabolic situations of hatred, war and death, I saw in the cry of Jesus, ‘I am thirsty’. His hope for a world of peace and fraternity is a cry for the new creation described by John in the book of Revelation: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now. Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, ‘Look, here God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them, they will be his people, and he will be their God, God with them. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past has gone.’” (Revelation 21, 1-4)
Again, while I was in Uganda, in the cry of Jesus, I saw His passion to have all the needy people going to Him in answer to His invitation: “Come to me, all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.” (Matthew 11, 28-30)
SATISFY THE THIRST OF OTHERS
Making references to the heavy situations we have in our world today, I believe that the cry of Jesus ‘I am thirsty’, continues to resound in the Church and in every Christian community, expressing His strong desire for us to give a personal answer to His hope. He does hope while waiting for our decision to start on a more intense journey of conversion. He hopes for our commitment to transform the world into a better place for all to live in. He hopes that we may have a true experience of His merciful love. He hopes that we, too, may be thirsty for love received and given, because without love our life does not make sense. How important the words Jesus pronounced in the temple of Jerusalem: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me. Let anyone who believes in me come and drink! As scripture says, ‘From his heart shall flow streams of living water.’ He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive.” Those who let Jesus satisfy their thirst are able to satisfy the thirst of others.
Lastly, in order to share the living water given to us by Jesus in the Spirit, we must overcome three temptations which may become stronger and stronger in our lives:
– The temptation to feel that whether we want it or not, we become victims of the mentality of the world, forgetting that every person has his/her own freedom and responsibility.
– The temptation to refuse the risks and the pain involved in change and growth, forgetting that there is no growth without pain, and no transformation without sacrifice.
– The temptation to become slaves of fashions, instincts, publicity and sin, forgetting our need to embrace a genuine journey of inner freedom.
May Mama Mary intercede for us that our thirst may be like the thirst of Jesus on the Cross!
