A past advertisement would tell us to “Obey your thirst.” This is part of our humanity. We need to eat and we need to drink as well. However, between eating and drinking, science says we will last longer without eating than without drinking. It is harder to deal with thirst.
The fifth word is “I thirst”. Why did Christ mention these words?
- This reminds us that Jesus was not 100 percent God, but He, too, was 100 percent human. People would say that Jesus’s passion was not difficult because He is God. But the mere fact that He asked for water, the mere fact that he became thirsty, shows that Jesus was a human being who indeed really suffered. Hence, we have a God who knows what suffering is all about. Isn’t this very comforting and beautiful when we cry out to the Lord? He knows suffering and He knows what we are going through.
- Fulfillment of the Scripture. In Psalm 69:21 it is said, “They gave me vinegar for my thirst.” (at sa aking kauhawan ay binigyan nila ako ng suka na mainom.) (In Psalm 22:15 it is said, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. (“Ang aking kalakasan ay natuyo na parang bibinga; at ang aking dila ay dumidikit sa aking ngalangala; at dinala mo ako sa alabok ng kamatayan.”). Jesus indeed is the Savior we have been all waiting for that Scripture mentioned.
- Jesus is what we need. Remember the incident with the Samaritan woman in the well? Jesus told her that He is the Living Water (tubig na buhay), anyone who drinks Him will never thirst. All of us are thirsty for the “meaning of life.” Because of this, they will do everything and anything for the “meaning of life.” But, remember, the words of Christ, “I am the vine (puno) you are the branches (sanga), without me you cannot do anything.”
Hence in the fifth word, “I thirst”.
- First, we thank God because He knows our sufferings.
- Second, He alone saves.
- Third, He alone do we need.
In our sufferings, let us look only to Jesus.
3 Ways 2 Your 1 God 