Reflection for the Seven Last Words of Christ (Fifth Word)

The Fifth Word

“I thirst.”

(John 19:28)

Here we see the Lord crying out as a physical being with earthly needs, and we are reminded that God became flesh so that he could know our experiences of suffering, pain, and death. God seeks to be with us in our brokenness; to know the physical and spiritual pains that we suffer in this fallen world. To imitate Christ demands that we too take up the challenge of being broken on the Cross; just as Jesus did. Christian life fundamentally is not a set of principles, or rules, or adherence to an interpretation of Scripture. It is in its essence a willingness to be broken for the good of the world. It is a willingness to be vulnerable and weak: to receive the lashes that earthly existence heaps upon us.

Here the Lord is dying and yet he struggles to continue his earthly life. In seeking the moisture of sour wine, he clings to his to life. This is his last fully human desire: Simply to continue to live. But why?

Betrayed by his closest friends, he still clings to life.

Accused by a scornful society, he still clings to life.

Rejected by those who claimed to know more than he, he still clings to life.

Mocked by those he loved most, he still clings to life.

 All of this, even while bearing the agony of sacrificing himself for them, and for all of us. He seeks for his life and his suffering to continue. Torn and broken as he was, why cling to life at all?  And yet, despite all of this he does.

 Thirst here is an affirmation of the Goodness of Creation, not despite the suffering or even in the midst of suffering. It is Christ on the Cross that teaches us that to suffer the agony of death, even at the hands of an unjust accuser, is itself good, or has the goodness of Creation in it. To feel pain, to suffer, to be mocked, and crucified does not destroy the good of the person. Human beings have the light of God within them—all of us have this, even the most scorned and rejected and broken. It shines like golden threads reflecting a distant light, even in the darkness—especially in the darkness.

God has sent his only son to die for the sins of the world; even in the depths of his agony, his cry, “I thirst” is an affirmation of the goodness of creation and the beauty and glory that is the potential for nobility in human existence.