John 19,vs 28.
Later knowing that everything had now
been finished,and so that Scripture
would be fulfilled ,Jesus said, -‘Ithirst’.
I was reading
through the references and also meditating on my own, to look at the facets of
thirst Christ could have gone through.I settled on three to share with you.
1)Physical
thirst –PRESENT THIRST
Christs
suffering had begun hours earlier before the crucifixion. In the Garden he was
in such agony, the Bible records he sweated great drops of blood.
'Later
Jesus was “scourged” with a cat of nine tails.
a. This
beating would have caused Him to bleed profusely and would have built up fluid
around the lungs.
b. Such
a loss of fluid would have caused Jesus to go into shock and have a great loss
in blood pressure.
c. The
two most signs of loss of body fluids is weakness and intense thirst. The Lord’s
lips would have protruded; His tongue would have swollen and would have dried
to the roof of His mouth.
Psychologists
report that the pain from the thorns in the head would be so intense that it
would cause many people to commit suicide.
The
pain from the nails would cause “casaligia,” resulting in lightening bolts
shocks running up the arms and legs. Intensity would be so great that morphine
would not relieve it.
There
would have been a symphony of pain – back & chest, face, head, hands &
feet and an intense thirst……from carrying the cross all the way to calvary.'(Refe-bible study)
And I have not mentioned the mental pain of mockery,betrayel,isolation……….!
Christ has been through it all.
Even
as he says-‘I thirst!’….He embraced it for you and me readily.
2)The spiritual thirst –PAST THIRST
The pain of the
sin of the world that he readily took on which
separated Him from the father and
the Holy spirit-
The reason for the
Cross.
I don’t know how many of you would have had the
privellage of having a part of yourself being torn away from you?
This is not just any part of himself-it was anhilation
of His very being,Who He was ..
You and I would not even begin to understand the
magnitude of deep agony he must have been through.
‘I thirst’-He would have thirsted for the restoration of
His complete being,the oneness of the Holy trinity –Father ,Son and the Holy
spirit.
3)The vocational thirst,FUTURE THIRST-The thirst to see His finished work of Calvary.
To see the light of Easter in the lives of the
humanity he had just given His life for.
The thirst to see
souls being saved and the restoration of the fallen humanity into the most Holy
fellowship of the Trinity.
It was AWTozer who said-‘Eternity won’t be
long enough to learn all that God is or praise him for all that he has done’.
There
is always a paradox in Christianity and I was searching for one here too and
the Lord lead me to it-
“in the midst of sorrow is consolation,in the
midst of darkness is light,in the midst of despair is hope,,in the cup of
sorrow was the cup of joy,''(Henry Nouven)
And here it is-“In Jesus’heart-rending cry of ‘I thirst’-was the key to the Living
waters.”
You want
the Living waters to flow through you ,embrace Jesus’ crucification ,you
will inherit his thirst….
1)The thirst –as you go through the
pain you have been called to embrace, whatever
it may be,not trying to escape it,nor dull it but live through it to experience
the birth of something BEAUTIFUL which can be taught and manifested only in the
school of Pain.
(Henry Nouven)''When I say the pain I mean the true pain and not the false pain.
False pain is when you feel rejected and you think of yourself as a
failure or misfit-When the pain is nothing more than perception -It is not
true.
You have to disown these pain as false pain.This will kill you
spiritually.
But there is a true pain,the dull or excruitiating ache which will not
go away regardless of how much you surpress,repress it.
You have to embrace it ,live through the uncertain dark Saturday,……….and
wait for the easter to dawn…...
Learn to discern your pain…''(Henry Nouven).
Jesus did not own the pain of betrayel,rejection or mockery……,he
disowned it and defeated it…-He restored , He affirmed and He gifted His life….
But He embraced the pain of Crucification which made way for the
Resurrection…..life and Easter….
Learn to discern your pain.
2)Thirst for your own intimacy with
the Trinity….
‘As the deer panteth for the water….so my soul longeth after you….u
alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you….
Do we really thirst after God?Is he our
heart’s desire?
Do we long to know him and worship him?
My sincere prayer is that you and I inherit that precious,priceless thirst….this Holy season.
3) Thirst
-for the vocation of Christ,
for the restoration of others towards the mandate for which He gave His
life for ,-the thirst for souls.
Christ had a vocation-He moved with his head towards Jerusalem….
Do you and I have one?Was it Thomas Merton who
said ‘When (the living waters in you) Your
deepest Joy embraces the deepest hunger
(thirst )in the world-that is your vocation!’
Your embracing the cross and inheriting Christ’s
thirst…………will lead you to the ….. living waters..and the living waters in you
will go and water the parched places of Christ’s thirst.
This is our God of paradox! Be on the lookout
for Him!
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