THE SEVEN LAST WORDS OF JESUS

THE FIFTH WORD:

“I THIRST”

The seven last words of Jesus Christ manifest to us two things. On the one hand, they show us the
intense agony Jesus must have felt while nailed to the cross. With these words we are able to empathize with
him because we know through human experience the feeling of being abandoned and persecuted. But, on the
other hand, these also show us his deep love for humanity, of what he can give more than what he does not
have. In his agony he was able to ask his father forgiveness for his persecutors. Aren’t we all in need of God’s
forgiveness? The good thief’s desire is for him not to be forgotten and out of Jesus’ love for souls, he brought
him to paradise with him. At the foot of the cross, he gave his only mother to his beloved disciple, the only
disciple who remained close to him in his trying times. John the beloved disciple was probably his only human
comfort because his other friends left him, yet he entrusted him to his mother. Even his lament “father, why
have you forgotten me” tells us that Jesus took our sins upon himself. It is our sins that separate us from our
Father.
The fifth word, “I thirst”, falls upon this category. It is an expression of his love for humanity more than
a lamentation in agony. I want to begin my reflection not with Jn 19: 28, but with a much earlier section of the
gospel, i.e. Jn 4:5-42. This is the gospel reading on the Third Sunday of Lent. In this chapter, St. John narrates
the story of a Samaritan woman drawing water from the well. It appears to be an unlikely but fruitful encounter
of Jesus, a Jew, and the Samaritan woman. Jesus needed to go to Galilee but had to pass through Samaria. And
so, tired out by his journey, he sat by the well. One bible commentary that I read says that theologically, Jesus
got tired because he had just met and dialogued with Nicodemus who was not able to understand him. Jesus was
seeking people with whom he can give his life and he gets tired when he finds no one to communicate his life
with. It is like having a lot of food and you look for friends or family but can’t find them. There’s no one to
share your food with so you end up eating alone. Or, one who has an exciting news but no one to share it with.
These might be a lame comparison, but I hope you get the idea of Jesus’ disappointment. And so finally, as he
was sitting by the well, there was this woman who came to draw water, a woman who was a potential listener.
Could she be a person Jesus has been seeking, with whom he can share his divine life? Little did she know that
what appeared to be an ordinary day will be a day she will never forget.
Jesus began the conversation by asking the woman for a drink. “Give me a drink,” he said to her. She
was perplexed as to why he, a Jew, was conversing with her and asking her to give him a drink. And so the
conversation began. With a simple request for water, Jesus caught her attention. As the encounter deepens, the
writer reveals to us that this woman, although she has water, is the one who was thirsty. And Jesus, who was
thirsty and asking her for a drink, possesses living water that will quench her thirst. He told her, “If you knew
the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’, you would have asked him, and he would
have given you living water... those who drink the water I will give them will never be thirsty again”. The
woman replied, “Give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty again”. Jesus, who appears to be thirsty at
first, is the source of living water. He appears to be a recipient but is actually to us through this encounter the
giver who abundantly gives. Jesus’ words “give me a drink” is not really a request but a recognition of the
woman’s thirst. Finally, in his search, Jesus found someone who would believe his words, someone who would
receive his divine life. Now let us establish three key points in this encounter. First, Jesus values opportunities
to dialogue with us. Second, his apparent request from the woman, give me a drink, is only a recognition of her
own thirst, her longing for truth. This means that Jesus in reality understands our human condition. And the
third is that by recognizing our needs he wants us to understand that he has what we need, and he longs to share
them to us.
Let us now go at the foot of the cross and listen to words of Jesus: “I thirst”. While nailed to the cross
Jesus uttered the words ‘I thirst’. In order for us to learn from this scene we have to look at it in a spiritual
sense. What does Jesus thirst for? In Gethsemane, while he was being arrested, Peter, as recounted by John in
Chapter 18, verse 10 of his Gospel, drew his sword and struck the high priest’ servant. Jesus rebuked him
saying ‘Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?’. Therefore, all his sufferings which led him to
being nailed to the cross is his act of drinking the cup God has given him. And he thirsts. He wants more, he
desires to drink it all. He longs for the fulfillment of his passion. He wants to completely redeem us because he
longs to share his life with us. He can’t wait to breach the barriers that separate us from God. That is what he
thirsts for. He longs for us like how he longed for a person to talk with, to share his divine life while seated by
the well. In his suffering, he was thinking about us. Can you imagine that in his suffering, we are his strength?
He wants to DRINK it more because the effect of it will be our union with him.
His ‘I thirst’ is a recognition of our own thirsts. Aren’t we all thirsty for something: perhaps peace of
mind, or relief from all the inconveniences the world is making us experience right now? Indeed, this pandemic
makes us thirst for the things we used to do. Right now we cannot go out without worrying what if we catch a
virus. We cannot visit friends, or talk to people. The sad part is that we are prohibited from even hugging our
family members after arriving from work. I saw a video on Facebook about a medical personnel who came from
work. His son ran towards the door, excited to hug his father but instead of hugging his son, the father stopped
him. He just sat down and cried. It was heartbreaking. We cannot visit sick people in the hospital, sometimes
they just die alone without having to see for the last time their family. But despite all this, it is a relief to know
that God understands us in our condition, that he sees us in our affliction. There is a song called “In your
darkest hour” that speaks about God sharing in our difficult situation. It says, “In your darkest hour, did you see
Me? In your deepest sorrow, did you feel My comfort? In your loneliness, did you take My outstretched Hand?
Your darkness is Mine too, and your sorrows I do share, In your brokenness, My child, I am there.” Your
darkness is mine too. What a great God we have! Why can’t he abandon us? Why can’t he let us suffer from
things we surely deserve? Who are we to be loved by God? In all this hassle, we are strengthened knowing that
God shares in our suffering. He looks upon us and sees us in our versions of Calvary. We caught his attention.
But the truth is, he caught ours. Now that we are looking at one another, have we started the conversation
already? Brothers and sister, he has been looking for us. May we pay attention. Instead of complaining, may we
lift up our lamentations and pain. He would love that. He wants us to call upon him and seek his intervention
because nobody can help us but him. And he knows that. O how he longs to save us!
In the midst of this difficult situation that we are in, the worst thing that we can do is to put God out of
it. It is because he is our only hope. He knows that he could not abandon us. And in his mercy and compassion,
we know our problems, no matter how great and depressing they are, these will pass. All this will end. It is
important that in this situation we persevere in faith. We hope for the day when this pandemic ends. Pope
Francis in his Urbi et Orbi blessing assured us that Jesus, more than anyone, cares about us. And with him we
will be victorious. The day will come when everything will go back to how it used to be, that day when we can
all sing glory to God in the highest and alleluias. At the end of this road, we will still say “Thank God”. But
while in this mess, let us not lose hope, faith and trust in him. When the smoke clears up, when the tide
subsides, may he still find us believing and trusting in his love.