5th Reflection – I am
thirsty
After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he
said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.”– John 19:28
I preach on one of the
shortest sayings of Jesus on the cross. It is the simplest and most needy thing
he says. It forms the basis of the mockery that passers by saw him as, while he
was dying. When we visit the dying, they are almost always thirsty.
It is very tempting for
us to shy away from the difficulty of today. We are tempted to gloss over the
suffering of Jesus, the absence of most of the disciples, and his death. We are
tempted to ignore these facts and jump to the amazingness of Jesus’
resurrection on Easter. We are tempted, but we cannot give into that
temptation. This is something that I struggle with every year because I don't
like to think of the pain he endured, so I am saying this as much to myself as
I am to all of you... today we must sit in this space which is visually bare
and scripturally painful before we can enjoy the great days that are to come.
At the time John’s gospel
was written, Christianity had become a distinct group within the
multi-religious context of the Roman Empire. Though not legally recognized,
Christianity was quickly growing in numbers. In the Hellenistic world in which
Christianity was born, some believed that Jesus had not really come in flesh
and blood, much less died a gruesome physical death on the cross. At that
time it was believed that flesh was of the evil realm, and could never be holy,
which is why philosophers of that time sought to transcend the earthly body and
reach towards the lofty aspirations of the spirit and knowledge. Only the
spirit was capable of the divine. In other words, they believed that
Jesus did not really die he only appeared to.
But that was not true. Jesus did die on the
cross and the theology of the Gospel of John seeks to defend this even at the
very beginning of the gospel in the scandal we call Christmas when John tells
us that the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
