Thirst

John 19:28-29

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.

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Let me die like a man
No one understands
Let me pray that a poor man`s brave

Smacked that horse in the ass
With my last dying gasp
My brother could hear me say

"Gimme Some Water" by Eddie Money

The story of a dying man who wants nothing more than water; cool, cool water. A man and his brother need money to pay for their dad's medical care. The elder brother gets in a card game to get money; probably a crooked game, maybe he's just got a lousy poker face. He shoots a man on the Mexican border. Years later, little brother catches up and rides with him. They will meet the same fate, a long white rope and a hangman's tree; after all, the sheriff always gets his man.

Trying to get what they need for their father's life, they die together on a tree.

Jesus was looking to save a life too, in exchange he gave his own.

It's not uncommon to feel thirst before death. I don't know why, but I'm told it's true. It's true for hanging men in a desert and it's true for a crucified man on Golgotha. Thirst, it's a fully human response to the final situation. It's a biological response, not a spiritual one.

In Jesus, there is not strictly biological response, their must be a spiritual one that accompanies. Jesus thirsts because his body is responding to his pending death. Jesus is thirsty. Jesus is so fully human that his body is thirsty. There's no "super-human" thing going on here, he's fully human and very thirsty.

The good news is for us in our thirst, Jesus provides the living water that never goes dry. Yes, our bodies will thirst, but our lives don't need to be parched.