What Are You Thirsty For?

Intro: Good morning FE, I hope this series has blessed you as it has been blessing me to focus on the words Christ has spoken from the cross and what that means for our lives.

As was praying and thinking through for today’s sermon, I couldn’t help but notice in the first 3 sayings from the cross, Jesus’ focus was on others. We read about his intercession for his enemies, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Then we read about his word of salvation and assurance to the repentant thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise. In the third saying his concern is for his mother and who will care for her. It isn’t until we get to the end do we find Jesus speaking words which are focused on his direct experience.

Last week we read about Jesus’ words of anguish as the holiness and judgement of God and God’s love and mercy toward us were crossing at the cross of Christ and the Father turns his face away as Jesus becomes the sin offering for the people of God, as this was happening Jesus cries in anguish, “my God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Which we learned that Jesus was forsaken so that you and I can be accepted.

In our 5th saying from the cross we see Jesus again speaking words of suffering, open your Bibles or Bible App with me to John 19:28-29 or you can follow along on the screen as we read, two small verses but they are packed with meaning.

John 19:28–29 (ESV)

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

28 Después de esto, sabiendo Jesús que todo se había ya consumado, para que se cumpliera la Escritura, dijo*: Tengo sed. 29 Había allí una vasija llena de vinagre; colocaron, pues, una esponja empapada del vinagre en una rama de hisopo, y se la acercaron a la boca.

Before we get into Jesus’ words “I thirst”, the Apostle John writes something that we need to stop and take notice John says “Jesus, knowing that all was now finished”, Jesus at the brink of death, salvation for the people of God is purchased because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, Jesus knows the work is completed. Then John describes Jesus following words as fulfilling the Scripture.

This is very interesting.

If you go through the Gospels, you will discover that Jesus and the Scriptures are inseparable. What we discover while Jesus’ is on the cross, at the moment the Father turns his back and God’s wrath is being poured out on him, Jesus’ words “my God, my God why have you forsaken me?” is a quote from Psalms 22:1 , Jesus uses the Psalms to express the moment and in our passage today, Jesus has the fulfillment of scriptures in mind while he is suffering on the cross.

The reason is because,

Jesus’ Source of Strength, what defined his life and ministry are the Words of God.

We see this at the very beginning, when he was fasting for 40 days and Satan came to tempt him to turn the rocks into bread. What does Jesus say?

Matthew 4:4 (ESV)

But he answered, “It is written,

“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

4 Pero Él respondiendo, dijo: Escrito está: «No solo de pan vivirá el hombre, sino de toda palabra que sale de la boca de Dios».

Jesus said “it is written”, where is it written, in the Scriptures in Deut 8:3 “Man shall live by every word that comes from the mouth of God” Jesus knew the Bible, quoted the Bible in moments of anguish, suffering and temptation because it was his source of strength and what defined his life and ministry.

Look at what Jesus says to the masses that are following Jesus,

John 6:38 (ESV)

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

38 Porque he descendido del cielo, no para hacer mi voluntad, sino la voluntad del que me envió.

Jesus says I am on the earth to do the will of My Father, who sent me. Where do we find the will of the Father? In the Bible, Jesus came to fulfill the Scriptures by doing the will of the Father so that we can look upon the Son, look upon Jesus and believe and have eternal life. This is what Jesus was trying to teach the masses that were following him in John 6.

Jesus’ source of strength, what defined his life and ministry was the words of God. Jesus lived the words of God and as we read and understand Jesus, we discover that Jesus and the Bible are inseparable. Jesus told the religious leaders, Search the Scriptures, you will discover they testify about me. What we also discover, in Jesus’ moments of temptation, in his moments of anguish and suffering Jesus’ source of strength were the very words of God.

This is very important as believers, because we live in a society and culture that wants to speak about the Bible in a way that is not authoritative. We want to pick and choose what we believe the Scriptures say, I like the love portions but not the judgement, I love Jesus but I do not believe what the Bible says about sexuality, or the family, or heaven, hell and salvation. Church if you you are going to surrender your life to Jesus, if you are going to follow him, you will have to deal with the authority of the Scriptures because you cannot surrender to Jesus and reject the words the defined his life and ministry.

On the sermon of the mount, Jesus says this,

Matthew 5:6 (ESV)

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

Bienaventurados los que tienen hambre y sed de justicia, pues ellos serán saciados.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, I will encourage you to go home this week and start to read Psalms 119, what you will discover is over and over again, the word of God are described as righteous. What Jesus is saying, are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, hunger and thirst for the word of God, because they lead us to the One who is Righteous and Holy. Church can I ask you, what are you thirsty for?

What is Jesus thirsty for?

Why does Jesus say “I thirst”?

As I have been meditating on these verses for the past weeks, thinking and asking the question, why does Jesus say “I thirst”? I came up with a few reasons I would like to share with you. The first reason Jesus says I thirst is because

1. The Scriptures must be fulfilled, so Jesus says I thirst.

The scripture Jesus is referring to is Psalms 69:21, which says

Psalm 69:21 (ESV)

They gave me poison for food,

and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

Y por comida me dieron hiel, y para mi sed me dieron a beber vinagre.

If you remember, they tried to give this sour wine to Jesus at the beginning of his crucifixion. This wine mixture was mixed with certain ingredients that would drug the person which would help the person deal with the pain and most likely confuse the mind, this wasn’t an act of mercy by Rome, they could care less, this was to help drug the person so they would not put up so much of fight while they were being nailed to a cross, but Jesus refused it in the beginning. But now, after all is accomplished Jesus says I thirst and for his thirst they give him sour wine to drink, which is a direct fulfillment of Psalms 69:21.

Another reason Jesus says I thirst is,

2. Jesus had a physical need for something to drink.

Jesus coming to earth through the virgin birth, we have in Jesus 100% God and 100% man. As a man Jesus wet through the human experience. Jesus got tired, he was hungry, he experienced pain, and as we read today he was thirsty.

I am not sure if you have read about the Roman crucifixion process, but it is violently brutal. Jesus has been hanging, bleeding out, trying to breathe, with each breath his lacerated back rubbing up and down on the wood splintering in to his body, and in the open air. To say that all of this has traumatized his physical body is an understatement. As a result of all the trauma and torture Jesus’ physical body has gone through. Jesus cries I am thirsty.

I also think there is another reason we need to explore, besides the physical torture his body went through. Last week we learned about God’s wrath and judgement coming upon Jesus, how he who knew no sin became sin, for us, so that we can receive the righteousness of God. While this happened we learned the Father turned his back because God in his holiness cannot be in the presence of sin. We hear Jesus is his anguish cry out “My God my God, why have you forsaken me?”

As Jesus was experiencing this dark moment in the redemption of humanity, he cries I thirst.

3. Jesus was thirsty for communion with the Father.

I do not know if we as finite human beings can comprehend all that has happened between the Father and the Son at this moment in the history of redemption, but we know something happened. We know the Father turns his back and the Son experiences the abandonment of the Father, it is no coincidence, that after this moment, Jesus says I thirst. I am thirsty for the communion with the Father, for what was before this moment in the history of redemption.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness

I can’t help but remember the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman, at the well. The Samaritan woman was coming to draw water and Jesus asks for something to drink. What does the samaritan woman say?

John 4:7–15 (ESV)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

Entonces la mujer samaritana le dijo*: ¿Cómo es que tú, siendo judío, me pides de beber a mí, que soy samaritana? (Porque los judíos no tienen tratos con los samaritanos.)

She was like what are you doing talking to me, you shouldn’t be talking to me, I am a Samaritan Woman and you are a Jew, we shouldn’t be talking. But Jesus responds to her

Jesus answered 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.”

Respondió Jesús y le dijo: Si tú conocieras el don de Dios, y quién es el que te dice: «Dame de beber», tú le habrías pedido a Él, y Él te hubiera dado agua viva.

Jesus turned the tables on her and said, girl, if you knew who you were talking to you would be asking me for living water. Jesus changed the conversation from physical thirst to spiritual thirst. But she doesn’t understand yet because she says

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

Ella le dijo*: Señor, no tienes con qué sacarla, y el pozo es hondo; ¿de dónde, pues, tienes esa agua viva? 12 ¿Acaso eres tú mayor que nuestro padre Jacob, que nos dio el pozo del cual bebió él mismo, y sus hijos, y sus ganados?

The woman wasn’t understanding, she was like Jesus you do not have any to draw the water from, no bucket no rope and this well is deep. How are you going to draw water and what is this living water you are talking about, are you greater than Jacob? Little did she know that he was greater than Jacob, she was talking to Jesus, the messiah, God in the flesh, and didn’t even realize it. What does Jesus say to her?

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Respondió Jesús y le dijo: Todo el que beba de esta agua volverá a tener sed, 14 pero el que beba del agua que yo le daré, no tendrá sed jamás, sino que el agua que yo le daré se convertirá en él en una fuente de agua que brota para vida eterna. 15 La mujer le dijo*: Señor, dame esa agua, para que no tenga sed ni venga hasta aquí a sacarla.

Jesus says whoever drinks of the water I give will never go thirsty again.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness

The woman says, Jesus give me this water, yet she is still thinking about physical water and physical thirst because she is thinking I will not have to come to this well again. What does Jesus do? Jesus tells her go get you husband and this is were the conversation starts turning into a telenovela, because she is like I don’t have a husband and Jesus said, you are right, you have had 5 husbands and the one you are with now is not your husband.

Why did Jesus, talking about living water that springs up to eternal life, jump into the sexual life of this Samaritan woman. It seems like Jesus is changing the topic but Jesus isn’t changing the topic, he is still talking about thirst, but he is trying to get the Samaritan woman to see that she has been thirsting for the water that only Jesus can provide, but she has been drinking from the wrong wells. She has been trying to fill her thirst by pursuing relationships with men.

What are you thirsty for?

We are all thirsty for God, our problem is we try and fill that thirst with other things like relationships, wealth, addictions like drugs, alcohol or food, identity, significance and like the Samaritan woman we continue to fill our thirst for God with other things. Jesus is saying, I am the only one who can satisfy your thirst. Jesus on the cross says,

I will experience thirst so that you will never go thirsty again.

Jesus through his death, says I thirst and experiences a thirst like never before, so that he can provide us springs of living water which lead to eternal life with him forever, a water which will quench every thirst. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, why? For they will be satisfied. In Christ they will be satisfied.

Jesus says in John 6,

John 6:35 (ESV)

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Jesús les dijo: Yo soy el pan de la vida; el que viene a mí no tendrá hambre, y el que cree en mí nunca tendrá sed.

Whoever believes in me shall never thirst, turn to Jesus, for only he can satisfy the thirst you have. This is the invitation today, an invitation Jesus issued hismself in John 7,

John 7:37 (ESV)

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Si alguno tiene sed, que venga a mí y beba

When we come to drink of the water Jesus gives, we will never go thirsty again. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.