Fw: Lenten Devotion — Good Friday, April 19th

I thirst . . . .  It is finished.      

John 19:28,30Science tells us that we can live for many days without eating, but not without drinking.  Our bodies are made up, largely, of water and we must replenish it throughout the day.  Who knows how long Jesus had gone without life-giving water.  Ironic, isn’t it?  Jesus told the woman at the well (John 4) that he was living water and now, that which is, is thirsty.  
And, the words, it is finished.  What was finished?  His mission on earth?  His obedience to the Father?  His earthly life?  I see a possible intersection between these two “words” from the 19th chapter of John.  What was finished was his thirst.  Jesus, for the last time, would thirst like a human, would suffer like a human, would be human.  Now, in just a matter of days, he would rise triumphant, never to thirst or suffer again.  

Because he took on human form and suffered for us because he took on our sin and died for us; we can look toward a day when we will suffer no more, when we will thirst no more; neither will there be tears or pain.  Like Jesus, our thirst will be satisfied and our souls will be liberated.  Until then, we know when we thirst or suffer we have a Messiah who understands, completely.  

Prayer:  Loving God, we are so human.  We do suffer and thirst after so much.  Be near to us, guide us and be for us what we cannot be for ourselves, the source of all we need.  This we pray, even on the day you thirsted in our stead.  Amen.