Listen to Christ on the cross saying to us, "I am thirsty." (John 19:28) The thirst that comes with the agony of crucifixion is excruciating and very real. Jesus cried out to fulfill Scripture perfectly by not only expressing the agony of his physical thirst, but what other insight do these words offer in the heart of Christ as he was being crucified? "I am thirsty." Often we use these words to mean, "I really want something, I can't do without something." Thirst has to be satisfied or else we die. You can last a month without eating, but you can't last very long without drinking water. So when we really desire something, we say we thirst. What does Jesus desire strongly on the cross?

Jesus on the cross is saying, "I don't want all I have gone through to be useless. I want people to come and take advantage of it. This banquet of graces is here, all of this redemption... I want everyone to come and take of all they need." He wants everything that he has done not to be in vain nor be fruitless. He is thirsting for souls to come and drink. Remember what he said to the Samaritan woman? "If you only knew what God is offering and who it was that is saying to you 'Give me something to drink' (This is the same as 'I am thirsty, right?), you would have been the one to ask, and he would have given you living water."

Christ on the cross has done what he was called to do; his physical life on earth is ending. He will rise from the dead and will be present in a different form thereafter, but he is no longer going to walk the paths of Palestine, no longer going to knock on doors, nor will he preach in the Temple again, or on the side of the path, or from the boats on the water. He will no longer be physically there to feed the five thousand, to heal, pardon sins, or teach the people. He is not going to be visually present anymore, yet he still wants his message and redemption to reach all people. He thirsts for a special kind of follower, one who will not only come and find his own personal redemption at the foot of the cross, but one who will COME, and then GO, to bring what he has found to others. He thirsts for messengers and apostles so that they will bring the good news and redemption to others. In the beginning he needed people who would go as far as Rome and teach the Romans that their gods were false, that their pursuits were empty, that Christ was the Redeemer. He needed people to go and teach the Greeks. He needed people to go as far as the Indies. When he says, "I am thirsty," he is saying, will you take what you have received and spread it? I need apostles. Bring it to your home, to your school, to your friends, to your profession... don't let my Passion be in vain."

Just as he multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 people (John 6:10-14), he will do the miracle, but he needs the apostles to break apart the bread and bring it to the people. He is thirsty for souls. He wants people to receive what he has given. From the cross he is saying, "My life as a man among you, living as you live, is over, but what I have come for has only started. I need hands, I need hearts, I need tongues, I need feet, I need lives. I thirst for them." He is thirsting for us, that we will come and be the disciples he needs, that we will be this presence in the world. And when the message reaches us it doesn't stop there; we won't be mute Christians who can't speak the words of God, who can't spread the message of God, who are deaf to the needs of the world.

Read the parable of the Final Judgment. (Matthew 25:41-46) The people ask, "When have we seen you hungry and not fed you, when did we see you thirsty and not give you a drink?" Jesus responds,"Whatever you did to the least of my brothers, you did to me". Jesus has identified himself with us: any person who thirsts, Christ thirsts in him. Any time we feed the hungry or give a drink to the thirsty, we do so to Christ. So when we hear Christ on the cross say, "I am thirsty" and wish we could do something about it, he is reminding us to look around to discover him thirsting in our neighbor.

Open your eyes to the physical needs of those around us. Open your eyes to the spiritual thirst of those around you. Who is going to bring them peace, who is going to bring them hope, who is going to bring meaning to their life, bring them salvation?

It's terribly easy for Christians, as followers of Jesus Christ, to be judgmental. We have the gift of the faith, and it's very easy to create a little enclave where we are safe from the world around us. But Christ on the cross is calling out against the walls we build around ourselves, looking out perhaps with disdain on those who have not yet received this gift. Do not turn away, listen to Christ say "I am thirsty," and give of the gift you have received. What about the kid down the dormitory hall who lives a different lifestyle to you, is he not thirsting? And your friend who no longer practices his faith, or the ones who express their hunger and thirst in their excesses? How are you going to give them a drink... by hiding your faith?

What was Christ's reaction when the world was in sin? He didn't hold onto his divinity; he gave all of that up and took upon himself the human condition. Are you able to hear the thirst of those around? Do you hear their cry? They are sheep without a shepherd; who will teach them? Who will give them hope? Who will bring comfort and solace into lives that are so often full of distress and suffering? Will we let Christ's reminder of "I am thirsty" shake us out of our complacency and superficiality, and urge us to spend more time bringing the gospel to those who thirst for it, perhaps without even knowing that they do? On the cross when Jesus said to us, "I am thirsty," he also speaks for those people who are waiting for us. What will he say when your life is over? "I was thirsty and you gave me a drink", or "Where were you when I thirsted? Were you not able to think of others instead of only yourself?"

Afterthoughts:

To help you to examine your life in light of the inspirations God gave you, take a few moments and mediatate on the following questions:

1. How do I feel about the sufferings Christ underwent on the cross?

2. What needs do I see in those who are closest to me?

3. How can I prepare myself to spread the truth and light of the faith to those I am in contact with?