I THIRST by Alexander MacLaren

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 26, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 30.

"I THIRST."

By Alexander MacLaren

[Dr. Alexander MacLaren in S. S. Times.]

THE second of the words on the cross which we owe to John is that pathetic expression, "I thirst." Most significant is the insight into our Lord's consciousness which John, here as elsewhere, ventures to give. Not till He knew "that all things were accomplished" did He give heed to the pangs of thirst, which made so terrible a part of the torture of crucifixion. The strong will kept back the bodily cravings so long as any unfulfilled duty remained. Now Jesus had nothing to do but to die, and before He died He let flesh have one little alleviation. He had refused the stupefying draught which would have lessened suffering by dulling consciousness, but He asked for the draught which would momentarily slake the agony of parched lips and burning throat.

The words of verse 28 (John 19) are not to be taken as meaning that Jesus said, "I thirst," with the mere intention of fulfilling the scripture. His utterance was the plaint of a real need, not a performance to fill a part. But it is John who sees in that wholly natural cry the fulfilment of the psalm. Psa. 69:21. All Christ's bodily sufferings may be said to be summed up in this one word, the only one in which they found utterance. The same lips that said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink," said this. Infinitely pathetic in itself, that cry becomes almost awful in its appeal to us when we remember who uttered it, and why He bore these pangs. The very Fountain of living water knew the pang of thirst, that every one that thirsteth might come to the waters, and might drink, not water only, but "wine and milk," without money or price.