While in studying in Rome, I had the opportunity to serve the Missionaries of Charity as a deacon and priest. You know the Missionaries of Charity as the religious community founded by Mother Theresa in Calcutta. They serve the poorest of the poor and live in solidarity with the poor. I was struck by an image that I saw while serving the Missionaries of Charity in Rome. When I began to serve them as a priest here in Dallas, I saw the same image in the chapel here. Evidently, in every chapel serving the Missionaries of Charity you will find this image. Next to the crucifix are always the words “I thirst!” 

These are some of the last words of Jesus. Traditionally, we say that Jesus spoke seven phrases from the cross. Each of these phrases contain words that evoke power and these words of Jesus, “I thirst” moved Mother Theresa and her community so much that they decided to put them in every chapel. Why?  Hopefully, by the end of this homily we will have a clearer reason.

I know that I touched upon these words last Sunday. Today, we will go into more detail. These words “I thirst” can be taken from four different perspectives. The first perspective is the Thirst of Jesus’ Body.

Jesus’ body was brutally wrecked. He was whipped and scourged. He had lost blood and sweat. Remember Mel Gibson’s the Passion of Christ, and you can remember what Jesus’ body went through. Pontius Pilate introduces this God-Man we call Jesus Christ. “Ecce Homo – behold the man!”he says as we look upon a body beaten and abused. He was mocked and spat upon and His human body cried out for consolation. He cried I thirst!

We all know what its like to be thirsty. Perhaps we spent too long outside working or playing. We had sweated profusely and we drink water down gasping for air between each swallow. some of us may know what dehydration feels like and what it feels when the cells of your body are rejuvenated by the life-giving properties of water. Then, we have a taste of to what Jesus’ bodily thirst amounted.

This should remind us of the ancient story of Moses in the desert. The Israelites wandered the desert and were complaining of thirst. Moses heard their plea and at Meribah and Massah, Moses struck the rock and out came refreshing and life-giving water. Remember this because here on the cross water and blood will spew forth from Christ’s side giving life to all who partake.

So, Jesus cried out I thirst. When he did one of the guards brought a sponge soaked in vinegar and possibly gall to put it to Jesus’ lips. The gall was a numbing property that would lesson the pain at the last moments of Jesus’ life. Jesus, took barely enough to wet his lips and thus allowed the numbing properties of gall to pass him by. He wanted to feel each heaving breath and jolt of pain because he took this pain on for the salvation of the world. It was his plan all along and he was almost finished.

Jesus’ shows us by his restraint that while our bodies may crave something, we are not to allow the craving to numb us to the reality of our lives. We are to order are bodies and not let the bodies whimsies to lay captive to us. This may be done with food, drink, sex, sleep, comfort, work, or leisure. Partly the reason why we fast, and why we do today is to help order these to the reality of Jesus Christ. 

The Second dimension of the thirst of Jesus is Jesus thirsted for the sacrifice to be complete. In the Garden, Jesus cries – Father, if it be your will let this cup pass me by, but not as I will but your will be done. What is this cup that Jesus speaks of? Have you ever thought it to be strange that someone would refer to a cup in the manner of tribulation. Why not a plate or a spoon or fork? The reason is because this cup is the 4th cup of the passover meal. It is the cup of Melchizedek the high priest.

In the Passover meal, a meal which celebrates the freedom and redemption of Israel, there were 4 cups offered: one of sanctification, one of Remembrance, one of Blessing – before the Passover lamb was consumed, and one of a sacrifice of thanksgiving– at the completion of the Passover. meal. When Jesus had left the upper room for the garden of getheseme he had completed three of the ritual cups. The fourth cup however still remained. When Jesus cried out, I thirst, he was partly saying, “allow me to complete the sacrificial meal. The passover is about to be complete.” Finally, as a final act of the Passover, the presider would say tel – telesti, it is finished. With this final act, Jesus sets his people free having become the passover lamb who was slain. He establishes his kingdom and wins victory over sin and death. The cup he feared in the garden was completed when he took the sip from the hyssop branch. 

Third, when Jesus said I thirst he declared that he thirst for souls. At the climax of his self-gift of sacrificial love, at the very point where God’s agape and eros became one, Jesus would have looked out upon the crowd standing before him. He would have seen the thief that jeered at him, saying you who did all these miracles you cant even save yourself.  He would have seen the attitudes of self-righteousness of the Pharisees, and those whom he had touched and were wrenched in torment and he would have seen Judas Iscariot hanging on a tree.

Jesus would have seen past these to the countless generations that came and would come that had denied him or betrayed him and had crucified him by their actions. He would have seen us today, bowing down to the television and internet worshiping these trees of the knowledge of good and evil and forgetting the tree of life. He would have seen us using and manipulating each other for pleasure or power looking on each other in lust and use. He would have seen today’s holy innocents being slaughtered through abortion and people being ignored, slandered, or dismissed. He would have seen many living with wounds that need to be healed. He would have seen fear. At the height of all of this broken sinfulness, this animosity against love, he would have cried out I THIRST! 

His vision also would have gone down to Mary and John, who stayed with him to the very end. He would also have seen those who loved, those who believed, those who stayed with him when it was hard. He would see St. Loginus being saved by his baptism when he pierced Christ’s side and out flowed blood and water. He would have seen the good thief by his complete act of faith had changed his life. He would have seen Peter and the apostles empowered by the Spirit. He would see the Church over the generations and how thousands would be saved through people’s collaboration with His mission. He would see multitudes of his people responding to his cry of thirst helping those who are without food, those without shelter, and those without dignity. He would see his ambassadors going forth to tell people this good news. Moreover, He would see today here at this parish and he would you seeking to serve and to love. He would see you here worshiping Him and seeing all of this He would cry out!  I THIRST FOR THIS! 

Finally, the fourth dimension of Jesus’ thirst is a personal one. Its easy for us to think that Jesus did this for others or for all of this. But Jesus Christ did this for each of you in particular. He would look at you in the eye and say.

I know your heart –

I know your loneliness and all of your hurts –

I know the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations. 

I carried all of these -  I carried it all for you, all the way to calvary. 

I know how you thirst for love – 

how you are thirsting to be loved and cherished. 

I know how you have chased after false loves.

Betraying that true love with a kiss your thirst led you to seek selfishly striving to fill the emptiness inside you with passing pleasure.

This emptiness is filled with the even greater emptiness of sin. 

Do you thirst for love? “I am that love.”

Do you thirst to be cherished?

I cherish you more than you can imagine - to the point of dying on a cross for you.

Do you thirst to be filled. Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst.  

I THIRST FOR YOU.

I thirst to love you and to be loved by you - that is how precious you are to Me.

I THIRST FOR YOU. 

Come to Me, and I will fill your heart and heal your wounds. 

I will make you a new creation, and give you peace, even in all your trials.

Open to me, come to Me, thirst for Me, give Me your life - and I will prove to you how important you are to My Heart. 

Can you hear Jesus now say, “I THIRST!”