On the cross, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” He had been falsely accused, tried, and beaten nearly to death. Then He carried His own heavy cross up a hill. Agony and thirst consumed Him.


We are told of another time Jesus expressed that He was thirsty. Traveling through Samaria, He sat down to rest by a well. It was midday, and when a woman came to draw water, He asked her for a drink. She was shocked because she – a Samaritan – and a Jew would not normally associate with each other. Jesus told her, “If you knew … who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water … whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst” (John 4: 10, 14).


It is that same thirst – quenched only by the Holy Spirit – which Jesus confronts us about, too. He brought it to a shocking picture for us on the cross. The very One who is the Living Water thirsted in the midst of His distress. He endured being forsaken by the Father in every way… all so that we might be brought near to Him and thirst no more.