After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” John 19:28
"When Jesus says, 'I am thirsty,' I don't think he means physical thirst, because in the whole passion account we never once hear Jesus complaining about any of the physical torture and agony into which he is placed. He is blindfolded and beaten with the fists of soldiers. He is scourged with a whip made with bits of metal and glass fragments tied into straps that are laid repeatedly across his back. There is a crown of thorns meanly pressed into his brow until he bleeds. Never once does he complain. Never once does he say, 'It hurts.' So when he says, 'I am thirsty,' he is saying, 'I am thirsty with a thirst that every sinner deserves to experience forever.'
At the cross, Jesus asks the question, what do you thirst after? Throughout Scripture, thirst is a metaphor for a deep, inward spiritual emptiness and need. Without God we will die, because the Bible says that what we most thirst for and need at the center of our lives is not stuff but God. The question always is, what do I drink to fill that deep and profound thirst within me?"
—Joseph "Skip" Ryan
