I am thirsty. [Good Friday]
The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson John’s Passion I am thirsty. Given the circumstances “I am thirsty” was not the most obvious statement to fall from Jesus’ dying lips, on that first Good Friday. It seems much too small a thing. One might think he would be preoccupied, instead, by the vast soteriological implications of his crucifixion, as many theologians have been throughout the ages. This was, after all, an especially noteworthy moment in salvation, and human, history. Thirst seems to be a rather mundane concern on such a cosmic stage. Or perhaps he might be expected to be fixated on more pressing earthly concerns: distracted by the nails that tunneled through his wrists and through his ankles. And the crowds with their disrespectful taunting. And his friends with their fleeing. And the death on either side. But as the air was strangled from his desperate lungs, it was the thirst, his parched tongue stuck to the r...