I Thirst- reflection on Christ's last words from the cross

My sisters, it is with great honor and joy that I get to share with you yet another angle of the cross of Christ. We are going to spend time together diving into two short words uttered from the mouth of Jesus while He was hanging on the cross for us.

I thirst.

It is amazing to me that these two small words can speak so much. As I was sitting and praying with these words the Lord led me to a passage in John chapter 4 about the Samaritan woman at the well.

The Lord said to me, “Become acquainted with this woman at the well.” And that, my sisters is what we are going to do this morning. We are going to become acquainted with her and we are going to learn from her, for she has much to teach us.

The story starts off with Jesus. He is weary from his journey. Maybe some of you are weary on your journey of life. Jesus understands that intimately. He is weary. He sits down next to a well outside a Samaritan town and a woman from the town comes out to draw water. It is mid day. The hottest part of the day. Women in that time came in groups early in the morning to the well to get water before the day grew too hot and to socialize. This woman comes alone, in the hottest part of the day. She is obviously an outcast of some sort.

We know she had 5 husbands and the man she is with now is not her husband. What other difficult circumstances she has in her life, we don’t know but can draw some conclusions about her from her encounter with Jesus.

We can see that she is that she is lonely, she is isolated, she is cynical, hardened, longing for love and self protected… I believe that she hasn’t always been this way. I think she has been changed by the circumstances in her life.

She has become hardened by her broken dreams, disappointments, losses, infidelity, rejection, isolation… and she looks for love in the wrong places and protects herself from love all at the same time…

Maybe you can relate to this too. You were young, in love with Jesus. You knew he loved you and you were flying high. Then suffering came and more suffering and hardships and you’ve become cynical and self protected.

Or maybe you are younger in the Lord, you haven’t experienced too many hardships, but you FEAR them. And in your fear you have become self protected.

This hardened, self –protected, broken woman is the woman that Jesus meets at the well that day.

“Give me a drink.”

Jesus asks her for a drink of water. He thirsts. He thirsts for her. He thirsts for you and He thirsts for me.

She says, “How is it that you a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?
I don’t think she is just asking the practical question because Jews and Samaritans are enemies. I think she’s asking, “What do you want from me? Are you asking for water or do you want a piece of me too?
She’s become cynical and suspicious ~thinking everyone is out to take a piece of her. I think we can start to respond to the Lord in this way too.
You love me? What are you going to ask of me? What do you want from me? What are you going to take from me?
We can start to relate to Jesus as if he’s out to get us. Then we start to hold on~ hold on tightly to the things that mean the most to us. Just don’t take my husband, or my children, or my job, or my nice figure, or my health, or Mr. X who I plan to marry one day… They are MINE!!!!
What do you want from me Jesus of Nazareth? Why are you asking me for a drink? Why are you thirsting for me?

We lack confidence in His love. And in this fear and suspicion we hide ourselves in our self protection and cling to an illusion of being in control.

It is easy to have this happen to us as we encounter circumstances in our life that are not what we planned, not what we said “yes” to.

(Example of Mary at mayo- planned on good answers, or bad answers, but not no answers…)

Slowly, we become hardened (or for some of us, it’s quickly).We shove down our anger, our resentment, our weakness, our anxiety… the pressure pushes this all down together and gets hard. The ground of our heart becomes hard. Or at least there are parts of us that are hard. We thirst for water to soften our hearts again.

“Jesus said to her, “Call your husband and come here. The woman answered, I have no husband. You are right in saying I have no husband. For you have had 5 husbands and he whom you have now is not your husband.”

What is it that we turn to instead of Jesus. What do we have in our lives that are our 5 husbands? We too turn to other things to control since our lives are out of our control… we eat too much, we starve ourselves, we turn to alcohol, drugs, sexual sin, we buy stuff, we let social networking consume our time… I bet we each have 5 husbands. 5 things that we turn to, that we try to control, instead of turning to Jesus.

Jesus said to her, “Call your husband and come here. The woman answered, I have no husband. You are right in saying I have no husband. For you have had 5 husbands and he whom you have now is not your husband.”

In this one line, Jesus EXPOSES the Samaritan woman’s longing for love. He exposes her grief. He exposes her broken relationships, her broken dreams. He exposes her shame. He exposes her sin. He exposes her isolation. He exposes her thirst. He exposes her self protection. He exposes her desire for control at all costs.

He is able to expose her because he KNOWS her. He KNOWS her deepest longings, fears, her sin, her mistakes, her hopes, insecurities, sadness, disappointments… HE KNOWS HER. He knows and exposes her deepest longings… to be known and to be loved.

He knows us too. He knows you. He knows me. He knows our deepest longings, fears, our grief, sin, weakness, hopes and dreams. He knows our hardness, our lack of trust, our self protection. He knows our grasping for control. He knows. He knows our dignity. He knows what we are becoming.

What is at the heart of it all? Our desire to be truly known. Our desire to be deeply loved.

We have a deep, deep place in us that longs, thirsts, yearns, that aches for love. In this scripture, the woman at the well says to Jesus, “the well is deep, and you don’t even have a bucket.”

If we sit for any length of time, we find that our well is deep. Our longing for Jesus is deep. AND our brokenness is deep. We have wounds that are deep, we have grief that is deep, and we have human longings that are deep. We have sufferings that are deep. Sufferings that are borne from circumstances that we have no control over and sufferings that come from our sin.

For some of us, we have grown cynical and suspicious of Jesus.
This well is deep and you don’t even have a bucket.
-my pain is too deep for your healing.
-my sin is too deep for your mercy
-my longing is too deep for you to fulfill
-I can’t even figure out my problem, how can you?

As I spent a whole prayer time on this line, I realized that there is an ache in MY well that is so far down there, that I think it’s actually dry, not just deep.
Now I want to clarify here… I am not suggesting that our whole hearts and lives are dry, empty wells, but I do believe that each of us has a place of brokenness, a wound, a place in our hearts that has become hardened either from our sin or circumstances or both. Sisters, Jesus thrists for ALL of our heart and our life. I believe he wants to speak to the area or areas that are the driest.

Does he ask us for a drink so that we see that our wells are deep, maybe even empty?

What? You want ME to give YOU a drink???? I have NOTHING to give you, Lord. Nothing. My well is dry. It’s all dried up. It’s deep.

It’s this emptiness, this dryness that we fear the most. We modern American women are supposed to be able to do it all. All the time. For all people. Jesus wants a drink? Great. I can do it. Right away and with a smile. 

But wait, I’m empty here. My well is dry. What do I do now??

I think most of us in this situation panic and hide. We think, “Just don’t let them find out.” We desperately fear being exposed. We despise having anyone, even the Lord, find out that our well is empty. That it’s deep.

We are all women who are “fine.” “I’m fine thanks.” “Lord, I’m fine. Remember I’m in control. I have it all figured out, I don’t need you. Anyway, I’m kind of afraid of what you might do if I let you be in control. So, really I’m fine.”

I was processing this some with a sister and I think she said it perfectly. She said “I spend a lot of time trying REALLY hard NOT to be that woman at the well.”

We hide our brokenness, emptiness, the deep aches. We put up our self protection.

And the Lord says… I KNOW you, stop hiding.

Panic can fill us. NO please DON”T KNOW ME… at least not all of me. Let me fix myself first, and then you can know me. Don’t look in that closet. And yet the Lord says… I do know you… AND… I LOVE YOU.

The Lord continues to give us circumstances~ crosses~ that shake us out of our “I’m fine.” They force us out of our illusion of being in control. They expose us… our sin, our weakness, our anxiety, our fear, our emptiness, our dryness.

I know I fear the cross. I don’t think I’m the only one. We fear suffering. We fear the pain of it, and we fear our ability to respond to it. I think we fear being exposed in it. In our self protection we start to question the Love of Jesus. We can start to think that he gives us suffering just to make us suffer.

My sisters, the cross, the cross is our path to Jesus, to the One we Love. It does expose us. It exposes our thrist for Jesus; our need for Jesus AND it is THE WAY to quench that thirst.

Suffering is not to be feared, for Christ gives Himself to us in our suffering.

We do not suffer in vain, just for the sake of suffering. We suffer for conversion. Because it’s THE WAY to fill that yearning, to heal that ache, to quench our thirst for Christ. It’s the elevator to the heart of Jesus. We yearn, we thirst for intimacy and without the cross, without our cross, we would never find that intimacy.

When we try to hide from the cross, when we try to avoid the cross, or compare it~ mine’s not as bad as the cross so and so has, or minimize it ~ it’s not that big of a deal, I’m fine~ the cross loses it’s effectiveness in our lives. We’re missing out on the graces that Christ has for us.

We want to milk the cross for all it’s worth! We want to get every grace for redemption out of each cross Christ gives us.

The cross in your life is your ticket to Jesus. Your cross is the expressway to His heart.

It reminds me of an image that I had a few years ago. Maybe some of you remember it. It was a particularly challenging time in my life. I was experiencing a suffering and I was mad about it. The image started out with me stomping and kicking the cross. I was so angry that I had to deal with this particular situation. Then, I looked down and I saw Jesus under the cross. It was a time on His way to Calvary that he had fallen. And I wasn’t helping him up, I was jumping on the cross that he was under. I was horrified.
Jesus then asked me to pick up the cross and help him carry it. I was afraid to. I was afraid that it would kill me. It was too heavy.
Jesus looked at me and said, this cross is not meant for your death, but for my death and your life.
If you pick this up and carry it with me, you will feel the heaviness of the cross, you will feel the cross rubbing your skin raw, you will feel the splinters enter your skin and you will feel how long the road is, BUT it is not for your death, it is for my death. It is for your life and for redemption.

I think we often fear suffering, we fear the cross because we think it’s going to be the death of us, but it’s actually the life of us. It’s our way to the intimacy that we all desire with the Lord. It’s the path to new life in Christ.

If you want to truly KNOW Christ-
Come AS YOU ARE to Him
Through his cross
With Him in his cross
In Him –into his crucified, pierced heart

Okay, sisters, I want you to close your eyes a minute. I want you to picture yourself at Calvary. Jesus is in front of you on the cross. (I read that the cross was actually at eye level not up high.) So, he’s right in front of you. He looks right at you and he says “I thirst.”

But Lord, how is it that you a Jew, can ask me a Samaritan for a drink?
Lord, how is that you the King of Kings, can ask me to give you a drink from my deep, dry well?

Jesus’ response is this… IF you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink’, you would have asked Him and he would have given you LIVING WATER.

Wait a minute, didn’t Jesus just ask for a drink and now He’s offering her a drink?? Yes, and he did this on the cross too. He says’ I thirst,’ then he pours out his life giving water when the sword is thrust in his heart. Water pours out. Mercy pours out. Love pours out.

Now go back to where you were on Calvary. Imagine yourself with your deep, empty well at the foot of the cross. Let Christ’s life giving water sprinkle from His wounded heart into your well. Let His love, His mercy, fill your emptiness. Let it soften your dry ground, let it soak into your heart, be made clean by the life giving water of Jesus.

I will sprinkle clean water upon you and cleanse you from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you and I will take out your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:25-26

I think there is a temptation to put the umbrella up to protect ourselves from His mercy because to receive mercy, we have to come face to face with our selves.
I also think there is a temptation sit for a moment and then move on. To not stay at the cross long enough for our dry land to become a river of life giving water. We rush to Easter. Jesus is inviting us to STAY. Stay in the cross. Stay in his cleansing rain of mercy. Stay at his wounded side.

His cross is an invitation to mercy. An invitation to be known as we are, not as we wish we were.

St. Therese says, “His Heart is always open, and I can take refuge there this instant, since my wretchedness, far from being an obstacle, is a springboard to propel me there. (pg 61)


We need to allow ourselves to be exposed. In being exposed in our need for mercy and not running and hiding- in receiving his mercy, his forgiveness, his faithfulness, his love,
We in turn are softened and we are made into ministers of mercy instead of ministers of judgement. We are set free from our self protection.

John 7: 37 ~ “if anyone thirst let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scriptures has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.”

Sisters, I am reminded of the blind man who was sitting on the side of the road when Jesus came by. He was wrapped tightly in his cloak.I think that if the man was blind, he probably had other problems too. He couldn’t work and was probably a beggar, so he was probably very thin. He might have been sick too. He might have had other wounds that he was hiding under his cloak. But when Jesus called to him, he THREW OFF his cloak, SPRANG up and RAN to Jesus.

Jesus is calling us. Let us THROW off OUR cloak, let us come out of hiding, SPRING up and RUN, sisters, RUN to Jesus.

The woman at the well says “Come and see a man that told me EVERYTHING I ever did.” With such great LOVE he exposed her.

He exposed her thirst to be loved and to be known and then HE FULFILLED her thirst by knowing her and STILL loving her.

What is my typical response when I am exposed???
Self. Self. Self. Self absorption, self loathing, self pity… I turn inward. I fear. I close off from the world. I close off from the Lord. I sit in the pot of humiliation and let it consume me.
This is our temptation when we find ourselves exposed.

Psalm 62 says “Oh God you are my God, for you I long, for you my soul is thristing… like a dry, weary land without water…
Then it goes on to say, “On my bed I remember YOU, on YOU I muse through the night.”

Have you ever been exposed and stayed up all night musing. Going over every word of a conversation or interaction, dying of embarrassment over and over again, thinking about what so and so must think of me, and how can I fix or “control” different situations? So often I am up at night musing on MYSELF, instead of musing on the Lord.


This is not what the woman at the well did. She did not sit in her brokenness, she did not sit in her grief, she did not sit in her sin and think only of her self. When Jesus exposed her sin, her shame, her brokenness, she didn’t run, she sprang up and ran to Jesus and opened her heart. She received his life giving water, His mercy.

And what does Jesus do? He gives her a gift. HE REVEALS Himself to her. There are VERY few people in the scriptures that Jesus says straight out, I AM HE. I am the Messiah. I am the one who SAVES. HE gives her HIMSELF.

She is given the gift of knowing Him and loving Him. For Jesus too thirsts to be known and loved. He THRISTS for you and for me to KNOW Him. He THRISTS for you and for me to LOVE HIM.

Jesus reveals Himself to the broken. Jesus reveals Himself IN our brokenness.

If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

We DO know him. Let us ask and receive His water of life.

Isaiah 43:20-21
“For I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself ~THAT THEY MIGHT DECLARE MY PRAISE.”

Sisters, once we receive his life-giving water we are called to Worship.

He tells the woman at the well…
“The hour is coming, and now is here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”

My sisters, Let us worship Him in spirit and in truth. In the truth of who we truly are. Not who we wish we were. Who we are. In our brokenness and need, in our dry places, AND in the truth of who HE IS… our Savior, our redeemer, The ONE who loves us, the Living Water that quenches our thirst.

I am going to close with a scripture that is one of the last 4 verses in the Bible.


Revelation 22:17
“The spirit and the bride say “COME.”(Jesus is saying to us COME- come to the cross, receive my life giving, all cleansing water, my mercy). All who hear say, “COME” (that’s us! We say to Jesus, COME! Come fill our dry, empty wells in our hearts) and let him WHO IS THIRSTY, let him who DESIRES, take the WATER OF LIFE WITHOUT PRICE.”


Let’s pray:
Lord Jesus, COME! We say Come! Let your living waters that flow from your crucified heart, fill our empty wells, soften our dry land. That we may have rivers of life-giving water pouring from our hearts to those in our world who also desperately thirst for you. Amen.