Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." – John 19:28

Today's Scripture Reading (February 20, 2024): John 19

I thirst. How do you respond to Jesus as he speaks these words from the cross?owh It is such a simple comment. It is a comment that might be expected from someone who is nailed to a piece of wood and placed out in the hot sun with blood and fluids flowing from their open wounds.

Yet, this is Jesus. And when he speaks the words, we hear and see other images. Do You remember the day that Jesus met that woman at the well? On that day, Jesus did what was just not done. Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi whom Priests, Prophets, and Pharisees came to hear. He was the one prominent people would meet in the dead of night because, while they may have feared for their positions, they needed to hear more from this Rabbi. On this day, Jesus stopped beside a well and spoke to a Samaritan woman, something that even His disciples wouldn't have done. But Jesus did; Jesus, a man and Jewish Rabbi, talked to this unnamed Samaritan woman. And if that wasn't enough, He spoke to a Samaritan woman who was so low of stature that even other Samaritan women would not have talked to her.

Do You remember? She came to the well in the heat of midday. No one else was stupid enough to come out at that time of the day. But then, that was precisely why she was there; because no one else was. At noon, in the heat of the day, she didn't have to face the glares of disapproval or the condescending looks that others would have given her.

She was pretty surprised to see Jesus there. I think we all are when Jesus shows up and confronts us as we try to make our way through our daily lives. No one would have blamed Jesus for not stopping or talking to this one. That was the expected reaction.

This woman wasn't trying to get ahead; she was just trying to survive. And there He was, sitting at the well. His disciples had gone on to do some errands for him. And so, both this Samaritan woman and the Jewish Rabbi were alone. It is at that moment that Jesus decided to do the unthinkable. He spoke to this woman.

His words that day were very similar. I thirst. Will you give me a drink? She was confused. People didn't speak to her, and certainly Jews didn't talk to her, and definitely not Jewish men. For a Jewish Rabbi to speak to her was almost more than she could understand. But Jesus did. And this woman responded out of her years of hurt and pain: How can you ask me for a drink?

And Jesus said to her, if you knew who it was you were talking to you, you would ask me for a drink. Whoever drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks the living water I give him will never thirst again. As Jesus spoke, he revealed both who he was and who she was. The Bible says she went away saying, come and meet someone who knows everything about me.

On that day, many Samaritans started a life of faith in Jesus Christ, the Messiah, on that woman's testimony. All because of a conversation between a Jewish Rabbi and a Samaritan woman that began with the words "I thirst."

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew 28