 As we continue our series on the seven last words of Jesus Christ on the cross, we come to the fifth of these last statements of our Lord, the shortest indeed by far, where our Lord says in the Gospel of John chapter 19, I thirst. And to read the two verses in particular that refer to this statement, we hear that after this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, I thirst. There was a vessel filled with common wine, so they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of Hyssop and put it up to his mouth. The kind of basic reason why Jesus made this statement is obviously because he was actually thirsty. In the midst of his suffering and passion, he had sweated profusely, he had lost a tremendous amount of blood, he was breathing shallow, trying to get air while on the cross. You can imagine that his throat was parched. But if he was really thirsty, why didn't he take the first drink that they offered him after he was crucified? If you remember, they offered Jesus wine mixed with gall. But the Gospels say that he refused this. He refused this drink. Now we know why he refused it, because gall is a type of pain reliever, a type of drug that dulls the senses. And Jesus did not want the pain dulled. He wanted to experience everything in his agony. So this statement that he makes, I Thirst, can't simply refer to the fact that he's enduring physical thirst. Notice that John says in his Gospel, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, I Thirst. Now we honestly have no idea what that means. There's no definitive teaching on the church or among the fathers who say, yes, absolutely, this is why Jesus said I Thirst because he's referencing this specific Scripture passage. But there are theories, there are ideas. One simply could be a reference to the previous statement he made of which I preached last Sunday. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You remember he was quoting Psalm 22, a fairly long Psalm. And in that Psalm, one of the lines is this, as dry as a pot shard is my throat. My tongue cleaves to my palate. You lay me in the dust of death. Certainly that could be the reference that John is recognizing. He was there at the foot of the cross. He would have heard Jesus quote Psalm 22 and being a good Jew, he would have known the Psalm. But we don't know if there are other references. Scott Hahn, a fairly famous Scripture scholar, thinks that it could refer to the final cup of the Passover that was not drunk at the Last Supper. So the Last Supper, of course, was a Passover meal. We just call it the Last Supper because it was the Last Supper Jesus had. And at a Passover meal, there are strict rituals that you have to follow to celebrate the meal, very strict. It's like mass in that sense. A lot of rules. So the last cup of wine that was supposed to be shared wasn't drunk at the Last Supper. And Jesus said, if you remember at the Last Supper, I will not drink the fruit of the vine again until I drink it new with you in the Kingdom of Heaven. And the next time he drinks wine is on the cross. In this instance. So Scott Hahn theorizes maybe this is the fulfillment. This is the completion of the paschal mystery that John's referring to. He begins at the Last Supper and ends at his death. He's completing the Last Supper meal. He's completing the Holy Mass, the sacrifice of his life for our sins. It's beautiful, certainly possible. I don't know if that's true. I have another theory that could, you know, be a way of interpreting this statement of our Lord. I thirst. Do you remember when some of the Apostles' mother came to Jesus and asked that they would sit one on his right and one at his left in the Kingdom? Jesus turned to her and said, you don't know what you're asking. And then he made this statement. Can you drink from the chalice of which I am going to drink? And the Apostles with a lot of pride and swagger, I'm sure, were like, absolutely, Lord, we can definitely do that. Now the reason that they would have misunderstood the statement of our Lord is because it was tradition in the world at that time for a king to share his cup of wine, his chalice, with his closest confidants. You know, somebody could slip poison in the king and assassinate him. So you would only share your drink with your most trusted friends. So as a sign of trust to them to point it out to the rest of the group, he'd say, look how much I trust them. They can drink from my cup. So kings would do this. Now Jesus is not referring to an earthly chalice in that sense. He's not referring to an earthly kingdom in which they'll actually be seated on thrones. The fathers tell us that when Jesus speaks of his chalice, he's referring to an Old Testament prophecy that the Messiah will have to drink the chalice of suffering. And he will drink it to the dregs, meaning he'll drain it completely. And so when Jesus says to the apostles, can you drink of the chalice of which I'm going to drink? He's telling them, will you endure the suffering that I'm going to endure? And they, having no idea what he's saying, says, oh absolutely Lord, yes we will. And he says, well then you will suffer. So because of these passages in particular, I think that this statement of Jesus is referring to suffering. I thirst, he says. I thirst. He thirsts for the chalice of suffering. Now why would our Lord thirst for this? Why would he hunger to suffer? Because in the end there's only one thing that Jesus really wants. Us. Right? You. Look how far he went to redeem you. So he wants you in his life more than anything else. And the only thing that keeps you away from him is your sin. My sin. I'm not singling any of you out. I'm there too. The only way to remove sin is by enduring the punishment of sin, the suffering that sin has merited. So Jesus, in order to remove that sin, wants to suffer for us. He craves it, longs for it. He thirsts for this chalice, because he thirsts for you. I don't know how many of you are aware, but Saint Mother Teresa, Saint Teresa of Calcutta, in all of their religious chapels would require them to have not only a beautiful crucifix, of course, but above the cross, these words of Jesus from the cross, I thirst. That means every time her nuns came into their chapel to pray for any reason, they would see these words of any other words in the Bible. These are the words she chose. Because Mother Teresa recognized in them the most beautiful statements of Christ in the Bible. He says, I thirst for you. I thirst for you. We see the longing that Jesus has for us. When we look at the Divine Mercy image, you know, we read the inscription at the bottom, Jesus, I trust in you. And that's beautiful and true, something we should say often. But that's our statement. That's what we're supposed to believe. But the words I thirst, those belong to Jesus, to Him alone. And He speaks them to each one of you. I thirst for you. And I thirst for the consequences of your sin so that I may forgive you. I've preached on this before, but I think it's very appropriate to remind you again at this time that when you go to confession and confess your sins, Jesus is actually grateful to you for your confession. Even though your sins crucified Him, He's grateful because you are satisfying the deepest desire of His heart by returning to Him, by allowing Him to forgive you. That's the nature of His thirst. Think about that for a moment. You're the one who sinned, right? You're the one who already hurt Him and your neighbor and yourself, and now you want another thing for yourself, which is something you don't deserve, which is forgiveness, because you don't want to go to hell. And so you go to confession and you think, I'm doing this for me. And Jesus thinks, no, you're doing this for me because I want you more than you want me. Think about that for a moment. Jesus thirsts for you far more than you could ever want Him. His hunger is far greater. Therefore, His gratitude is also greater. You may be grateful that He forgave you, but He's grateful that you let Him suffer for your sins and forgive you. It seems counterintuitive at first, but you have to understand the mind of the Lord. He thirsts for you in a way in which you cannot easily understand. So I think Mother Teresa gave us such a great example that we need to practice ourselves. Maybe you want to even think of putting these words of Jesus above the crosses in your own homes to remind you, to remind your children how Jesus truly feels about you, how He hungers for you, how He thirsts. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.