Here the one who
created all things including the rain must go
without. The sun now hides its face in shame
as even nature turns its back on its creator.
There are echoes here from Psalm 69:20-21
where the psalmist cries out:
Now the one who
is speaking through the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah
41:17) promises to help those who are thirsty
saying:
When the poor and the needy seek
water,
And there is none,
And their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them…….
Here hangs the same one who promised the woman
at the well that “those who drink from the
water that I will give will never thirst
again” (John 4:14).
All of these symbolic sayings are in the
past now, as Jesus faced with a prolonged
agony, cries out for relief. Saint
John tell us in his account that after he
tasted the bitter drink he breathed his last
and died, but the Synoptic accounts differ,
recounting that the agony went on for
longer, and the humiliation was to continue.
We experience an echo of this sense of utter
helplessness when our physical bodies do not
function as we would like; when we are at
the mercy of others for our welfare. God
knows our feelings of humiliation because
Jesus experienced this humiliation on the
cross.
Mother Theresa of Calcutta put this sign
over each of her convent doors, “I thirst, I
quench,” words that remind those who work
for her that it is the thirst of Christ that
is quenched each time a cup of water is
given in his name.
It is a reminder to us also, each time we
hear these words or look on the image, that
we are called to do likewise.
