GOOD FRIDAY HOMILY FOR Tre Ore (Three Hours’ Devotion) 

GOOD FRIDAY HOMILY FOR Tre Ore (Three Hours’ Devotion) 

THEME: STILL THIRSTY

BY: Fr Andrew Ekpenyong

5th Word from the Cross: “I thirst”. Jn 19:28-29
1. Last Time. A previous time our Lord asked someone for water, as recorded by St John, was when He asked a Samaritan woman for a drink near Sychar, a town of Samaria (Jn 4:7-31) . “Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon”. (Jn 4:6). Yes, our Lord said to the Samaritan woman who came to draw water: “Give me a drink of water.” He was definitely thirsty for water because He was tired from His journey, as St John notes. But as the event unfolded, it became clear that our Lord was thirsty not only for water but was also longing to give salvation to the woman and the people of that town. It was both a thirst for water and a thirst for the salvation of souls. That double meaning continues in this 5th word of our Lord, from the Cross, on Good Friday: “I thirst”. Remember that after the Last Supper in the Upper Room, He spent the night in prayer, in the garden of Gethsemane, at the foot of the Mount of Olives. And in the very early hours of Good Friday, a little after mid-night, He handed Himself to the soldiers and guards sent to arrest Him, faced Annas in the High Priest’s courtyard, faced Caiaphas, and then the Sanhedrin in the Temple, faced Pilate in the Praetorium, sent to Herod, and back to Pilate, and now, the crucifixion. So, He was again tired. He was in pains from the scourging, dehydrated and having a parched throat. Then again, our Lord was and remains God and man. He was in charge: “I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.” Jn 10:17-18. As He was laying down His life on Calvary, He stated His condition, “I thirst”. This would provoke a reaction in His listeners, just as His request for water from the woman provoked a reaction from her.

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2. Reaction. We know what her response was: resurfacing Jewish-Samaritan disdain for one another. Then our Lord went from water to salvation by saying to her: “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” (Jn 4:10). Sisters of brothers, that is the punchline even on the Cross, today. If the bystanders knew the gift of God and who is saying, ‘I thirst’, they would have asked him and he would have given them living water from his pierced side! Sisters, and brothers, if you and I knew, who is still saying that He thirsts, even now, we would have asked him, and he would have given us not only water, but his entire body and blood, soul and Divinity. Fortunately, we do know him, and we have asked him and indeed he has given us Himself in the Eucharist. What next? Just as the Samaritan woman received salvation and ran back to town to tell the story and call others, we too have to act.

3. Action. Fortunately, some of the people near the Cross also took action. They did what they could with vinegar nearby. They soaked it in a sponge, placed it on a hyssop branch and lifted it up to our Lord. With that, more details of Scripture about our Lord became fulfilled, confirming His identity as the promised Messiah. This time the Scripture was Psalm 69:21 “and for my thirst they gave me vinegar.” Notice that He voiced out this 5th word, this word of distress, “in order that scripture might be fulfilled” ( ινα τελειωθη η γραφη λεγει διψω). Our Lord gave the bystanders opportunity to respond to people in distress, opportunity to perform the corporal works of mercy, to anyone in need. They did not have to know that He was the Messiah. In fact, at the last judgement He would say: “I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink”. Mt 25: 35-40. “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’” Notice here that someone’s need becomes another person’s opportunity for salvation. My neighbor’s thirst for water, food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, …, is my opportunity for salvation. It is in the same way that our Lord’s literal thirst for water is also his deep thirst, deep yearning to save souls. Wow. Hence, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy are opportunities for salvation. Focusing on water, one in four people in the world, yes, 25% of the world do not have access to clean drinking water, according to the U.N. estimates. And yet, 100% of the world needs salvation, needs Jesus, the source of eternal life. If everyone who needs salvation, gave drink to the thirsty, food to the hungry, etc, we will actually run out of people to help. It would be a good problem to have.

4. Examples. It seems St Teresa of Calcutta understood this double-reality very well: Christ’s thirst in the needs of our neighbor and Christ’s thirst to save souls. Of course, Mother Cabrini, that is, St Frances Xavier Cabrini, who’s story is now in concert halls and theatres, understood this. Countless saints grasped this and practiced it. In the case of St Teresa of Calcutta, she clearly saw the connection between the Cross of Christ and charity. In fact, she centered her work of charity on the 5th word of our Lord on the Cross, “I thirst.” Around the world, in every chapel of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, you see the words, “I thirst”. Yes, in every convent of the Missionaries of Charity, beside the crucifix, is written the 5th word on the Cross: “I thirst”. Our Lord continues to be thirsty, in the needs of our neighbor, asking us to do charity. Our Lord continues to be thirsty to save us, to give us salvation. In doing something to address the thirst of our neighbours, we receive salvation from Christ. That way, we satisfy both forms of thirst. How wonderful!

5. We also thirst. Interestingly, our souls were designed to thirst for God, to thirst for salvation. Our bodies yearn for comfort and pleasure. Our Lord knows how we are thirsting for love and happiness. That Samaritan woman said it: “Sir, give me this water so that I will never be thirsty again”. No wonder our Lord then spoke of her love life, her relationships. He speaks similarly to us: “On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and exclaimed, ‘Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.’” Jn 7:37. He added, “Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.” Wow. Our Lord continues to thirst, to thirst for us, for our salvation. He is thirsting to quench our thirst for love and happiness. He is thirsting to send rivers of living water through our hearts and souls. And many of us are here because He is in us, He is alive in us. No wonder we are now thirsting for righteousness, for growth in holiness, for the growth of Divine love in our lives and in others. Blessed are we. For “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” Mt 5:6. And Venerable Servant of God, Fulton J. Sheen, uses the double meaning, the double reality of our Lord’s thirst to remind us thus: “To be worthy of the name Christian, then, means that we, too, must thirst for the spread of the Divine Love”. Sisters and brothers, thank you so much for quenching some of our Lord’s thirst by accepting the salvation He won for us through His Cross on Calvary, through His victory over sin and death. To God be the glory. Amen.

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