I Thirst Print

I Thirst

$5.00

This picture depicts that moment right before Christ died in which he was given some wine to quench an undoubtedly unbearable thirst. He has endured hours of excruciating agony and humiliation in His Passion culminating in His crucifixion. As St. John says here, scripture is being fulfilled. Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, although sinless, is dying to atone for our sins, for our salvation.

As one of the famous Seven Last Words of Christ, statements uttered by our Lord while on the cross, “I thirst” has been interpreted to include not just our Lord’s longing for relief for His parched throat. More importantly, it also refers to His thirst for our Love, for us to we follow Him on the road to Eternal Life with Him forever in Heaven. As Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once put it, Jesus asks for a “drink of love” saying in effect, “I thirst for love.”

We read in the next sentence of John’s Gospel that He was given wine on a sponge at that point. In this picture it is ostensibly a Roman solider who provides that relief. After taking the wine, our Lord gave up His Spirit to His Heavenly Father out of His immense love for us.