Thirsty?

Thirst is something that all humans experience. There are different types of thirst. After a long run we need a drink of water. After a salty meal or a night’s sleep we are thirsty. Our bodies are made up of 80% water so it is no wonder that we thirst for something to drink daily. Then there is the type of thirst that means we are longing for something. We thirst to see our family at Christmas time. We thirst for a closer relationship with God.

These two meanings of thirst are woven throughout the Gospel of John. The writer of John uses thirst to link both of the meanings. The theologian David Fredrickson argues that the thirst referred to in the Gospel of John is much more passionate than we have been trained to imagine. It is like a fisherman standing in a river on a hot sunny day with water running everywhere but no water to drink.

We long for a close relationship with God. We thirst to see God’s presence in our lives. The Gospel of John shares with us the abundant life given to us through Christ in his life, death, and resurrection; so, that we may never be thirsty.

Jesus shares with the Samaritan woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water [from the well] will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I [Jesus] give them will never be thirsty.” (Jn 4: 13-14)