I am thirsty

I am bread, light, door, shepherd, resurrection life, the way and the truth, true vine
These 7 traditional ‘ I am-s’ of Jesus in John’s Gospel point to, in fact begin within Exodus 3, where Moses meets the Father God in a burning bush,

‘“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian,  and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

Before The Lord Father God identifies himself, his name, as Yahweh, Moses moves toward God and he is moving toward fire.

Approaching Jesus, hearing and touching the Word, is to embrace a holy fire. This fire can cleanse or consume; can dispute and mar or purify. 

In a episode of the TV series ‘Rescue Me’ Firefighter Tommy Gavin arrives at a burning vehicle on the road. As the rescuers wash the car’s flames, they see a what was child on the side of road, thrown from the car, burnt beyond recognition. Some vomit immediately on seeing the form; no approaches the remain to cover. No one but Tommy. We never see the child’s form. The camera just shows us Tommy wrapping the remains in a blanket. We see him kneeing; holding tenderly – from the point of view of the child’s burnt body – this holocaust.

In Exodus 4 god meets Moses on the far side, the back side of the desert. Little can grow here. The heat is not delivered, except at night. Yet, Moses approaches the burning.

Moses, Tommy Gavin, lovers of the Word, can not stop approaching fire. The prophet Jeremiah tired, but could not, as he shares in Jeremiah 20:9,

9 “‘But if I say, “I will not mention his word
    or speak anymore in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
    a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
    indeed, I cannot.’”

Prophets must approach fire; hold and embrace it; not be afraid of being consumed by it. They must hear and speak. This is what Jesu did in his teaching on himself. John hears and shares his Lord’s teaching words in the ‘I am-s’. Each is a burning bush. And yet there is an eight ‘I am’. It is voiced out of a patched voice on the cross,https://www.google.com/amp/s/indycrowe.com/2019/02/13/the-7-i-am-statements-of-jesus-ot-background-nt-meaning/amp/
After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. — John 19:28-29
Jesus thrusts not just for a drink but for something more life quenching.
He thirsts for us.
He walked, loved, dies and will rise for us. His word purifies and cleanses. His life is his word; the Word made everlasting flesh. He thirsts for us. For me, for you.
He is living water. Everlasting – and he pours so we can drink and not thirst.
Approach him this Lent. Tell Him of your thirsts. And drink. Drink Jesus.

Tags: I am, Jesus and I am, rescue me, thirst