COUsbHITY Gud FREDAY SERVICE

"Et thirst." Tt ends as it begins: with a sinnle and eloquent statement
of his radical aumanity. wa was worn. die dia not descend from heaven, he
WaS Hot an insertion fron cutsiae histery. He was born in history. Sometines
ve miss that diy tna midst of a1] the levely traditions which acconsgany our
celebration of caristuas. siepoerds, Wise men, tie star, catcla lowing. The
Scriptural intent, ‘tawever, ts to say that fe nsagan is life in sche same

mManvier as every wan and evary woman - in thea common miraci# cstlet Seuran
birtyn. fhe Nutiaitty and commoness of tt all gecs last samewhere in tie
traditions. For tia. acceunts are clear that it dia not narpea in a sterile
palace nursery, Gut in the dark, damm, cela and Filth of a cow barn. A
Situetion tiac was atiegcrnar wumele and altegether funan.

Ag qi beclas - so ¢ ents: with en eloquently simpie statement of numan
need: “i thirst .

ahy must wy allecorize that? Why are we do ewbarrased ty the fact that
our Lord peeaes a arink? Why da ve ssend time looking for symbolic signifi-
cance in werds that are really quite self-explanatory? A classic sermon
on this text sugeesis chai Jesus tnirsted for God ~ for salvation - for the
Souls of “en, F nerfect three point serwon - built on our reluctance to deal
witn the fact inat what he tnirscea for was motsture - water - vine - vinegar.
ne dian't care what. He was dying and thirsty!

We allegorize too much. we take his clear, stebling dersnds and soften
tnuen. flatten ther out so they won't disturb our values, our worality, our
life style. ‘Lave your cnemies - if a san asks for your coat. aive him your
cloak as well, go a secord mile, tura tae other cheek, forcive - seventy
times seven: blessed are the peace makers". God knows ve've taken all of
that and run it through the mili of american relion until it ecues out
sounding suspiciously Tike a serivce club creed or a sious scout law. Let's

het Go taat today. Let's allew “I thirst’ to stand as a statewent of Fact

“T THIRST" ~2- APRIL Te, 1974
chet was sa intense that he confessed it to the very men who had driven the
nails inte his hands and feet.

Joun alone fiucludes the words in Ais Gosnpal. And it has beer suggested
bilat a3 did it Uacause, writing several decades Tater than the oynoaptics, he
was confronting an garly and popular heresy called “Docetisn’. The Qocetists
meld tae wie vardise Onhabited ca: budy of Jesus of dazarath peivueen his
baptisum ana cruciftxion. in aarly picture shows the heavy ety Christ
ooserving tus crucifixion af the man desus From a distance, fn’ sn, the
autnor of tar Fauritu Gosoel began a strudag]: ta meintain the intecrity af
Jesus Crise. Lustceag of jong, prilosopuic argument he used precise state-
MENtS - sulle ay cae dura vacane flesh and dwelt among us" ~ ang “Lf thirst’.

The invent tas vo say thet le

Pi
un
ue

puS Lbrst vas nos Sad disgqutsine si:pself as a

t

uEt B cteak He ceuld siseérid ween it va

sre

Man: Dat iS nuMaaily wes sat

4.

convenfenc. wal tac fur cur $a,e2s Sod uocdiie a man - trat fe touk on btaself

ait tust it wears un ve @ man: pein, ecstacy. sorrow, Jey, Suffering, laughing
dying.

The trostogicai debate boean 2,uuG vears agqu, and altheugh we are not
given wach £0 thealogicel debate. ff seems te me that we are always Just two
Steps away fran tieaving tus total bumenits of our Lord.

Consider sveuilionel Suncay Scheel ert. The Cesus porctraycod is etheral,
always iu Spottess robes. sometimes ¢fferinate. Une writer virserves that
tne Christ of a tec of churchmen is preoccupied with little lerhs and
altogeticr velvety. Sntnburne wrote a rumantic poe once tauat called him the
“Pale Galilean’: - ene of whicn nelps us como to crins with the essence of
our faith. namely that Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, wss fully one of us.

Bisherp dori A. i, kobinsow in a recent lectures sucgested thui aost of the
popular images of cirist are destructive of the reality they intend te convey,
and urgea the contemporary churea te return to its basic truth - its basic
miracle - that Gou dwalt amang us in a life that was fully tunan.

“T thirst’. ne said it, and he tmeant it.

Tt points to his total humanity. It paints to the terrible vulnerability

"Tr THIRST” «3+ APRIL 12, 1974
of God when he chose to reveal his love in tnis manner.

We. H. Auden fas a passage in his Christmas Gratario in which Herod the

Great is sneaking about the birth of Jesus:

“Ua dear, vay ceuidn’& this wretched infant Le born somewhere else?
Way can'é peuple ve seasible? dny cart tiey see that thy nation of a finite
Gud is a@uSuri? seetuse ict 16. Ame suurose., Sor che sate af ercurent, that
it is true. Woulu Gt make Tife any bevesr?..... for me rervsonelly it would
Wean bitat 40a uuu Gived me tue power tu destroy himself. I refuse to be

taken in, ite couii net play such a iisrrible practical joe.”

Tiac's tie significuncs of "I thirst’. Ged. in Jesus frst becare
man for us. ane ref himself at aur sisrasal,

Wiiat Goes Tt wean? Tt means thot Soo was rot steytre a cane tn Jesus
Christ. Caaw beish puts ft in these words: Christ vas fed fully entering into
the hurian cunsicion and paying tie crice of that cendition. Sed was not Tike
some wealthy viesiter frer the plant side oF the trecks woo secedules 2 brief
tour tarouge eu: slurs to aistribure Tuseksgiving baskets. He meade his
nome ig the sturs cud endursa evervtiiac.”

Tae radical imelications of that. 1] think, frequcrtiy go right by us.

L

Gou his suprenely efenifier burmen Vifs te divine il. #e has sanctified the

human fardijy py uevicg his sen apo us tn ene. Ne bas lived cur Tifc. When

We are hejoy ma Full of exqutsice joey, tec shares ther - ‘ecruce cur FAS Lord

experiences it. nen we are lonely - Sod knows weet tt's Pike. whee we apa

fg eat >t feale five. hen

tired, depresse!, engry,frigatenieu - So. kna

—

life tumbles in around us, when a loved one dfes, when traisedy strikes - and
we find ourselves asking “Why? - shy met shy did yeu so this ta we?" - God
understands, Erocause Jesus vVarist - out of this recdical trusenity - assed the
same guestton,

When he saint. “TI thirst’, he was mening commen cause with every person
who ever livea. Every feeling ju have nad -your Lereg has hed, I'm areteful
for that. i'ma thankful for one who knows me - and krows what it's like to

ve me ~- that intimately.

"I THIRST" ~4- APRIL 12, 1974

Even in death. All our brave protestations te the contrary, nothing
$Caras us aS mucn as death. Yo subject is so threatening e the subject of
Our death, And yot, our Lord has beea there before us. Eveo ia the yailey
of the shaday - 4s has aone ahmad,

Nilliaa Striugfellow nag satd it elaquently:

“de descended jita Mell.

That 95 very cheackFul news.

Tavre is Avthing 1-38 than Hall unknown to hin. THere #8 nothing tnat
T have know) this sfve of tiel] that is unfamiliar to iim. There 13 nething
Known to mie whic T am want te call nell wadenh he has nat alrsady known.

Oneist muans, after all, simply that god ts radically intimate with
human history anv experience in all tis qranaeur and diversity and
personality. Christ das already lived ny life. Christ hes already died my
death. Curist is risen from death for me. And for any man at ali,"

"T teipse. ie Said it and te meant it. Archbishep of Canterbury
Wittiam Tewnle once said thet "Christianity is the rmost naterialietic of
religions. Lt was reali physical thirst that he exnericnend. There te sone thing
afait us that wants to spiriiualize our faith: kn revert to th. ol) Greek
idea that reality can be wiviced ints two categories - raystee] ane
spiritual: thaec relicion has te do with tie spiritual. ama thet the gcal of
reliyiun is to weny tie ohyiscal altogether. Tha incarnazian ~ Gad jn the
life of the man Jesus - however, insists that there can be no cue division.
Creation is good. ‘iLife is youd. Human need ~ human functions are cood.
Thirst is vood ~ aven when you're dvine. Guy faith dias to de, after all, with
a life lived in the wortd: and it is expressed mast honestty in rather wuorlaly
terms - such a8 water, bread. wine, pland, eody,

Harring said mast of what I wanted to say. I owild confess thst I an
Sometimes uncorfortahle with this exarcise - tiis mrrent of wards from the
pulpit to observe the death of our Lord. And I was doubly unconfertable

about the prospect of preaching on the cae word from the cross about which the

"IT THIRST" $§ APRIL 12, 1974
‘leest needs to be said. Amd as I thought about what I would say I asked
myscTF “shat would desus Coarist wasnt to be said about hts dying.words -

“T thirst.’ When 1 asked that question I could not get avay from Matthew 25 -
words which he said te his disciples prior to the last super: words wiich

T asked Gene Uryant te read.

‘Lerd, Veen dig we see thee hunery aaa feed thee, an thirsty and cive
thee upink? Ani view did we see thee a strancer and welcome thee, or naked
and clothe tuce? and when did we see chee sick or tn priser anc visit thee?

In Joan Arthur Gossip's commentary on the words from the cress, “1
thirst", ave wonuers wo heard taem. ane wae ms moved enouch ky taen bo bring
him a cdrink. Gossp speculates that it was a young Roman soldier, usad to
seeing men dic. uul nevertaeless still abl: to facl the desparate edd -
the thirst of a tan being crucified. we gees cn to risers Ris envy: how good
to have been cierc. how good to have been the ona te ,brisg gue Lord a drink:
now goud tc be able to snow evr Tove avd comrassign and Kindeess t3 Jesus

himself as he disc.

ro

We don't ‘ive to ervy thar youas soldier or tnoever it vas. 3ecause he

has told us Sow te bring a drink ta his tnirst - fis neod. “Truly, Tay to

you, as you Jt4 it ts one of tha Tosst of thesa my brstirei, vau did it to me.

The fece af evary fBudury child in tee verld bears tie face of our Lord.
The face cf every lonely ole man, cvary agpressel vowen, over nudgre mubher,

every frightened, anxicus man - reflects the face af Josus Chriss.

de miaister to him = we bring coal vater te the narciedc livs of aur dying

Lord - wnen we Tove and felp someone wio needs to be Loved aad helped.
That's nav I chink ie would have us observe this say.....
In 4ratituds for this life lived as ona of us
Ta tic aeece that cams from knowing tliat he nes died our Jeash
And in love - and cowpasston - and kiadrass for all, “tas Taast ef thase

my brethren” ays:

fae Ve

ETERNAL GOD, we give thanks for ths life of Jesus Christ. We are grateful for

his death. And wa ask your spirit tu help us become the kind of men and

wonen he wants us to be. AMEN