A woman collecting water in Kerra's village in Kenya
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished’, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,
because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
Just before he dies on the cross Jesus cries out that he is thirsty. We can hear him continue to say these words to us, through our brothers and sisters who each day must strive for enough water to live.
During the long drought in Kenya, Kerra walked for many hours to find water to get water for her family. "I trekked for almost seven hours carrying a carton on my back." she recalls "I could only afford to go there once a week… I carried from 20 to 120 litres… It was very hard. I felt so exhausted, I started to get sick. The sun was scorching, burning. I had pain in my legs and my back. But in the drought season, that is what we had to do.”
These last words of Jesus challenge us. They call us to see his face in all those who thirst for justice and to stand alongside them raising our own voices for change. May we thirst for a better world, where all our neighbours have clean, safe water.
Prayer
Jesus, the living water,
you know what it is to thirst.
Let your love well up within us.
Together may we reshape the world,
so that the thirst for water,
and for justice, is satisfied.
Amen.
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