39th day of Lent- Good Friday John 19:28; Revelation 21:6

 ^"After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.”John 19:28

 "Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life."

Today we remember the death of Jesus on the cross.  As we stand on this side of the resurrection, we now believe this was more than just the death of a rebel challenging the authority of the Roman occupiers and the Jewish leaders they had set in place.  On the cross, Jesus was saving all of humankind.  It was our sins that placed him there, and for our sins he died.  As he died on the cross he said, "I thirst."  There was the anguish of human thirst, as well as the anguish of spiritual thirst, as he thirsted for God in this horrible time.  Bishop Mark Hanson in today's devotion hears in the cry of Jesus "the cries of those who today are parched from their search for accessible, clean, free water so necessary for life."  In Revelation there is the resurrection promise "To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life."  How do we make this promise come true?  By practicing "living out today God's promised future."  We don't wait for God's final act.  We act today "through generous giving, sustainable living, advocacy and accompanying global companions to work for a world in which no one thirsts."  Today we contemplate the cross.  Let us pray for and remember all who thirst, and then work towards a future where all have access to water as a gift.