thirst
Thirst is such a great word to describe a mixture of longing, craving, hunger, wanting etc…
We can thirst for things other than water though, right? For the prophets of the Old Testament to say they want justice gets the point across, but when they say they thirst for justice, it is so much more emotive. It carries the true yearning so much more accurately.
It seems to indicate that this is not just something we want for the future, but it is something we have done without for too long already. At various times lately, due to the arrival of our daughter Daisy, I’ve been thirsting for sleep. It’s as though my mouth is dry, my head is spinning – I miss and long for sleep.
I thirst.
Our land thirsts. Its people thirst.
Sometimes our thirst is for something unnamable and it seems only God could quench our longing.
“For I will pour out water on the thirsty land
And streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring
And My blessing on your descendants.” -Is. 44.3
It seems only God could quench our thirst for justice. Our thirst for peace. Our thirst for love.
But there are plenty of other things out there that claim to be able to quench your thirst. That’s pretty much what the advertising world is based on.
It seems that everything out there is claiming to be the oasis that will sustain you in the desert of unsatisfying lives we live in.
I saw an ad recently that ended with the tag line, “Show your true colours with Mastercard” You can display identity with a credit card?! Spending more will reveal more of who you truly are?!
The ability to spend money you don’t have yet – an oasis!
“Tired? Stressed? You’ll feel better on Swisse!” – Better than what? – My mum insisted I start taking these to prevent getting run down looking after Daisy – I still feel tired and stressed!
Multivitamins – an oasis!
Are you feeling a lack of existential satisfaction? Maybe its because your shampoo isn’t innovative and ambitious enough! Maybe you need a toothbrush with more resilience and confidence! Oases!
Or mattresses that promise to cure all your ills – the reason you have a sore back is because you don’t have our mattress! Inner coil springs – an oasis! Though perhaps a waterbed could be an oasis…
Beyond specific products, there are all sorts of beliefs around about what can satisfy your thirst.
Money is an oasis! We get countless messages telling us that money equals freedom and choice and that money can sustain us. Dive in to the oasis of money! But we know that’s not true.
Sex is an oasis – and more broadly relationships is painted as an oasis. If only you get the right partner, with the right status all your problems will be solved…
The problem is that the world is full of oases, full of products, full of ideas claiming to be the oasis that will truly satisfy. But none of these things come close to satisfying the deepest thirsts of our soul. All they try and do is actually distract us from the deeper questions that we thirst for – ‘who am I’ and ‘what is my purpose in life’.
They all try to claim some connection to the deeper truths in life, but the truth is simply that you are a sacred creation of the living God and your purpose in life is to found within a personal committed relationship with God in Christ Jesus.
In Johns Gospel we read a story of Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman at a well. After a brief conversation, Jesus says to her “I am the water of life – if you drink my water you will never be thirsty…”
Jesus is the oasis that truly quenches our deepest thirsts.
Sometimes we think it is our job as Christians, or churches to have all the answers. Sometimes we think we are supposed to have it all together – to know all the answers because we profess to follow a faith. Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking we need to be the oasis for people’s longings. But if we think that, then we fall into the trap of reducing our faith to merely another product to try and sell, for people to consume.
In fact our job is more like to try and create deserts for people, free of the false oases that clamour for our attention. Jesus is the only one to satisfy thirst – our job is to create thirst.
The idea of creating thirst (first pointed out to me by the writer Peter Rollins at NCYC 07), of offering people desert spaces in a world of oases in order to find their true thirsts, make sense for me of the passage where Jesus instructs his followers to be “salt of the Earth”. We are to be as salt, creating thirst for the one who truly satisfies. Clearing away the false claims of satisfaction trumpeted by commercials and society to allow people to ask themselves what they are truly searching for.
How do we do that?
Well, interestingly and simply enough, following Jesus. Looking out for the poor, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting and healing the sick, visiting the imprisoned. All of this takes a self-giving love, a love and generosity that goes beyond self interest to care for others. This is counter cultural, This behavior causes people to ask questions – why would you do that? – and that is thirst.
When we follow Jesus we create thirst.
Why sacrifice time, energy, effort, money?
Why sew bags for the Christmas bowl appeal?
Why raise money for an orphanage in Africa?
Why would you pledge a portion of your income as a tithe?
Why do you do these things?
That’s thirst.
Jesus is the living water who satisfies – “he who drinks of me shall never be thirsty” (John). It is not our job to satisfy people’s thirst but instead to create the thirst in people – to create and offer dessert spaces in the world of Oasis’ and to share our same thirsts.
Lucas T.