Mar
21
Carson: Christ’s Cry of Suffering
Posted by Champ Thornton at 8:04 amFiled Under theology
‘If any man is thirsty, let him comeTo me and drink’—this drink that can’t be soldOr bought, thirst-quenching nectar, spirit gold,This fountain out of heaven, giv’n, not won.Beyond all praise, beyond all princely sum,The heav’nly draught bestows a wealth untold,The life of God. The thirsty may be boldTo claim the gift held out by God’s own Son.A drink so rich could not be wholly free:Fulfilling Scripture, Jesus speaks again:He gives the draught—transcendent irony—Who whispers, ‘I am thirsty’, through his painA human thing, this agony of thirstBy which the arid chains of death were burst.
This sonnet by D. A. Carson is based on Christ’s fifth saying from the cross. Used by permission from Banner of Truth magazine.