Ave Explores Series | Faith in Action | Week 4

Your Challenge: Serve Others

by Mary Pezzulo

“After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I thirst.’” (John 19:28)

That was one of the last things Jesus ever said when he was dying on the cross. That was something so important to say that he said it at the climax of his public ministry—when all eyes were on him—in the act of his sacrifice of himself to the Father.

When you gaze upon a crucifix, you are looking at an image of God and you are also looking at an image of a human who is dying, overwhelmed with pain and thirst. And those are not two separate persons. Jesus is one person of the Holy Trinity, who is at the same time both God and man. He could have chosen to become incarnate as any kind of human and he chose to be a man who would be abused until his body gave out from the torture.

Now, here's the miraculous thing: It also works the other way. We are all one in Christ.    

When you look at a human who is sick, suffering, or crying out in thirst, you are looking at Christ. Christ is sending you on a mission when your thirsty child asks for a drink, a sick relative needs help, or a chronically ill neighbor asks you to run an errand. These ordinary, sometimes tedious and annoying requests are coming to you from Christ on the cross.  Don't miss your moment to serve him.

Mary Pezzulo is a columnist for Patheos and the author of Stumbling into Grace.