We are so good at not asking for help, at not showing our weakness; as if doing so would be the ultimate betrayal of our own private selves. We carry on like the heroes that we are not, so effortlessly, that we almost believe, that we are as strong as we pretend to be.
When we hide our needs from those who love us, we deny ourselves of community, and we rob those who love us the chance to love us. As in the words of John Piper, responding to Brittany Maynard’s choice to end her own life,
But it also denies them the privilege of serving. There are moments in the tireless care of the dying beloved that are so intense with self-giving love that they would not be traded for any death.
And here is a man who is performing a great sacrificial act for mankind — at a time when he is to be exhibiting great resolve, strength and an unearthly source of power. This he does, while at the same time, reveals to us what it looks like to be humble and powerful at the same time, when he lets down his guard to say, “I Thirst.”