His Thirst is Our Living Water
A Parable about the Passion from the Life of Alexander the Great
My favorite historical parable about the Passion of Our Lord took place before the Advent of Our Lord. In 325 BC, Alexander the Great was leading about 15,000 men across the Gedrosian Desert in Pakistan and gave perhaps one of the most illuminating witnesses to the social dimension of the Passion of Christ that I know of. It is recorded as follows:
The army was suffering greatly from thirst, and Alexander himself was in no better condition than the rest, when some of the light-armed troops, who had gone off in search of water, found a small spring in a shallow ravine, and with difficulty collected a little water in a helmet. They brought it to Alexander, thinking it a great prize. But when he received it, he thanked those who brought it, and then, in the sight of all, poured it out upon the ground, refusing to drink while his men were in such distress. This act so invigorated the spirits of the whole army that you would have thought every man had drunk his fill of water. For such was the effect of Alexander’s self-control and leadership that it gave his soldiers new strength to endure." (Arrian, “Anabasis of Alexander” Book VI, Chapter 26). 1
Meditation
I see a throng of soldiers weakened in the desert to the point of exhaustion. The gait of the men has become clumsy and strained to the point where one observes men tripping and falling over in weakness every second or two. Then they all take pause to rest in the middle of the open desert, exhausted and demoralized.
And I look upon one soldier. He is glancing around anxiously amongst his comrades to see if anyone is observing him. He has a large canteen full of water he has saved for days. He thinks of sharing it, “but what is the point amongst so many? No one will be satisfied. And who should I share with out of 15000?” He says and continues, “think about your wife and children, you need to make it out of here alive.” He resolves to drink the water himself and slips away from the troops behind a few rocks where he cannot be detected. He guzzles the water down in haste, trying to get it over with as quickly as possible so as not to be seen. He whipes his lips dry and returns to the camp.
Then somthing astoninshing happens. Four men who had parted from the group to look for water return after days of separation with a helmet full of water they had gathered from a tiny trickle of a stream many miles away. The thousands of men, like fishes wishing to be fed, gather around the water on instinct, yet they know the water is not for them.
The water is presented to Alexander and one sees the great pride in the four men in their act of valor and devotion to their leader. Alexander recieves the helmet, and thanked the four men. Then, with all of his troops gathered round, he begins to scan the crowd with an increasingly intense and firey stare. The sun is beating down upon them and beads of sweat flow down from his brow. Slowly, standing upright with a stately posture, Alexander stretches out his right arm at a right angle, holding the helmet level.
As if beckoned by the excitement in his eyes, the men are drawn in and prepared that something extraordinary is about to occur. They wait in anticipation and then observe the commander´s rotation come to a halt. Alexander issues forth, “I will not take what cannot be had by all!“ and then tilts his right arm forward and the water pours out of the helmet and dissapears into the dry sand, leaving only a damp trace of its existence on the surface of the desert.
Alexander, even more passionate now, turns around once more, staring into the hearts of his men. His blazing eyes are full of nobility and love. And through his gesture and look, he awakes the same sentiment in his troops. He speaks again, saying “I will not be spared from the hardships of my men, I want to endure everything with them, I will not drink alone while so many are in want.“ His act, stare and words transform the men. They are full of joy, and would have been happy to die for him in that moment and thereafter. Alexander binds himself to his men with this act. He binds himself by lowering himself and taking on their fate and misery, and insodoing he elevates them to his noble level of living. They all cry out in devotion “Hail Alexander!“ And in that moment, all sense is transformed. Every pain, their horrible thirst and weakness were happily consented to. They became glad about these afflictions, and wouldn´t trade them for the world. Through Alexander, they discovered something glorious—i.e. fraternity, nobility, self-sacrifice, charity— in their miserable condition. And that glory was his very person. The mere possibility to participate in that made every weakness a strength, every sacrifice a joy. Death even, seemed a paltry hurdle, in comparison with the surprising dignity they now enjoyed in revelry. The men march on with a new vigor. It is as if they were given a drink from a spring, yet they still languish in dehydration. They are invigorated in spirit, not in body. One noble man lowering himself raised up 15,000 common soldiers.
All except one soldier: the man who took water for himself. He could only turn away in pain as Alexander poured out the water, “no! idiot!“ he said to himself, “you might perish!“ Thereafter, as Alexander scanned the men, he was the only one who couldn´t look him in the eye, nor could he soak in his noble desire and love. He looked away so as not to be overcome with shame. When the men cried out valiantly praising Alexander, it was this soldier who couldn´t join his heart with them. For he had destroyed the point of identification for participation in this moment. As they marched on, this selfish man languished amongst the renewed vigor of the men. He lacked also the deep loyalty and love they carried in their hearts for Alexander. Realizing this separation, he grew fearful of battle, his bad conscience accused him that the gods would not protect him any longer, nor would he survive against men of this noble stature. He felt he deserved to die and thus longed to desert to cling to his life, and resolved to do so at the first opportunity.
Exposition
There are a great many Christians, but there are very few who are transformed by the Incarnation and Passion of Christ. If these soldiers were transformed by Alexander´s small expression of solidarity, equality, and charity, how much more should we be enlivened by the Passion of Jesus Christ? Is this not absolutely necesary? Can we march with Him having something less than the vigour of these worldly, if heroic, lot of soldiers? If one compares the magnitude of these two deeds, our apathy and languor in the face of Jesus Christ´s far greater victory is confusing. Our Lord Jesus Christ was not merely a great military commander, He is God Incarnate. Our Lord did not merely pour out water so as to refuse to satiate his thirst, He poured out His Own Precious Blood on Mount Calvary. Who will be able to enter Heaven who has not at least equalled the elevation and awe of the Alexander´s troops here concerning a relatively insignificant deed? Or who can enter Heaven who has not offered up sufferings and death with gladness and zeal as these men revelled in a comradery of thirst and weakness with thier supreme commander? Is this not a unreasonable expectation? The Saints say the number of saved will be few.
The social dynamics of this story help us comprehend the transformative power of the Passion of Our Lord on those who are given the grace to behold Him. The nobility of Alexander is communicated through his stare. As he looks into the eyes of each and every one of his men, he communicates his own noble desire to suffer with each of them and implants this same desire into their hearts. The greatness of Alexander is his renunciation of his high position in charity to join with his miserable men. By recognizing his high position and their lowliness, the men are elevated by Alexander´s deed, and they take his selfless desire for their own. They esteem Alexander´s excellence and long to duplicate his great deed in acts of self-sacrifice. Never have troops so quickly grown in loyalty for their commander than in this moment. We can only be transformed in a moment by recognizing the desires of others, nothing else can have so profound an effect on souls, because it strikes to our very hearts.
So we too should long to behold Our Lord and be transformed by His Desires expresed in the Incarnation in general and Sacrifice of Calvary in particular. We should long to be transformed by Him looking at us, with eyes full of noble desire and benevolent love. We should long to know His excellence and our misery to comrehend His act on our behalf. Yet, our problem is so often the one of my fictional soldier, who sneaked off to drink the water he had saved. Or you could imagine another soldier who, worse, took a selfish drink after seeing Alexander´s glorious deed. This soldier wished Alexander hadn´t done it at all, out of pride. And he couldn´t look him in the eye, out of shame. If we run from the discomforts of life and the crosses given to us by Divine Providence, worst of all, if we do not acknowledge the magnitude and consequence of our sin, we won´t even want to look at Our Crucified God on the Cross let alone take life from this source.
Yet, for the small throng of the elect, who desire to see the Sign of Contradiction—His Suffering for their Redemption, His Death to Give Life, His Abasement for their Glorification—they are born again, as spiritual men, and all sense is transformed. Just as with Alexanders soldiers, the elect drink from the source of His Person and Great Deed and are spiritually satisfied therein. Every suffering, ridicule, even death itself becomes a possible point of identification with the Greatest Commander who ever lived, who sought equality with them and to join in all of their sufferings and even their punishment. And their pursecution, misery, and sin, should they unite themselves with Him, are transformed by His Glory and Merit. They see the nobility of the Word Made Flesh, and see the charity in His eyes looking at them, and are lifted up to His level. They see Him who came that we “may have life and have it abundantly,” (John 10:10)” and live by His Death, and take comfort in His Sufferings, being transformed by His Passion.
I myself, as most of us, resemble this cowardly, selfish soldier, both in deed and psychology. This parable is useful because it gives us a clue to the social dynamic that fueled the Saints, and why it fueled the Saints. It helps us comprehend what to hope for. Also how to prepare. Lent is a time of fasting so that we can approach this day in weakness, in want, in greater awareness of our sin, and better contemplate His Act therethrough. Without his soldiers having severe thirst, the act of Alexander isn´t powerful at all—so too is Our Lord´s Passion for those who fail to acknowledge their sin and misery, also those who refuse to consent to sufferings. The Saints all learned to draw from the Holy Passion of Our Lord as from a well, and they ordered their lives to this source of Life.
So don´t forget to ask to behold Him as He wishes on Good Friday, or in foolishness and false humility think yourself unable. If we earestly long to be transformed by His Sacrifice, and march with Him in this life an in eternity, He promises to heed our petition: “Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. Or what man is there among you, of whom if his son shall ask bread, will he reach him a stone?” There is no greater good than to behold His Salvic Act. We must not tire of asking, seeking and knocking on this door. He is our only hope, and this sort of transformation—the one we see amongst Alexander´s men— has to occur in our hearts. We need to become spiritual men.
Our Lord says “Amen, amen I say to you: He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is as a thief and a robber” (John 10:1). All our lives, all our sufferings, and our death can be transformed by what we behold today on Good Friday. This would entail being elevated to the highest fraternity, charity, and nobility of soul, unstained by a servile fear of suffering and death. The Saints witness to this fraternity. They thought incessantly of Him and His Passion. They longed for eternity with Him. And if they had to stay on earth, they wished for suffering and death so as to make actual in themselves the desires and the nobility of their commander. The Saints march on with the foolishness of Alexander’s cotton-mouthed hoard in the desert. When Our Lord cried out “I thirst“ from the cross just before the moment of death, I think he was thirsting for souls and not for actual water, and the Saints learn drink from His Thirst as a source of Living Water.
I wish everyone a blessed Good Friday.
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[Another account of the story from Plutarch] During the march through the desert, when the army was tormented by thirst, and water was nowhere to be found, some of the Macedonians, having wandered far from the main body, discovered a small trickle of water in a dry riverbed. They scooped up what little they could in a helmet and brought it to Alexander. He took it, and, in full view of his troops, thanked the men who offered it, but then poured it out upon the sand, saying, ‘I will not drink alone while so many are in want.’ By this action, he so inspired his soldiers that they declared it was as if they had all drunk, and they pressed on with renewed vigor. (Plutarch, Life of Alexander Chapter 42).
I've never put these two together, great stuff Stephen!
Amazing message. Thank you for this reminder