The Source of Living Water
John 7:37-52

On the last day of the festival, the great day, Jesus cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me” (Jn. 7:37). The Jewish festivals figure prominently in the gospel of John. Jesus attends three Passover festivals during the course of the narrative. In addition, he attends the Feast of Purim, which celebrates Queen Esther’s victory over Haman’s genocidal scheme against the Jews (Jn. 5:1, 17). The Feast of Dedication is also mentioned in John 10:22. It commemorated Israel’s deliverance under the Maccabees from Antiochus Epiphanes IV. This feast is also called the Festival of Lights or Hannukah.

Finally, Jesus attends the Feast of Booths, also called the Feast of Tabernacles (7:2). The festival lasted seven days and concluded with an additional eighth day of celebration, called the Great Day. The Feast of Booths commemorated Israel’s wandering in the wilderness. The Jews built shelters made of limbs and leafy branches. Orthodox Jews continue the practice to this day. The festival was a reminder of Israel’s sin that resulted in their wandering in the wilderness for forty years. However, it also recalled the Lord’s provision for Israel during that time of chastening.

The Festival of Booths was held in the fall of the year following the long, dry months of summer. Each day of the festival, the citizens of Jerusalem and the pilgrims who had assembled in the capital city would process together to the temple. In their hands, they carried green branches and a piece of fruit, symbolizing life and abundance. As they processed, they sang the words of Psalm 118:26-29.

“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God,
and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
up to the horns of the altar.
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God, I will extol you.
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever."

On the last great day of the feast, the priests would process to the pool of Siloam with a great golden pitcher. From the pool, they would fill the pitcher and then process back to the temple where they would pour out the water before the Lord asking God to send the fall rains ensuring a bountiful harvest in the year to come. Essentially, the Feast of Booths was a harvest festival.

Surrounded by all of this symbolism, Jesus, who was standing in the temple with the other celebrants, cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty, come to me, and let anyone who believes in me drink.” Jesus was declaring that he was the source of abundant life. He was the fulfillment of the Feast of Booths, just as he was the fulfillment of all the other festivals of Judaism.

Jesus also quotes scripture. “As the scripture has said,” he declares. There is no exact Old Testament text to connect with Jesus’ words. Most New Testament scholars believe it is a paraphrase of Isaiah 55:1. “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.” Jesus’ words may also be an allusion to Ezekiel’s vision of life-giving water flowing from the temple in Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, transforming the dead, salty waters into a body of water filled with living creatures (Ez. 47:1-12).

The New Revised Standard Version does not translate Jesus’ quotation literally. Translators render Jesus’ words, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” Literally, the text reads, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” The hermeneutical or interpretive question is to whom does “his” refer? Is Jesus speaking of believers or about himself? Many New Testament scholars believe Jesus is speaking of himself. If this is the case, we could dynamically translate the verse, “Out of my inmost being shall flow rivers of living water.”

John’s commentary on Jesus’ words seems to support this translation. “Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (vs. 39). John equates the living waters with the Holy Spirit. In John Chapter 4, that records Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus says, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (vs. 10).

The hour of Jesus’ glorification in the gospel of John is his crucifixion. John records in Chapter 19 that when the Roman soldier pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, “at once blood and water came out” (Jn. 19:34). From the cross, out of Jesus’ inmost being, flowed living waters to slake the thirst of parched humanity. To this day, those who come to the crucified Son of Man, those who believe in him, can drink of the living waters of the Holy Spirit receiving forgiveness for their sins and eternal life.

It is estimated by the medical profession that seventy-five percent of Americans are chronically dehydrated, but most of us do not realize it. The recommendation is that we drink eight eight-ounce glasses of water each day. That is two quarts of water a day. I try to do that, but most days I drink far less than sixty-four ounces. I am almost certainly numbered among the chronically dehydrated.

There is another kind of chronic dehydration: spiritual desiccation. It affects a much higher percentage of the human race. People are thirsty for God, but, just as in the case of chronic dehydration, people do not realize that that they are spiritually desiccated.

The throngs of pilgrims gathered in the temple for the great day of the Feast of Booths did not know that their longing for the fall rains and a bountiful harvest pointed to a deeper yearning for God. To borrow the language of the Psalms, “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Ps. 42:1-2). They were thirsting at a deeper level for the living water of forgiveness and eternal life that would gush forth from the crucified Messiah.

The same is still true today. The Psalmist also says, “All my springs are in Thee” (Ps. 87:7), but we seek to slake our insatiable spiritual thirst with countless other drafts. Some try to quench their thirst with success, power, wealth, fame, sexuality, drugs, alcohol, entertainment, or shopping, but none of these things can satisfy the thirsty, hungry heart. A person can find the living water of the Holy Spirit only by coming to Jesus, by believing in him, and by drinking from the fountain that flows from him.

Jesus’ words in the temple that day created quite a stir. Some said, “This is really the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Messiah” (vs. 40-41). The temple police, who were sent by the chief priest and Pharisees to arrest Jesus, returned empty-handed. They said in their defense, “Never has anyone spoken like this” (vs. 46). Nicodemus’ response to his religious peers was “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?" (vs. 51). The Pharisees turned on their own compatriots. They said, “This crowd which does not know the law – they are accursed” (vs. 49). They insinuated that the temple police and Nicodemus were also suspect. John summarizes the religious tumult by saying, “There was a division because of him” (vs. 43).

There is still a division in the crowd of humanity over Jesus Christ. Some say he was a madman with delusions of grandeur. Others claim he was a utopian teacher of justice and ethics. We believe Jesus is the Son of God who bestows the soul- satisfying Holy Spirit.

Do you know anyone who believes Jesus was a lunatic or just a teacher? I know only a few of the former and a few more of the latter. But we all know people who are spiritually parched, people who long for abundant life, people who are trying to quench their thirst and find true life in places, things, and people that cannot satisfy their deep spiritual desiccation.

Maybe we are all a little spiritually dehydrated. We have the wherewithal to rehydrate our souls. We have the scriptures, prayer, worship, sacraments, fellowship, and good works, but we must avail ourselves of these simple things to gain their benefit, to connect to Jesus who is the source of spiritual life.

There will always be a division in the crowd of humanity about Jesus Christ, but we at least can bear a winsome witness. We can say, “This is how I slaked my thirst. This is how I filled my heart.” We can say with the words of the great old spiritual, “I came to Jesus as I was, I was weary, worn and sad. I found in him a resting place, and he has made, made me glad.” With the Psalmist we can point people in the right direction. “All my springs are in thee.”

We can also repeat Jesus’ invitation and promise. Let anyone who is thirsty come to Jesus. Let anyone who believes in Jesus drink. Out of Jesus’ inmost being flow rivers of living water for you. We can woo our neighbors with Jesus’ words. “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you; learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus, and Jesus alone, satisfies the thirsty, hungry heart. Thanks be to God who satisfies our souls. Alleluia! Amen.