Erin Pacheco 0:07
Welcome to Elmhurst CRC’s Daily Dose of the Word of God. It’s Friday, November 7, and Sunday is coming. I’m Erin Pacheco. Today’s reading is from John 7:37-39:
Erin Pacheco 0:22
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Erin Pacheco 0:50
The key to understanding these verses is in the opening words: “On the last and greatest day of the festival...” This was the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles — a joyful fall festival when Israel celebrated the harvest and remembered God’s provision of water and food for their ancestors in the desert. Kind of like Thanksgiving for us, only it lasted for seven days! The festival included this daily ritual: Every day, a priest would go down to the pool of Siloam, which was a natural spring at the base of Mt Zion, and fill a pitcher of water. He would then carry it, through the city of Jerusalem, all the way up to the temple, to pour it out on the altar. And everyone would go with him to witness and worship. This was a joyful procession, with songs of praise and Hallelujahs in the air! In fact, there’s even an ancient Jewish text says that whoever hasn’t witnessed these things during the feast of Tabernacles “has never seen rejoicing in their life.”
Erin Pacheco 1:52
So imagine Jesus, parading with the crowds through Jerusalem, with praise on his lips and a huge smile on his face. By this time, the water ritual had taken on all these layers of meaning. They called the fresh spring water in the pool “living water,” because the prophet Zechariah had envisioned a day when “living water would flow out from Jerusalem in all seasons, to the east and to the west.” Someday, in this dry climate, God would make living water flow from Jerusalem to all the nations, a sign of his glory and blessing and provision. It became a symbol of the Messiah’s kingdom and the promised Holy Spirit. All of this is in the minds of the people when Jesus suddenly stands up and yells out into the crowd: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.” Like elsewhere in John, he essentially says: I am this living water. If you’re looking for God’s provision and blessing, if you’re looking for that coming kingdom, look to me. The second thing he says is even more surprising. “Whoever believes in me” — whoever trusts in Jesus — will themselves be the new Jerusalem, filled with the Holy Spirit, overflowing with living water, that blesses everyone around them. That day that Israel was looking for with joy? Where living water splashes out over everyone? That day is here, in us, in whoever trusts in Jesus for life and provision, by the power of the Holy presence of God, in us and flowing out of us.
Erin Pacheco 3:39
Let’s pray. Jesus, we bring our needs today to you, pouring them out on your altar, waiting with joy to see how you will provide. Fill us, we pray, with your Spirit, your love, your blessing, your power – that we might overflow to others. May our worship this Sunday be a joyful celebration of what you are doing in the world. Amen.
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