John 7:37-39 Thirsty

John 7:37-39 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

37On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and called out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 38As the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.” 39By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive. For the Holy Spirit had not yet come, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Thirsty

I.

He sipped from the tube on his hydration pouch as he hiked along, not a care in the world. To be sure, the terrain was rocky and challenging, but he’d done this sort of thing before. Everything was awesome.

Until everything was not awesome. All of a sudden, the tube was empty—no water at all remaining in the hydration pouch. A quick glance at the mileage covered made his mouth even dryer. It was mile 7. There were 6 or more left to go.

Regret. That was his first thought. They had stopped for lunch and there was plenty of water that could have been filtered to fill the pouch; but he didn’t. Not so much as a little puddle in the last hour. The sun was hot. Legs were burning. He tried not to panic.

His wife’s hydration pack was not empty, but she needed to drink for the rest of the day, too. He couldn’t deplete her supply of water. Things didn’t look too good.

Have you ever been thirsty? I mean, really thirsty? That guy was, that day. Perhaps you have figured it out—that guy was me.

My hike illustrates the universal human condition. We are all on a long hike through life. Sooner or later, we run out of water. The successes of life, the relationships, nothing can really satisfy a deeper thirst—a spiritual thirst.

“On the last and most important day of the festival...” (John 7:37, EHV). The Gospel for today refers to a festival, but not Pentecost, as today’s Church Year calendar might suggest. Jesus was attending the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. The festival lasted for 7 days; 8, if you include the closing ceremony. On each of the 7 days, the officiating priest would take a golden pitcher and fill it with water from the Pool of Siloam. He would march with the pitcher to the temple and pour the water out during the morning sacrifices. The people would chant words from Isaiah: “Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3, EHV).

The ritual had layers of meaning for the people. They remembered how much they needed the blessings of the Lord to provide rain for the next growing season. They were also remembering Moses striking the rock at God’s command; God provided water for them in the wilderness. On the 8th day—the last day—the priests returned from Siloam with empty pitchers, signifying that God providing water in the wilderness was no longer needed.

“On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and called out, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!’” (John 7:37, EHV). The crowd was religiously busy on that last and most important day of the festival, but their spiritual hydration pouch was empty—in reality, they were spiritually parched.

The disciples, on the Day of Pentecost, weren’t spiritually parched, the way the crowds at the Feast of Tabernacles were. They had seen the resurrected Jesus. They finally knew and understood the full history of God’s plan of salvation. Jesus had told them at the Ascension: “Look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49, EHV). So it was that, until Pentecost, they were waiting in Jerusalem in their own kind of dryness.

II.

Back to my water-less backpacking experience. I don’t remember how much farther it was, I was in somewhat of a mental fog. I remember a growing desperation—a dry mouth. Without water I was exhausted and in despair.

Then—there it was! A murky, brackish beaver pond just ahead! Never did murky water look so good. There was really no choice: filter water from the beaver pond. That was the only thing to do to survive and finish the hike. “Dirty water” was better than no water.

That’s our spiritual reality. We do the same thing. We settle for polluted substitutes to the water Jesus offered at the Feast of Tabernacles. We look to our own self-righteousness, or a false “spirituality” so many people think is “authentic” religion. Maybe we drink deeply from a Law-driven religion. You know the kind—you must do certain things or you’re not a “good” Christian, or not a Christian at all.

That kind of brackish water never truly satisfies. It can actually harm us. But the Old Adam remains desperately thirsty—he’ll drink anything.

Paul says in today’s Second Reading; “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3, EHV). John reports in today’s text: The Holy Spirit had not yet come, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:39, EHV). Without the crucified and risen Christ, there is no living water. There is only thirst, guilt, fear, and division.

Unaddressed thirst leads to spiritual exhaustion and despair. Or, perhaps, settling for a shallow faith that cannot really sustain the full hike of life.

III.

The Feast of Tabernacles was important to the Jewish people. They paid attention to the rituals; they followed all the ceremonies. On that last, most important day of the festival, when the priests were carrying the empty pitchers, “Jesus stood up and called out, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 38As the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me’” (John 7:37-38, EHV). Jesus pointed to himself as the new Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies. He was the source from which all the saving waters would flow. There was a change to the way things had always been. Well, not really. There was a fulfillment to the way things had always been. Jesus was the fulfillment of all the Old Testament had been pointing to.

After reporting what Jesus said, John writes: “By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive. For the Holy Spirit had not yet come, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:39, EHV). The complete fulfilment of what Jesus said would come at Pentecost, after his death, resurrection, and ascension.

That’s what we celebrate today. When Peter and the others stood up on the Day of Pentecost, God’s plan of salvation had been completed. The streams of living water poured out of the mouths of the Apostles. God the Holy Spirit even gave them the ability to speak in languages they had never learned, specifically so that the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ would flow freely without being hindered by misunderstanding what was said.

In today’s Second Reading, Paul said: “I am informing you that no one speaking by God’s Spirit says, ‘A curse be upon Jesus,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3, EHV). It wasn’t just the Apostles on whom the Holy Spirit was poured. Each believer has that same Holy Spirit, the Spirit who creates faith and the confession of that faith.

IV.

“Streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me” (John 7:38, EHV). No more filtering beaver-pond substitutes. No looking for something that you think might do until something better comes along. Come and drink again today. The Living Water flows from Jesus and is proclaimed here for you.

Because the Spirit flows from Christ into us, he also flows out of us in rivers.

In fact, by reading and digesting his Word, that water lives and flows from within us as the Holy Spirit continues to create faith. Again Paul said: “Each person is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good... 11One and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them to each one individually as he desires” (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11, EHV). Every ability a Christian has been given is from God. Each of those abilities is valuable to the congregation of believers in Jesus. God wants to use all those gifts; they are intended to promote the preaching of the gospel of Jesus—to quench the thirst of souls. Not every believer in Jesus has the same gift; not every one has the same vocation or the same part to play, but each of us is valuable to Christ and his Church.

After I had my drink of pond-water, I plodded on, one step at a time. One of my sons also ran out of water and figured that I probably would run out, too. He waited for me and went to a better lake to filter some fresh, clean water.

It could be said that every believer plods along in the hike of life in this fallen world, too. We remain thirsty because of sin and its consequences. But now we know Christ. We know about the clean water, the Living Water, the water that he promises in streams welling up inside us. We know where that water is. Again and again we go back to the well of Christ. He lives to pour out his Spirit. Because he lives, and gives us that stream of Living Water, we can finish the hike of faith with joy. Amen.