Preaching/Teaching on John 7:37-39
JESUS appeals to the thirsty
Jewish tradition prescribes additional rituals for the final day of the festival—the culmination of their weeklong prayers for deliverance (according to the Babylonian Talmud Sukkah 53a).
If anyone is thirsty A subtle appeal to imagery of messianic deliverance associated with the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus makes the point that He is the source of life—a claim that only God could make. This would have provoked His opponents, but it brought comfort to His followers.
A ritual of bringing water from the pool of Siloam and pouring it at the base of the altar was part of the daily festival celebration. This ritual memorialized the miracle of water from the rock in the wilderness (Num 20:2–13) and became symbolic of hope for messianic deliverance (Isa 12:3). The Festival of Tabernacles was associated with God providing rain (Zech 14:16–18), and Zech 14 was to be read on the first day of the feast (according to the rabbinic text Babylonian Talmud Megillah 31a). The seventh day of the festival, the last official day (Lev 23:34, 41–42), had a special water-pouring ritual and lights ceremony (according to the rabbinic text Mishnah Sukkah 4.9–10; 5.2–4). The festival came to be a celebration of God’s future restoration of Israel and the extension of salvation to the nations. Jesus’ invitation draws on those expectations of future ideal reality under the rule of the Messiah.