Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
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John 7:37-52
Jesus at the Festival of Tabernacles
37 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. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 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.
40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”
41 Others said, “He is the Christ.”
Still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.
Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders
45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.
47 “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
Today’s reading comes at the end of a series of readings that tell about Jesus’ participation in an important Hebrew religious festival – the annual Festival of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. This festival took place each year at harvest time. It has some of the same themes as our Thanksgiving holiday.
By this point in his ministry, Jesus had started to attract a wide following. And to build that following even more, John tells us that Jesus’ brothers had encouraged him to make an appearance at the Festival of Tabernacles to help him “become a public figure.” That’s a little startling to read, because it’s pretty clear that becoming a public figure wasn’t what Jesus had in mind for his mission on earth. So instead of making a grand entrance at the festival, he went to Jerusalem quietly and alone. Then once he got there, he went to the Temple and started teaching those who were interested in listening to him.
John’s account of his appearance at the festival describes some of the controversy that had started to spring up around Jesus. Some people said he was a good man and a teacher of great spiritual insight, but others shared the view of the religious authorities that he was a ‘deceiver.’ John also says a rumor was circulating that the leadership wanted Jesus dead.
Today’s passage takes place on the climactic final day of the festival. And it’s important to know that one of the rituals of the Festival of Tabernacles involved publicly pouring out water before the worshipers. This seems odd to us, but in an arid culture like the Middle East, sacrificing water had a meaning similar to other sacrifices. “Drink offerings” were a part of their religious life.
On this occasion, apparently as the water was being poured out, Jesus stepped forward before the assembled crowd and announced what he had told the Samaritan woman at the well outside Sychar – that he was the source of “living water” that would quench the spiritual thirst of those who experienced it. And what’s more, that this living water would allow those who got it to become spiritual springs overflowing into the lives of others.
That’s a metaphor that we followers of Jesus should probably think about from time to time. If we are really ‘drinking in’ the Holy Spirit as it flows out of the teachings and example of Jesus, then that Spirit will start flowing out of us as well, and others will be refreshed by it. Jesus didn’t intend that his followers would just receive his teachings and the Holy Spirit they open us to – but rather that we would become conduits for those teachings and that Spirit to flow into the lives of others.
The last part of today’s reading tells more about the controversy that surrounded Jesus. Some people thought he was the Messiah. But others said Jesus couldn’t be the Messiah, because he came from Galilee and the prophets had foretold that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem. The religious Jews gathered for the festival apparently knew what the prophesies said about the Messiah, and they knew where Jesus was living as an adult. But they apparently didn’t know that Bethlehem is where Jesus had been born.
Eventually, even the temple security guards who had been sent to arrest Jesus were so moved by the power of his teaching that they went back to the temple without him. The chief priests and the Pharisees were furious that the guards had failed to arrest Jesus. But it’s interesting that the Pharisees didn’t give any reason for Jesus to be arrested other that the fact that they didn’t believe in him.
On the other hand, the common people who actually sat and listened to Jesus (and apparently these temple guards, as well) found themselves deeply affected by his teachings. The leadership found Jesus threatening to their power and privilege, but those who actually listened to him with open hearts found themselves drinking in the living water as Jesus had said, and pouring out that living water for others – also exactly as Jesus had said.
Let’s pray. Lord, we ask that you would open our hearts and minds so that the teachings of Jesus and the Holy Spirit that flows with them would fill us – and even overflow us into the lives of others, so they would come to experience the spiritual refreshment and new life only he can provide. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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