In John 7: 37-39 (Year A Pentecost) Jesus is at the feast of Tabernacles, a segment that extends to 7:52. I blend exegetical scholarship, pastoral reflection, cultural critique, personal anecdote, and homiletical exhortation.
Summary
I grant that this is an ambitious text that seeks not merely to explain Scripture, but to reignite spiritual imagination. My core claim is that Christianity without the flowing life of the Spirit becomes sterile—and that the church’s credibility depends not on argument alone, but on visible transformation rooted in “living water.” My aim is spiritual and ecclesial renewal. I seek to
· Interpret John 7:37–39 within its Jewish liturgical context,
· Reclaim the metaphor of “living water” as a dynamic image of the Holy Spirit,
· Challenge a spiritually complacent or rationalistic church,
· Call the congregation toward a more vital, Spirit-filled discipleship.
I explore Jesus's declaration as the source of "living water," connecting it deeply to the ancient Feast of Tabernacles and its prayer for rain. I highlight how Jesus fulfills these prayers, offering the Holy Spirit as a spiritual refreshment for those thirsty from oppression, poverty, or spiritual confusion. This living water is not just for individual enjoyment but flows out from believers, becoming a shared source of life and renewal, embodying the Spirit's "quickening divine activity."
In presenting a fulfillment of Christology, I portray Jesus as:
· The fulfillment of Jewish liturgical hope,
· The new rock of Horeb,
· The dispenser and controller of eschatological life.
This leads me to present an ecclesiology of overflow, where the churches exists not for private spirituality but for outward-flowing renewal, where stagnation is not an option. I contrast this powerful image with common cynical views of the church—as irrelevant, hypocritical, or dull—and acknowledge their partial validity when the church forgets its true nature. However, I argue for a church revitalized by the Spirit, moving beyond a "sober" faith to embrace an ecstatic, transformative experience. I challenge excessive rational control in faith, arguing that the Spirit necessarily involves risk, mystery, an openness. Drawing on figures like John Wesley and even Billy Joel, I advocate for trusting the Spirit's mysterious guidance, fostering courage, love, and insight, and allowing its powerful presence to flow through us into the world, continuing Christ's mission. I call for embrace of the dynamic, life-giving force of the Spirit that transcends rationalism and ignites "souls on fire."
Verse-by-verse study
Key features of this study include:
· Historical reconstruction of the water-drawing ritual at Siloam,
· Rabbinic traditions linking water, creation, and messianic hope,
· Intertextual connections to Isaiah, Ezekiel, Sirach, Corinthians, Revelation, and Johannine parallels.
This section establishes scholarly credibility and situates Jesus firmly within Jewish symbolic imagination.
In John 7: 37-39 (Year A Pentecost) the festival drew large crowds from great distances to Jerusalem. On this day, the heart of the accompanying rites priests performed the ceremony of drawing water from the pool of Siloam and taking it with solemn assembly to the altar of burnt offering. Jesus is answering the prayer for rain. It has similarity with I Cor 10:4. Rabbis of the 100s asked why the Torah commanded to pour out water on the Feast of Tabernacles and answered that the blessed Holy One has commanded it so that the rain of the coming year may bless the people. R. Eleazar added that one flood says to another: Let your waters gush forth. This blessing of water flowed from the rock of Horeb, for, as R. Jose said from it the world was founded and R. Hijja added that from it the world was given to drink. This also meant the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, based on Is. 12:3, where with joy they shall draw out water of the wells of salvation. It became an image of the Messianic age, based on Ezekiel 47:1ff, referring to Moses as the first redeemer and to the last redeemer will cause water to rise up. John uses the ideas associated with the Feast Tabernacles, comparing Jesus to the sacred rock of Horeb that provides the world with water.[1] The text portrays Jesus as divine wisdom or divine spirit. John identifies this as the last day of the pilgrimage festival, the great day. This might be the seven or 8th day, celebrating the end of the festival. The festival commemorates the faithfulness of God to the Israelites throughout their wilderness experience. The festival drew large crowds from great distances to Jerusalem. On this day, the priests performed the ceremony of drawing water from the pool of Siloam and taking it to the altar with special solemnity. This was a prayer for rain and water. The priest doused the altar with water. Yet, as John continues, Jesus was standing there. The religious importance of this water becomes the occasion for Jesus to cry out (in a word of revelation), making a personal appeal typical of Jesus as he forms a new people of God,[2] that anyone who is thirsty is to come to him, and anyone who believes in him may drink, the water of life being a gift of paradise.[3] Jesus reaches out to people acquainted with physical thirst, of course, but also familiar with thirst from oppression, poverty, slavery, social turbulence, and spiritual confusion. Thus, we find here one of the most beautiful images in John, the invitation being to come to Jesus, the source of life. Jesus announces that is he himself the fulfillment of their prayers. The imagery of water here refers to the Spirit, which early Christians would connect with baptism. The passage challenges us to become mindful of our spiritual thirst, mindful of the thirst of others, and even mindful of how God thirsts for us to find refreshment in accord with the renewal of the Spirit. John has Jesus refer to scripture (unknown) that says that out of the heart, the one touched by Jesus and receives refreshment of the inward being, the innermost recesses of personal life of the believer shall flow rivers of living, running, or fresh water, becoming a source of wider refreshing shared with others in overflowing abundance.[4] It may be a paraphrase of Isa 58:11, where the Lord will satisfy their needs in parched placed, making them like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. It could also paraphrase Sirach 24:30-34, where Sirach says his canal becomes a river, and the river becomes a sea, making instruction shine forth like the dawn, pouring out teaching for future generations, laboring not for himself but for all who seek wisdom. The only reason living water can flow from a person is that the person is in service to the quickening divine activity we find in Christ.[5] The NRSV text states that the rivers of living water shall flow from the believer's heart. However, scholars such as R.E. Brown and F.J. Maloney identify several biblical commentators whose translations of Jesus' words result in readings wherein the rivers of living water flow from Jesus' heart. On the one hand, the water flowing from Jesus is in keeping with his being the higher source. On the other hand, the one who is that higher source is certainly capable of making rivers of living water flow from the heart of the believer. Here is water imbued with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit as the water of life will flow in the community in the proclamation that takes place in word and act. Like Rev. 22:1, the river of the water of life is associated with the Lamb as well as with God, the nature of the water being of most interest. The point is that Jesus is the one who controls and dispenses this water. It looks ahead to a time when Jesus will no longer be there. It expresses certainty that the work of Jesus will continue, the means being the energizing work of the Spirit through those who believe. The forces and fullness of life remain at work through the streams of living water flowing from them into the world. The saying witnesses to the function of the disciples as leaders of the early community. It denotes the eschatological function of Jesus.[6] We find here one of the most beautiful images in John, the invitation being to come to Jesus, the source of life. The passage challenges us to become mindful of our spiritual thirst, mindful of the thirst of others, and even mindful of how God thirsts for us to find refreshment in accord with the renewal of the Spirit. The only reason living water can flow from a person is that the person is in service to the quickening divine activity we find in Christ.[7] In any case, this should remind us of John 4:10-14, where Jesus tells the Samaritan woman about living water and a spring of water that gushes up to eternal life. In John 6:35, Jesus promises that those who believe in him will never experience thirst. Many scholars will see here a sacramental reference to the drink of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus offers sustenance that far surpasses even the finest earthly resources or the best that humankind can fashion. John concludes this segment with a parenthetical comment, identifying that Jesus says this about the Spirit, which believers in Christ were to receive. Of course, as of yet, in a new statement, the Spirit was not yet a possibility (that is, not yet in relation to humanity) because the Father had not yet glorified the Son. This shows the tension that John recognizes between Jesus bestowing or offering the Spirit during his lifetime and the view in Luke that the Spirit was bestowed at Pentecost.[8] The Son must leave before the Spirit can come to believers suggests the self-distinction within the Trinity. The fact that the Spirit was not yet present applies only to believers, of course, since the ministry of Jesus begins in the power of the Spirit and continues with that same power.[9]Aquinas tried to base confirmation in the life and teaching of Jesus, and used this passage on receiving the Holy Spirit to do so, but it does not work. Early believers associated the reception of the Holy Spirit with baptism.[10]
Application
I offer a sustained critique names modern perceptions of the church as irrelevant, hypocritical, bureaucratic, or dull. Nietzsche is cited to sharpen the critique. The author acknowledges partial truth in these accusations while arguing they arise from forgetting the church’s Spirit-filled identity.
As a young pastor, I decided to cut the cost of eating out by ordering water to drink. It was mostly an economic decision, but I was also aware it was healthier to drink than soft drinks. We are fortunate in this country that water is so easily available. The importance of water to biological life is good reason to make it a metaphor for the Spirit of God, who is just as necessary for our spiritual life.
Fresh water, running water, what John 7:37-39 calls “living water,” sounds refreshing, does it not? It is worth noting that like the observance of the harvest associated with Pentecost (Shavuot), Sukkoth was a pilgrimage festival that drew huge crowds to Jerusalem from great distances. At the Feast of Tabernacles at the time of Jesus, there was prayer for rain or water. The priest doused the altar with water. Jesus now declares he is the fulfillment of their prayers. It suggests that people are thirsting for what Jesus has to offer. In matters of the human spirit, I think of the things that can oppress, ensnare, and confuse. We can wander off the way to living water. We can go to wells that look like they should have water, but they do not. We need to be mindful of our spiritual thirst, and mindful of that for which others may thirst. People need a connection to the energy that gives life in this universe. When connected to the life-giving water of the Spirit, it can flow out from us to others.
John 7:37-39 challenges us to become mindful of our own spiritual thirst, mindful of what others thirst for, mindful of how God thirsts for us to be quenched according to the activity of the Holy Spirit, guiding us to continue Christ's mission until he returns in glory. Jesus reaches out to people well acquainted with physical thirst but also familiar with thirst for release from grinding oppression, poverty, slavery, social turbulence and spiritual confusion.
This spiritual water is not just for private enjoyment. It flows out from the believer because it cannot do anything else. It must keep running, moving, and quenching the thirst of others.
Let us briefly contrast the refreshment on Jesus focuses with the recognition that contemporary views of the church today are anything but complimentary.
One of the nicer things said about the church is that it is irrelevant as far as saying anything to today's world is concerned.
Many look upon the church as nothing but a collection of religious creeps who are colorless, sterile, and dull, and who come to church only to sit with blank stares on their faces. They have no life to them at all. They remind me of the remark by the pagan philosopher, Nietzsche: "If you want me to believe in your Redeemer, then you'll have to look a lot more redeemed."
Others think of the church as a group of religious bureaucrats who are forever issuing pronouncements to which no one pays any attention.
Some think of it as a group of plastic hypocrites who are forever trying to play waterboy to the game of life; whenever real issues are faced the church is there to say, "Me too."
Some view the church as a group of "good time Charlies" that never have a serious thought and are little concerned about life. They do not care enough even to get their hands dirty. I know a former hippie (now a Christian) who resisted accepting Jesus Christ for years because he thought he also had to buy Pat Boone.
In all honesty, we do have to admit that the church has often been guilty of these things. There is much justification for these charges. However, they are true only because the church so easily forgets what it really is. When the church acts as what it really is then it is not like these distorted views at all. The church, operating as it was intended to operate, is the most important body of people in any age -- far above and beyond anything else.
I offer an extended theology of the Holy Spirit:
· The Spirit as wind (John 3:8),
· Trust over rational control,
· Ecstasy understood as authentic self-transcendence,
· Transformation rather than moralism or quietism
This text refers to receiving the Holy Spirit in the same way that we would quench our thirst. Such a filling of our souls with spiritual drink would have an impact upon this congregation, and upon this community, that we could never calculate: Life, comfort, light, purity, power, peace; and many other precious blessings are inseparable from the Spirit's gentle presence. One of the hardest points to get past in spiritual formation is that for me to be spiritually transformed, I must want to not want what I now want.[11]
The fluidity and mystery of the Spirit must be part of what John 3:8 meant, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Fenlon said that the Wind of God is always blowing, but you must hoist your sail. We must be willing to trust the Spirit. The church has let reason and rationalism dictate its course of action for too long. We are terrified of being caught without a rational plan or thoughtful explanation for every action we take, every experience we encounter. At its heart, this is what building a church that is a field of dreams takes: The willingness to spread our wings and step off the edge, believing that the breath of the Spirit will bear us forward into the future.
Lyrics from Billy Joel’s River of Dreams are a contemporary parable of spiritual longing in the form of emotion and heart-felt searching.
Billy Joel, River of Life
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
From the mountains of faith
To the river so deep
I must be lookin' for something
Something sacred I lost
But the river is wide
And it's too hard to cross
even though I know the river is wide
I walk down every evening and stand on the shore
I try to cross to the opposite side
So I can finally find what I've been looking for
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the valley of fear
To a river so deep
I've been searching for something
Taken out of my soul
Something I'd never lose
Something somebody stole
I don't know why I go walking at night
But now I'm tired and I don't want to walk anymore
I hope it doesn't take the rest of my life
Until I find what it is I've been looking for
(Three beat Pause)
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the jungle of doubt
To the river so deep
I know I'm searching for something
Something so undefined
That it can only be seen
By the eyes of the blind
In the middle of the night (break)
I’m not sure about a life after this
God knows I've never been a spiritual man
Baptized by the fire, I wade into the river
That is runnin' through the promised land (Long Five beat Pause)
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the desert of truth
To the river so deep
We all end in the ocean
We all start in the streams
We're all carried along
By the river of dreams
In the middle of the night
Paul’s powerful statement on the transcendental nature of our commitments and source of strength in “Be not conformed to this world but be transformed” or “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold” makes us realize that there is that about Christian experience, which is dynamic, exotic, and certainly most extraordinary.
This leads us to consider holiness and sanctification, emphasizing ongoring sanctification, John Wesley’s Aldersgate experience, ecstatic spirituality integrated with service, and the Spirit’s intimate, transformative work in daily life.
Moralism robs Christians of their liberty. Quietism robs Christians of the joy of discipleship. Faith becomes visible in the fruit of the Spirit, a humbling reality, for we always fall short of the claim of God upon us. Incompleteness is part of our life on earth. Therefore, this is not the basis of faith or the confidence of faith. Saints prove themselves, not so much by their doing as by their being, as people who live from the love of God in Christ. Yet, the world needs saints active in the world.
Christian life is not a thing to which we gain a secure possession. Faith needs continual renewal in new situations. This renewal occurs as we return to the beginning of Christian life in grace and as we look forward to the gracious future toward which God calls us.
Sanctification or holiness is not a unique event, but the way we gradually grow toward wholeness. It refers to the progressive influence of the Holy Spirit. God wins us back, pressing forward into the surrounding territories of the self, by influencing various sector of our feeling, thought, will, and even unconscious life. Catholicism has an important advantage over Protestants at this point. True saints prove their discipleship by not severing themselves from the world, but by the special intensity and concentration of spirit with which they give expression to their unity with God in outpouring of loving service to others. Perfect love of God becomes desire to share the lot of others. Protestants have for too long created biblical and theological knowledge that has little importance from the standpoint of holiness.
John Wesley had his Pentecost experience in 1738 at a meeting in London on Aldersgate Street. During the religious meeting, while the leader was reading Martin Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans, John Wesley suddenly, in his words, "felt my heart strangely warmed." The Holy Spirit flooded his soul, and his ministry gained a new direction. As the wind, the Holy Spirit brings the breath of life to us. Do you feel that breath of life every day?
The Spirit of God has an ecstatic character. Yet, this statement does contain the idea of irrational states of intoxication. Ecstasy can mean that people, while outside themselves, are supremely with themselves. Every living thing lives outside itself, that is, in and by the world around it. The Spirit gives life by lifting us above ourselves. Spiritual experiences like artistic inspiration, or sudden insights through illumination have the same character. Such experiences give an inner freedom. Despite our disillusion, we constantly open ourselves to what is around us, to the world. Our faith in God lifts us above ourselves inasmuch as God is powerfully present to us as the light of our final future and assures us at the same time of our own eternal salvation. We are linked with others in the fellowship of believers whose common setting is faith in the one Lord. The ecstatic integration of this fellowship by the Spirit into the common praise of God can mediate the sense of an initial removing of alienation between this and that individual and therefore also of the antagonism between the individual and society.
Could we not use a higher level of imagination and thrusting out into fresh creative and innovative realms? What greater time than this for the achievement of “souls on fire,” not the fire which is merely of this world, or the pseudo firs of human concoction or construction, nor the fires enflamed by demonic or evil forces, but rather the fire which is the illumination, contagion, warmth, and power of the Holy Spirit of God! It may not be an error at all that causes the apostle to use alcohol and drunkenness in comparison with the operation of the Spirit: “Be not drunk with win but be filled with the Spirit.” William James wrote: “Sobriety diminishes, discriminates, and says no; drunkenness expands, unites, and says yes.”[12] I am not suggesting literal drunkenness, of course. I have had a father like that; I know what it can do to destroy a family. However, I do think that we often have an overly sober experience of the Christian faith and life. We all too rarely allow our minds, hearts, and lives to receive the expanded vision of new life that the Spirit wants to give.
The Spirit can work in you with a soft but insistent voice, telling you that your life is empty and meaningless, but that there are chances of a new life waiting before the door of your inner self to fill its void and to conquer its dullness. The Spirit can work in you, awakening the desire to strive towards the sublime against the profanity of the average day. The Spirit can give you the courage that says “Yes” to life despite the destructiveness you have experienced around you and within you. The Spirit can reveal to you that you have hurt somebody deeply, but it can also give you the right word that reunites him with you. The Spirit can make you love, with the divine love, someone you profoundly dislike or in whom you have no interest. The Spirit can conquer your sloth towards what you know is the aim of your life, and it can transform your moods of aggression and depression into stability and serenity. The Spirit can liberate you from hidden enmity against those whom you love and from open vengefulness against those by whom you feel violated. The Spirit can give you the strength to throw off false anxieties and to take upon yourself the anxiety that belongs to life itself. The Spirit can awaken you to sudden insight into the way you must take your world, and it can open your eyes to a view of it that makes everything new. The Spirit can give you joy amid ordinary routine as well as in the depth of sorrow. The Spirit can create warmth in the coldness you feel within you and around you, and it can give you wisdom and strength where your human love towards a loved one has failed. The Spirit can throw you into a hell of despair about yourself and then give you the certainty that life has accepted you just when you felt totally rejected and when you rejected yourself totally.[13]
Let us all be open to the fresh winds of the Spirit.
[1] J. Jeremias, TDNT IV, 277-8.
[2]
[3]
[4] Behm, TDNT, III, 788-9.
[5]
[6] Rengstorf, TDNT VI, 605-7.
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11] -Philosophy professor Dallas Willard in Explorer, March 12, 2001.
[12] William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, p. 387.
[13] Paul Tillich, Eternal Now, 1963.
Enjoyed this. Liked Billy Joel. Perhaps this is how the church needs to live in a secular society All who are thirsty come unto me!
ReplyDeleteI do like that thought, Lynn
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