John 7:37-39

John 7:37-39

37 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" 39 Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified. 

John 7:37-39, a segment that extends to verse 52, is an account of scene two of Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth). Jesus is answering the prayer for rain. 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 8^th 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. 

³⁷ On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, (in a word of revelation from unknown scripture) "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me. Sukkoth (the Festival of Booths) is the harvest celebration that also commemorates God's faithfulness to the Israelites throughout their wilderness experience. A major component of observing the festival in Jerusalem includes the ritual gathering of water from the Pool of Siloam to be taken to the temple altar. The religious importance of this water is not lost on Jesus as he stands in the temple to call the thirsty to come to him instead. ³⁸ And let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" Jesus positions himself as the source not of religiously significant water but water imbued with the Holy Spirit. What ritual occasionally provides, Jesus continually provides.  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 he is the fulfillment of their prayers. The imagery of water here refers to the Spirit, which early Christians would likely 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. 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.[1] 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. 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. This appears within the larger context of Jesus' teaching that he is the bread of life that will never leave hungry those who come to him. Here the ongoing satisfaction of hunger and thirst suggests the bread of communion and the waters of baptism, both of which are associated with the sacramental activity of the Holy Spirit. John 4:10-14 and 6:35 together indicate how Jesus offers sustenance that far surpasses even the finest earthly resources or the best that humankind can fashion. ³⁹ Now, in a parenthetical comment, he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, (that is, not yet in relation to humanity) because Jesus was not yet glorified. The notion that the Son has to 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.[2] 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.[3]

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.

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.[4]

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. 

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.  

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.”[5] 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 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.[6]

Let us all be open to the fresh winds of the Spirit.

---

[1] Barth (Church Dogmatics III.2 [46.2] 362)

[2] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology Volume 2, 453, Volume 1, 267)

[3] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology Volume 3, 367)

[4]        -Philosophy professor Dallas Willard in Explorer, March 12, 2001.

[5] William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, p. 387.

[6] Paul Tillich, Eternal Now, 1963.