Water of Life (John 7)

 

Water of Life (John 7)

 

On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out,
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.
Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’”
John 7:37-38

A man is awakened at 3:00 AM by a loud banging on his front door. He gets up, goes to the door and finds a drunken man standing there in the pouring rain. The man asks, “What do you want?”

 

The drunk said, “Can you give me a push?”

 

The man answered, “It’s 3:00 in the morning and its pouring rain outside. Not a chance.” He closes the door and goes back to bed.

 

His wife asked, “Who was that?

 

He answered, “Oh just some stupid drunk who want me to give his car a push. Can you believe the nerve?”

 

His wife said, “Honey, don’t you remember when our car broke down two nice men stopped to help us? You need to go and help him. God loves drunk men too.”

 

So he reluctantly got up and went back to the front door. Of course, the stranger disappeared into the night. He calls out, “Hey! Are you still there?”

 

A voice from the dark answers, “Yeah!”

 

The man says, “Where are you? I’ll give you a push.”

 

The voice says, “Over here on the swing.”

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus returns to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, also called the Festival of Booths, in Hebrew Sukkoth. It is the last of the three major festivals of the Jewish calendar. In each case, the pilgrimage festivals call up some aspect of Israel’s “Great Story” of redemption. The story tells of Israel fleeing Egypt (Passover), coming to Mount Sinai to receive the covenant (Pentecost), and finally forty years wandering in the wilderness (Tabernacles). When they lived in the desert, they worshiped God at his “Sukkah” (tent, tabernacle) and built shelters for themselves as well. The Feast of Sukkoth, then, was also a time to retell the story of desert life and the temptations and victories found there.

 

The Book of Leviticus instructs:

Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. (Lev. 23:42 – 43)

 

Sukkoth occurs in early October this year. During Sukkoth families sleep outside in makeshift shelters covered with leafy branches on the roof, symbolizing the way their ancestors dwelled in the desert. They would bring a tithe of their harvest to the temple to make offerings to God.

The festival celebrates God’s abundant provision during the year and recounts how God provided for their ancestors in the wilderness, like bringing water from a rock.

 

Each day of the festival a procession of priests and worshipers descended from the temple mount through the water gate on the south side of the city and came to the pool of Siloam, which is fed by the Gihon spring, living water. They would draw water from the pool with a golden pitcher and carry it back up to the temple as the worshippers sang Isaiah 12:3, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” And they would sing the Hallel, Psalms 113-118. Our call to worship this morning was from the Hallel which means praise.

 

The walk back up to the temple rose 377 feet and a distance of about a half mile. Once the procession reached the altar at the temple, the priest poured the water out upon the altar. The worshippers carried lulav in the right hand and a citrus fruit etrog in the left. The lulav is a palm branch, tied together with myrtle and willow sprigs. These symbolized the bounty of the harvest the Lord had given. This ceremony celebrates how God provided for their ancestors in the wilderness. And they celebrate God’s faithful provision in the promised land. The water ceremony recalls God’s gift of water in the wilderness, and the gift of rain which brings the harvest.

 

At the time of Sukkoth, the drought season has begun. So the pouring of water is a prayer for rain to return to the land for the coming year.  But the water is not simply about rain. It is a prayer for blessing. Water gives life after all. The prophets envision a future when a river of water will flow out from under the altar and make the desert lush and fruitful. It is a symbolic vision about the knowledge of God flowing out of Jerusalem and blessing the entire world.

 

Jesus went to the festival in secret, because the religious leaders wanted to kill him for breaking the law by healing a man on the Sabbath. Jesus defended himself by saying, “My father is at work, and I am working too.” He put himself on equal level with God. This infuriated the religious leaders. They plotted to end Jesus.

 

During the festival Jesus taught the crowds in the temple. The people wondered, “How did this man get such learning without a formal education?”

 

Jesus answered, “My teachings come from the One who sent me.” In other words, Jesus teaches the words of God.

 

Jesus challenged them. “You follow the law of Moses?” Then why are you trying to kill me?” They thought him demon-possessed. “You’re off your rocker! Who’s trying to kill you?”

 

Jesus answered, “You circumcise your sons on the 8^th day. When it falls on a sabbath, you go ahead and perform the ritual of circumcision so that you keep the law. So why do you want to kill me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath?” “Stop judging by mere appearance and judge rightly.”

 

He spoke with such authority the people began to wonder if the religious leaders had decided that he was in fact the Messiah, since no one was arresting him. They didn’t know that the religious leaders had in fact sent the temple guards to arrest Jesus, but they too were struck by Jesus’ preaching. “No one ever spoke like this man” they said!

 

The religious leaders were furious. “You are deceived too, just like this accursed crowd of illiterate fools who know nothing of the law.”

 

Some in the crowd thought that Jesus couldn’t be the Messiah because he was from Galilee, not Bethlehem. Jesus told them, “I am from Him (God the Father). He sent me.”

 

Jesus told the crowd, “I’m here for a short time, then I am returning to the One who sent me (God). Where I am going you cannot come.”

 

The crowd wants to know what he means. “Where is he going that we cannot come?”

 

He’s going to Calvary, to his death upon a cross. He is going to the netherworld and preach the gospel to the dead. He is going to be transformed on Easter Sunday with a resurrected body and ascend into heaven and sit at God’s right hand.

 

On the last and great day of the festival, water was poured out upon the altar 7 times. The priests and people sang, rejoiced and prayed for rain. Then Jesus shouted out to the crowd gathered at the temple.

 

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. (John 7:37-39)

 

Some wanted him arrested. Others wrote him off as a crack pot. But some believed in Him. They embraced him as their messiah.

 

The book of Revelation says

 

“Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. (Rev 22:17b)

 

Jesus stands before each of us and cries out, “Come to me and drink from the water of life!” For Jesus is the source of blessing. The Spirit of Jesus is the water that flows from God’s throne, flooding us with His amazing grace by which we are blessed.

 

Today we celebrate the sacrament of baptism. Each time we participate in this sacrament, we are reminded of our own baptisms. A sacrament is a sacred moment, a means of grace, a source of God’s blessing. Baptism has many meanings. It is the sign of belonging to Christ. Just as Jesus’ blood washes away our sin, the water of baptism symbolizes the soul cleansing work of God in our hearts.

 

Baptism is sharing in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Water gives life, but water can also take life. Ask any who’ve lost loved ones to drowning and floods. As we kneel, and the water is placed upon our heads, we die to our former lives lived under the power of sin and the fear of death. And we rise into new life empowered by Jesus, the source of life and blessing. Baptism is a commitment to no longer live by our cravings and sinful passions. Instead, we begin an earnest effort to live by the Spirit, the water of life.

 

Today as we celebrate the baptism of Jacklynn, I invite you to recommit your lives to the way of Jesus. The well of salvation is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in your hearts. The water of life is within you. Come to Jesus and drink.