On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from the heart of anyone who believes in me.’”
John 7:37-38
Today’s sermon did a wonderful job of explaining the background of this passage. To fully understand it, we have to understand what festival this verse refers to, so I’ll sum up what I know (some I knew before today, but I learned more during the sermon).
This was during the Feast of the Tabernacles (Tents), or the Festival of Booths, which was to celebrate and remember how the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt and through the desert. (Leviticus 23:33-44) Everyone came to Jerusalem for this week-long celebration, and “camped out” in tents the whole time. There was singing, dancing, many sacrifices, and many hours of worship in the tabernacle each day. Every evening the people lit torches to remember how the Lord appeared as a pillar of fire at night to the Israelites during their time in the desert. But the last day of the festival was the most sacred. One of the “big finale” ceremonies was the water-drawing ceremony to recognize that all “living” or fresh water comes from God: the priest would make the trek down to the river, where he filled a golden pitcher with fresh water (as compared to the stale, often diseased water in the man-made cisterns) and carried it back to the temple. While he was on his journey to and fro, the people (probably at least a half-million of them!) enthusiastically recited the hallel, which is Psalms 113 - 118. When they got to Psalm 118:25, they repeated it over and over. . .
This was during the Feast of the Tabernacles (Tents), or the Festival of Booths, which was to celebrate and remember how the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt and through the desert. (Leviticus 23:33-44) Everyone came to Jerusalem for this week-long celebration, and “camped out” in tents the whole time. There was singing, dancing, many sacrifices, and many hours of worship in the tabernacle each day. Every evening the people lit torches to remember how the Lord appeared as a pillar of fire at night to the Israelites during their time in the desert. But the last day of the festival was the most sacred. One of the “big finale” ceremonies was the water-drawing ceremony to recognize that all “living” or fresh water comes from God: the priest would make the trek down to the river, where he filled a golden pitcher with fresh water (as compared to the stale, often diseased water in the man-made cisterns) and carried it back to the temple. While he was on his journey to and fro, the people (probably at least a half-million of them!) enthusiastically recited the hallel, which is Psalms 113 - 118. When they got to Psalm 118:25, they repeated it over and over. . .
“Lord save us! Lord, grant us success!”
Finally the priest would return, the shofar would blow, and the throng of people would become silent. The priest would hold the pitcher high, and speak about how the Lord had saved them, and ask the Lord to grant them success by sending his living water to them for their crops. He then poured the water out on the altar, and the people all began shouting and reciting the hallel again. (By the way, “hallel” + “Yahweh” = hallelujah! How cool is that!? But it’s more than our sometimes lame hallelujahs; theirs was truly worshipping with ALL you’ve got, both body and soul!)
Now let’s jump back to the verse at the beginning of this post. Although we don’t know this for a fact, our pastor thinks that when Jesus stands up and shouts these words, this must be at the only time the crowd of people would have been silent; it must have been when the priest stood with the pitcher of water held high. Everyone would have been shocked that Jesus “broke tradition” by speaking at this time. He spoke boldly, as only he could have done, about being this living water.
I think that we all choose the stale cistern water sometimes. Rather than choose the living water of Christ that truly quenches our “thirst”, we seek the things that we think will satisfy us. But nothing will fill the God-shaped hole in our hearts except God himself.
Now let’s jump back to the verse at the beginning of this post. Although we don’t know this for a fact, our pastor thinks that when Jesus stands up and shouts these words, this must be at the only time the crowd of people would have been silent; it must have been when the priest stood with the pitcher of water held high. Everyone would have been shocked that Jesus “broke tradition” by speaking at this time. He spoke boldly, as only he could have done, about being this living water.
I think that we all choose the stale cistern water sometimes. Rather than choose the living water of Christ that truly quenches our “thirst”, we seek the things that we think will satisfy us. But nothing will fill the God-shaped hole in our hearts except God himself.
