TOUCH, SEE, TASTE, HEAR
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Opening Prayer
God and Father, thank you for the security that is mine in Christ. Thank you for your bonds of love that can never be broken and for your commitment to me that will never diminish.
Read JOHN 7:37–52
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
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.”[a] 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 Messiah.”
Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants 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.”
Footnotes
- John 7:38 Or me. And let anyone drink 38 who believes in me.” As Scripture has said, “Out of him (or them) will flow rivers of living water.”
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.’1 Bring your thirst to Jesus now. Fill your cup with his ever-flowing goodness and drink slowly.
How did observers become participants in the faith? Any bystanders had little choice but to be caught up in the stunning spectacle in Jerusalem during the feast of Tabernacles. Surrounded by temporary booths dotted all over the city, they would be engulfed in the daily processions as people waved branches and citrus fruit in gratitude for God’s provision of harvest. They would hear singing of psalms as they followed the crowd: ‘Give thanks to the Lord.’2 When water was carried from the pool of Siloam and poured down the temple steps, they would witness the enactment of God’s provision for their ancestors in the wilderness and the blessing of rain for themselves. Perhaps they would feel splashes on their feet in this scene, reminiscent of Ezekiel’s ancient vision of a torrent emerging from God’s temple to flood a dry world.3 They would catch the scent of longing for the Messianic age expressed so fully in body, mind, and spirit through the festival’s sights and sounds, lights and rituals. Full immersion.
In this feast, however, there was abundantly more for those who had a heart to hear and see. Jesus’ cry pierced the joyful hullabaloo, claiming to be the One to which it all pointed: ‘Let anyone who is thirsty, come to me’ (v. 37). He was the focus, their deepest desire, the answer to their prayers.
It is ironic that such devotion did not recognize immediately the One for whom it seeks: the protagonist and the director of the drama. Often it is the religious participants who have more barriers to faith than the onlookers. In his spiritual journey, the openness of Nicodemus (v. 50) is significant: willingness to explore, to examine, to encounter. I wonder what he made of his experience that climactic day.
Apply
Picture observers you know. How might a more sensory expression of faith facilitate their becoming part of the community and the story of Jesus? How might it distract?
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, may your love, grace, and mercy be witnessed through me. Help me to express who you are in tangible ways that give evidence of your presence and draw others to you.
1 Isa 12:3 2 e.g., Ps 136:1 3 Ezek 47:1–12
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