Tuesday 10th October
Read John 7:37-39
“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.’ 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.” (NIVUK)
We recently spent time in Numbers and encountered water flowing from the rock, provided by Yahweh in response to the people’s cries (cf Numbers 20). At heart those episodes are the basis of Jesus’ loud cry at the end of the Feast. They are then picked up, like a living stream of water, by prophets and psalmists alike to describe the satisfaction those who put their trust in God will enjoy. It is a hope the people look forward to each year when they celebrate the Feast – and, on the last and greatest day (likely the 8th day – a Sabbath), Jesus stands and claims to fulfil it.
It is an offer He has already made in private to a Samaritan women by a well. “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” (John 4:13-14) (NIVUK). Now He offers it openly to all present at the Feast.
We will soon read what the response of the people is to this astounding offer, but in a Festival known to celebrate God, water and light the best response today is simply to thank God and praise Him for His love and righteousness revealed in Jesus and graciously granted to us.
“Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast in the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.” (Psalm 36:5-9) (NIVUK)
