Scripture: John
7:37–39
On Pentecost Sunday we focus our attention on the gift of
the Holy Spirit. In this reading Jesus speaks of giving living water to those
who ask it of him. John goes on to explain that Jesus was speaking of the
giving of the Holy Spirit which would take place after Jesus’ death,
resurrection, and ascension. As we celebrate Pentecost we see the fulfillment
of these words, and trust that since Jesus has been glorified the Spirit has
been given to us.
Teaching
The events of this passage took place during the Feast of Booths,
which takes place in early autumn. It was a harvest festival that also commemorated
the years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness. Jesus used images that
evoke the wilderness wandering as he spoke of thirst and living water,
recalling the times that God miraculously provided water for Israel. He brings
the full spiritual significance to the Feast of Booths as a sign of God’s
provision, not only of food and water, but of faith and the Spirit, who both
gives and sustains faith in us.
“On the final day of the Feast of Booths, Jesus promises that
believers will receive the Holy Spirit (at Pentecost) after His death.”[1]
Jesus’ glorification includes not just the resurrection, but also his death by
which he atoned for sins, and it is the impact of the atonement that the Spirit
gives to us as forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. “Christ’s death and
resurrection proclaimed in the Gospel brings life to all who thirst for Him and
His blessings.”[2]
Life
Perhaps you have seen a still pond or large puddle that is
covered in algae, smelly and rotten. When water is stagnant it can smell foul
and even be poisonous (or at least unhealthy) to drink. Apart from Christ, we
are like dead pools of water, stagnant and befouled with sin. But in Romans 8,
Paul refers to the Holy Spirit as, “the Spirit of Life.” It is as though the
Spirit is a stream always pouring new life into us, stirring us up, and
sweeping away the pollution of sin that would otherwise accumulate within us.
One of the other powerful images that comes with living
water is that it is not contained. It moves and, if it does get dammed up, it
overflows. Where I grew up there were a couple of natural springs, one of which
had been covered in a way that the water would rise up through a structure and
out of a pipe to fill buckets or jugs. The Spirit also wells up within us, filling
us and overflowing so that others may benefit from him through us. That benefit
is given when we share God’s Word and when our lives are motivated by faith to
do good works.
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