Wednesday in the Word...John 7:37-44...Jesus cries out - living water!

Today's Wednesday in the Word is John chapter 7 and verses 37 through 44, which read,

v.37, 38 - Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” 

It is the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths.  Jesus has come in unannounced and made His way to the temple to teach and preach.  Many are confused at His teachings and His very appearance there because the crowd knew that the religious authorities wanted Him out of the picture but here He was right out in the open.

One of the rituals of the festival is a procession of the priests with a water sacrifice taken from the Pool of Siloam.  This is where Jesus healed the man previously on the Sabbath.  The priests would bring jars of water to parade around the altar once each day during the festival and this was a remembrance of the water provided from them in the wilderness from God from the rock.  On the seventh day, this would be done seven times and was the highlight of the festival.  While this was happening the crowd would be singing the Hallel, the Psalms of 113-118.  The volume would have been at its highest.

On this day, Jesus cries out.  The words of "cried out" means that it was loud but it was also in agony.  Jesus is offering them water from another source.  It is not water from the rock or from the Pool of Siloam but from His very self.  An invitation is given to come.  In the coming is included a believing in Him as the Messiah, the Christ.  This is a belief that is not just a surface "just say the prayer" commitment but from the "innermost being."  It means "from the gut," a deep commitment from within will gush out that Jesus is the living water offered to the world.

v. 39 - But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The Holy Spirit would come to those who believed after Jesus had died, was buried, rose again, and ascended into heaven.  The Holy Spirit resides within the believer and John the Apostle, through the direction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives us this instruction that the belief within us has a divine origin.  It does not come from us but from Him.  He gives and provides the invitation.  He gives and provides the water.  He gives and provides the Holy Spirit.  We are responding to all His giving and providing.  

v.40-42 - Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This certainly is the Prophet.” Others were saying, “This is the Christ.” Still others were saying, “Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 

There were many responses from the crowd to Jesus' agonizing cry to come to Him for a drink of water that is everlasting.  Remember that this was the same invitation that Jesus gave the Samaritan woman at the well in chapter 4.  Some heard the cry and deemed Jesus a prophet.  That's what prophets do.  They cry out loudly and get everyone's attention.

Others said that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah.  Others questioned this proclamation because this was Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee and not Jesus from Bethlehem.  They knew that the Messiah was to be of the line of David and also from Bethlehem.  These were known prophecies of the Messiah.  All they knew of Jesus was that He was from the north and they didn't know the lineage of His parents.  This information would have taken some more digging to find out that He was born in Bethlehem and that not only was His mother's lineage of David but His earthly father also.  

Many dismiss Jesus too quickly on what seems 

to be a technicality.

v.43, 44 - So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him. Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

This is the common response to Jesus.  It is like the Parable of the Soils.  The seed is thrown out there but some falls on the path, some on the shallow soil, some on the weedy soil, and some on good soil.  Some move toward Jesus while others question Him and still others pick up stones ready to kill Him.  Some in the crowd wanted Jesus to be the Messiah that would defeat the Romans.  They wanted Jesus to be their physical king.  Others wanted to be rid of Jesus because He struck on nerve on their spiritual souls that were being hypocritical to the very law they were holding others to upkeep.  

• Is Jesus just a "fix it" Savior?  
• Is Jesus just a needed "kick you in the butt guilt trip every once in a while" Savior?  
• Is Jesus just a "nice guy, best option" Savior but open to technicalities that would get you off the hook?  
• Is Jesus the water giving and providing Savior who the Holy Spirit, who is implanted within you by Him, would drive you to go to a cross because of Him like He went to the cross for the sake of you?  

Jesus offers a different type of water than the world provides.  In the midst of the noise of the world and its hype, have you heard Jesus' cry?  Let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, how You cry out to us.  How You love us so much, even when we are not seeing You for who You are, and provide something so much better.  Thank You for the Holy Spirit that brings up from deep within us, the security of Your salvation and love.  May we cry out to our world Your message of living water today.  Amen."

Pastor Adam