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Scripture |
John 7-37-39 37 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
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Devotional |
This is one of those weeks when we have two Gospel readings from the lectionary, John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39. Both passages from John’s Gospel tell of God’s abundant revelation and power in our lives. As happens in our lives, choices need to be made and often between two excellent items. Since “living water” seems relevant at least to me, I will go with John 7:37-39. Since spiritual burn out or brown out seem to be always around the corner or close by, this could be an opportunity to examine the problem. Easter is now eight weeks behind us and Pentecost is here so we find the emphasis on the Holy Spirit. The meaning of Jesus’ words has been interpreted from two positions, the believer as the source of living water or Jesus as the source of living water. The interpretation depends on the place of the punctuation. “The early church fathers, too, were divided. Origen, Chrysostom. Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine punctuated the verses so that the believer was the source of living water; Justin and Hippolytus followed the second punctuation and identified Jesus as the source of living water. Modern interpreters continue to be divided on the punctuation of these verses.” 1 This is another choice to be made. So, I will choose Jesus as the source of living water. Thirst is a healthy reaction to the needs of our body. Dehydration of the body may take place without a person recognizing the signal for fluids. By the time we recognize thirst, we may be in the early stages of dehydration. Spiritual dehydration may take place without our realizing that we are in the early stages of spiritual dehydration. Our response is often similar to physical dehydration, we rush to the refrigerator for soda or fat foods. The body only desires plain water. The spiritual body desires the living water. To cure ours spiritual dehydration do we rush for the quick fix or to the living water flowing from Jesus? The spiritual refrigerator is full of self-help goods but our spirit is calling for “living water.”
1 Gail R. O’Day, “The Gospel of John” in The New Interpreter’s Bible Vol. IX. P. 623
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