Day 311: John 7, 8 and 9

If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink (John 7:37).

 

In chapter 6 we saw Jesus feed the five thousand with only five loaves and two fishes. In spite of crossing the lake, the crowd found him again. When told by Jesus they must believe in the one sent by God the Father, they asked for a sign. Moses gave our fathers bread from heaven. Respond to that! Jesus’ reply? I am the bread of life (6:31-35).

In today’s reading, we’ve relocated from Galilee to Jerusalem and it is the Feast of Tabernacles. On the last day of the feast, it was customary for the High Priest to take a jar of water from the Pool of Siloam and pour it out on the ground in remembrance of Moses and the water from the rock. Likely in response to this drama being acted out before him, Jesus addresses the crowd: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, . . . streams of living water will flow from within him (7:37,38).

Moses gave us bread from heaven. What you got? Moses gave us water from the rock. How you gonna answer that?

Manna was a symbol... a symbol of me. I’m the read bread! The water from the rock was a symbol… a symbol representing me. I’m the real water! Why would you get excited about symbols and miss me?

Are you looking for symbols, or the real thing?