Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink (John 7:37).
In chapter six 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. What you got?!” Jesus’ reply? I am the
bread of life (6:35).
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 [2]. 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 (NIV 1984, 7:37,38).
Moses gave us bread from heaven. What you got? Moses
gave us water from the rock. How you gonna answer that?
Jesus explained: Manna
was a symbol... a symbol of me. I’m the real 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?
TODAY’S MEDITATION
When it comes to Jesus,
parables and facsimiles are easier to handle (read: manage) than the real
thing. Do you want safe symbols or the dangerous transformation that only Jesus
can bring? What does that mean to you?
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