John 7:37-52

Rivers of Living Water

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, 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.” ’ 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.

Division among the People

When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’ But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ So there was a division in the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

The Unbelief of Those in Authority

Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why did you not arrest him?’ The police answered, ‘Never has anyone spoken like this!’ Then the Pharisees replied, ‘Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.’ Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, ‘Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?’ They replied, ‘Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.’

The Festival of Booths lasted a week and both water and candlelight were given significant symbolic use within it. Jesus offers himself as a source of life-giving water, as he had done to the woman at the well. Whether the translation of verse 38 means “out of the believer’s heart” or “out of his heart”, referring to Jesus himself, is a matter of punctuation, but 4:14 makes clear that Jesus offers believers an inner source of living water even if that is not unambiguously stated here.

There is no single scripture that matches what verse 38 claims that the scripture has said. Rather it is a composite idea from putting together several Old Testament passages. These might include Exodus 17:6 where Moses strikes water from the rock, Isaiah 44:3 where water and God’s spirit are parallel terms, Ezekiel 47:1-12 with its rivers of the water of life, and the similar imagery of Zechariah 14:8 which was already linked to the Festival of Booths (Zechariah 14:19).

“As yet there was no Spirit” is not meant absolutely since we have already been told that Jesus possesses the Spirit, but it was only after his resurrection that the Spirit became widely available.

This passage then has a more extended account than the passing reference earlier in the chapter of where Jesus came from, with the Pharisees adamant that no prophet, let alone the Messiah, could come from Galilee. Quite apart from the irony that Jesus was in fact born in Bethlehem, Messiah’s birthplace, and not in Galilee, the Pharisees are wrong in their claim, and careless in their own Bible study, since Jonah was from Galilee and one significant Messianic prophecy certainly did concern Galilee.

Nicodemus, a leading Pharisee who had first visited Jesus by night, but who is still described as “one of them”, argues that Jesus legally should be afforded a fair hearing based on proper investigation and not prejudice.

Blessings as we pray that we might continually drink of that “living water” that Jesus offers to each of us.  Be safe!  Be well!  The Spirit has come!

  To Ponder:

•  Why might water be considered a good image to describe the Holy Spirit?
• Do you think a quotation introduced with, “As the scripture has said:” carries more weight when it copies an exact text rather than drawing together ideas from several places? How did you arrive at your opinion?
• Many rejected Jesus because they considered Galilee too insignificant a place. In what ways might we make similar wrong judgements about somebody today?