Living water – Pentecost, 2 June 2017

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… [John 7:37f]

This was the Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkot, at the end of the harvest.  The feast lasted seven days.  On the last day, “the great day”, the priests took water from the Pool of Siloam, up to the temple, and poured it around the altar.  Jesus watched this ancient ritual.  I imagine the water would flow away tidily in channels put there for the purpose -- the priests would be unlikely to get their feet wet.  The water was to remind all the worshippers of the rain that fed their crops and refreshed their lives, literally water of life.  It may have reminded them of Moses striking water from the rock in the desert, God’s provision against thirst in their time of desperation… 

Water is fundamental.  Life cannot continue without it.  Our astronomers wonder if they have found water on moons of Saturn… if there is water, there may be life.  All religions have some symbolism of water.  In Christian baptism, water is the sign of new life. 

We fret these days, no doubt with good reason, about the quality of our water, about unwanted organisms in it, about chemical additives…  And with climate change we wonder about continued supply, about drought and scarcity, about ensuring we have good water stored and ready at home for any calamity.  We cannot imagine life without water. 

Jesus sees, not only water being ritually poured from sacred vessels, but what he calls living water (ʿυδωρ ζων).  You have to imagine bubbling, sparkling, lively and clear water, rushing over rocks and pools, supporting all manner of life, sometimes in torrents, sometimes still and deep.  This is living water, always moving, always changing.  Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well [John 4:14] how the Spirit creates in us, he said, a spring of living water, welling up to eternal life. 

It is important, pursuing contemplative life and prayer, to remember that we can freely in our hearts locate this well of living water in ourselves.  Praying from the heart, rather than from the mind, we find the open door.  We become hospitable to the Spirit Jesus promised, who comes quietly, and over time.  And indeed, a spring of living water may appear.