If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?" So there was a division among the people because of Him. Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?" The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!" Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?" They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."

- John 7:37-52

On Saturday, we read that Jesus went up to the Feast at Jerusalem. This is the autumn Feast of Tabernacles. His brothers had challenged Him to go openly, but He went up from Galilee, privately in some sense, without public spectacle. The Gospel tells us there was a great deal of controversy about Him in the people's minds, but all were afraid of the leadership. In the middle of the Feast, He began to teach in the temple. People wondered how He came to be so understanding and knowledgeable, having never studied formally. Jesus said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority." He asked why they (the leadership) sought to kill Him, and they answered that He had a demon. He said, "I did one work, and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." The people wondered at His words and authority, could He be the Christ? He said, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me." Finally, the Pharisees and chief priests sent officers to seize Him, given the responses of the crowds. Jesus taught, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come." All wondered what He was talking about.

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. The Feast of Tabernacles consists of several commemorations. This "last, great" day of the Feast, says my study bible, is probably the seventh or eighth day. "Ceremonies include a procession from the pool of Siloam, carrying water and pouring it as a libation at the temple. This commemorates the water flowing from the rock which Moses struck in the wilderness." Many times, John's Gospel will draw on the traditions and images from the Festivals of Israel, during which Jesus is at the temple. Jesus' words about "rivers of living water" reflects the image of the water poured as a libation in the temple, and gives us another image from the Old Testament. Previously we were given the image of the feeding of five thousand on the mountaintop, and it was compared by the people to Moses feeding the people with manna. Here, Jesus promises another spiritual gift (as He did with the Bread of Life), bringing God's presence and promise more fully into the world through faith. The rivers of living water is the gift of the Holy Spirit. My study bible notes that "living water" for anyone who thirsts, "is the gift of the Spirit and the new life which springs forth by the power of the Spirit. Christ gives the Holy Spirit, and the believer's heart consequently flows with new life. Christ does not force us, but is always available if we desire Him."

Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?" So there was a division among the people because of Him. Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him. Again, the Gospel draws out for us the conflicts and controversies that now surround Jesus. Many were awaiting a deliverer who would be a prophet like Moses, leading Israel out of bondage (see Deut. 18:15-19), and this is what is meant by the Prophet. Some in the crowd, we hear, think He must be the Christ, the Messiah. But the controversy deepens over Scriptural knowledge; they don't know He was born in Bethlehem and is of the house of David. They know He is from Nazareth in Galilee. The real question becomes what Jesus has emphasized all along: His true "lineage" is spiritual; His Father seeks those who will worship in spirit and truth. While the people debate, the "living water" is what is truly needful, the gift that will come through faith.

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?" The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!" Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." Again, we see the emphasis. All are debating over the law. But where is the place for faith and understanding? John's Gospel will always draw us more deeply into the spiritual from the commonplace, the things people know and understand in a more worldly sense. It is working this way in today's passage. The controversy swirls, while Jesus teaches what is understood through faith, through the love of God, the one who sent Him. Siloam, the pool that evokes the image of "living water," means "sent." Here the question He's been addressing all along becomes the focus of dispute: Where is He truly from?

Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?" They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee." Nicodemus, a Pharisee himself, whom Jesus taught about being born again by water and the Spirit, courageously asks an important question, speaking of both the true understanding of the law and righteousness. But the Pharisees focus on only one thing in particular, seeking only to disprove that Jesus can be either a prophet or the Christ.

Today's reading tells us many things about spiritual blindness, and its relation to what is called "hardness of heart." The Pharisees speak of the law and Scriptures, but they expose themselves. Here they ignore the law as explicitly written when it comes to proper testimony, evidence and witnessing (as Nicodemus tries to point out in a legal defense of Jesus). My study bible also says that this statement that "no prophet has arisen out of Galilee" exposes their ignorance of the Scriptures: the prophet Jonah came from Gath Hepher, a town in Galilee only three miles from Nazareth (2 Kings 14:25). But the "bigger picture" is still missing from this controversy. Not only are they false in the things they know, but there's a deeper lining, a deeper perspective of the spiritual that only Jesus has been preaching and focusing on all along. There are those who feel what the leadership cannot: the officers who are sent to seize Him are moved by the power of His words even though they haven't the spiritual education of the leadership. There are those in the crowd who wonder themselves if He could be the Christ, and even if the leadership really knows this. Jesus has testified that He comes from the Father, He is "sent" from heaven. Those who love the Father, He says, will also "hear" the Father in Him, will know Him and that His words are righteous. (In yesterday's reading, He taught them,"Do not judge according to appearance" -- such as argument over which town they think He's from -- "but judge with righteous judgment"). The "living water" is the gift of the Spirit, which will come when He is glorified as He returns to the place, the Person, from which He truly has been "sent." The work of faith is really the love of God, and this is our focus in John's Gospel. It is the focus of Jesus' words. This love, this faith, will return us to the source of righteousness, of understanding, of love. It will give us the gift we need to truly see and truly hear. Life itself -- as in the eternal life He promises -- begins there for all of us, in some sense. The rivers of living water come to us in that place. Surely, this Gospel is teaching us, without that love, we can't even really get started. Jesus will say this over and over again; He will teach, "Seek first the kingdom of God." St. Paul will tell us that without love, we have nothing. It is not that all of Scripture, the law, prophecy, worship, Tradition and all else of spiritual value is to be devalued. Far from it! But we need one thing first, that comes ahead of everything, and gives life to all the gifts we have. In prayer, we have that opportunity to find it, and the rivers of living water within us. Where is the Spirit for you? Where is God's love? Let us remember the Bread of Life for those who hunger, and the living water for those who thirst. Where do you find these things for your life?