Of the Spirit (part 3)
When Jesus looked out at that crowd gathered in the Temple courts on the last great day of their autumn festival, what he saw was thirsty people. Not for physical water but for a far deeper and more desperate thirst for the rivers of living water promised in the Old Testament that would flow freely when the Messiah came. That’s what those desperately thirsty people were hoping for. It was why they were gathered in the Temple courts in the first place, to celebrate and imagine what massive changes in their parched and dried up lives the Messiah would make.
So when Jesus shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty,” he was talking to a captive audience who were there because they were thirsty. But then he makes the shocking statement, “come to me and drink.” He might just as well have said, “You’re all thirsty for the Messiah’s coming, right? Well, folks, here I am.”
Whatever they were looking and hoping for in the Messiah, here was a man saying he could provide it. Which is what the Christian message is today too. It’s a repeat of Jesus standing there boldly calling people to believe in him because he’s the one who can satisfy the deepest longings and demands that are crying out inside us.
And they are demands too. Like thirst. Thirst is a demand the Father designed into our bodies that has to be met. We can’t ignore it. Other pressing needs our bodies demand can be subdued, but not thirst. And the Father designed it that way on purpose. Why? Because, as Jesus pointed out, we have another thirst inside us – that the Father also built into us – that cannot be ignored either.
Think of the things we thirst for most as humans – and cannot stop thirsting for too – things that constantly crop up in our thoughts, a sort of “wish list,” like “I wish I could have some peace and normality,” or “I wish I had more joy,” or “I wish I could feel really loved,” or “I wish my life had significance and purpose,” or “I wish I was the kind of person people like to be around.” They’re all selfish, demanding and needy just like our thirst for water, because our Father built all those demands into us too, and just as much on purpose.
Why? So, he could send his Son to meet those needs for us, because that way we’d come to see his beloved Son for who he is…(more on this tomorrow)
Buck To Basics 