Readings:
John 7:37-39
Numbers 11:24-30
I Corinthians 12:3b-14
Devotional:
Have you ever purchased something only to realize you already had the thing and just overlooked it? (Go to the store, buy a bottle of hoisin sauce.. Oh no! Already have a bottle of hoisin sauce, go to the store, buy another bottle of hoisin sauce…) It was an internet trend for a reason. We’ve all been there and pulled out four unintended packages of the same food or household item and chuckled at the absurdity of it. We’re fully stocked and yet keep forgetting what we have available.
It’s easy to do and fairly harmless. Worst case, we have too much toothpaste, but we’ll use it eventually. It’s not completely unlike our characters in our lectionary readings for this week either.
First, we have our story from Sunday of the cranky people of Israel and Moses trying to lead them. The Israelites are getting manna in abundance, enough to satisfy any need they might have, but they’re still asking Moses for more. It's as though they've forgotten that the resource is endless. Moses, in turn, begs for help caring for the people, so God says He would take from the Spirit already in Moses and give it to the elders to help Him. There was an abundance of support available, at the ready, not a deficit or a need to request. The pantry was full!
Then we get to John, in a passage that is familiar to us, but gets richer in its symbolism once we have a bit of background.
Jesus has shown up (late, after all his disciples already got there) to the incredibly popular and large Feast of Tabernacles, a celebration wherein God is worshipped for His protection and provision. We have to pause to know just a bit about the Feast of Tabernacles, or Feast of Booths, to really understand the point Jesus is making in these couple sentences. First, by Jesus’ time, the Feast of Tabernacles was large and communal, with tens of thousands gathering daily to watch leaders sing and perform, even juggle fire.
Next, the feast draws its name from the small temporary hut or booth that may have been used in the fields by laborers, or similarly in the desert when the Israelites were wandering. It has walls and is covered in plants (imagine a mini garden, perhaps?), and much of the celebration involved shared meals and prayers in these small tabernacles. In addition to celebrating and honoring God’s provision, the feast reinforced themes of unity and hospitality with one another, encouraging people to dwell in joy together.
There are plenty more details, but we’ll end with a brief note about the Pouring of the Water ceremony, where a priest would draw water from the Pool of Siloam (or Sent), then carry it up the Jerusalem pilgrim road into the Temple. Each festival morning, the freshly gathered water—a precious resource in a desert community—would be poured out along with the regular morning offering as a request for God’s blessing of rain in its proper time.
With this backdrop, on the last great day of the feast, Jesus gets up and cries out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”
It should sound a little more provocative to our ears now. We’re at the biggest family Thanksgiving you can imagine, and Jesus stands up (again, after arriving late… you can almost see the raised eyebrows) to say if anyone is thirsty they can come to Him and drink. It’s the direct claim of God that we have learned it to be, but right in the middle of an entire celebration asking God to provide rain. He’s using the language of hospitality to assert theology. We’re all of a sudden talking religion at a (very large) dinner party.
Then, Jesus takes the claim further and says rivers of living water will flow from those who believe. Now interestingly, both “drink” and “flow” in the original language carry a prolonged state. This isn’t a quick sip or a one-time event, but something ongoing. In other words, feast attendees, you aren’t going to need to keep pouring out water on an altar in exchange for God’s blessing. In other words, Israelites, this ceremony that you all love is going to be moot. In other words, the rituals and patterns of thinking about God’s provision in finite terms are short-lived. Can you imagine the eyebrows now?
Now before we start reading into this abundance and making other interpretations, John helpfully gives us an explanation to say we’re talking about the Holy Spirit, which is about to be given at Pentecost. How like Jesus then, to take the ceremonial symbols attached to harvest and rain, to take the natural things we all “know” and give them completely new context. The Holy Spirit within us, God within us, means a direct line to exactly whatever facet of His character and nature we would need.
For example, find yourself needing more patience for the complaining children of Israel, who yet again are unhappy with what’s for dinner? God took from the Spirit within Moses to give to the other elders. It was already there. His patience is already there for us.
This is where our grocery analogy falls apart, because rather than going to the store and getting the same thing, it’s really like opening your pantry at any time with full confidence that what we need is already available. There’s no need to plan ahead or put it on a list or verify if we’re still allowed to order it.
When a resource is infinite, you don’t need rituals or extra steps to ensure you’ll have it. There’s not an exchange system of attitudes or postures that make more grace, or more love, or more gentleness, or more self-control accessible for us. It’s flowing like living water. And you don’t have to vie or compete for it. There’s no performance that earns a larger portion of “infinite” — it doesn’t run out.
What sounds like a shocking declaration from Jesus is actually the grandest offer of hospitality and unity. We’ve got full access to God’s goodness, no limits, given freely to each of us for our common good, as 1 Corinthians says. Enjoy whatever we need.
God has the impeccable track record of providing and protecting, which of course inspires our worship and gratitude. Now with the Holy Spirit within us, we can let go of the rituals we put in place that suggest we have to earn either His provision or protection.
We can dwell at our tables, extending hospitality and fostering unity with joy knowing we are resourced and cared for by the kindness and goodness of our God. The same God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
A Prayer for Each Moment
God Who Unites,
You gather us, affectionately and with love, and meet our needs with abundant overflow. Let us recognize the Spirit resting on ourselves and each other, that we would see how You draw us together to strengthen and inspire us. To the same Spirit, Lord, and God who keeps us from stumbling be glory, majesty, power, and authority.
Amen
A Prayer for Each Other
Our Father,
You give us everything we need in Your infinite love and affection. Remind us how we are already resourced in our communities, surrounded and supported to dwell in joy together.
Amen
Blessing
May we recognize Your Spirit creating life in and among us, unifying us, resting on us, and bringing us peace.
Photo by Luisa Brimble on Unsplash
John 7:37-39
Numbers 11:24-30
I Corinthians 12:3b-14
Devotional:
Have you ever purchased something only to realize you already had the thing and just overlooked it? (Go to the store, buy a bottle of hoisin sauce.. Oh no! Already have a bottle of hoisin sauce, go to the store, buy another bottle of hoisin sauce…) It was an internet trend for a reason. We’ve all been there and pulled out four unintended packages of the same food or household item and chuckled at the absurdity of it. We’re fully stocked and yet keep forgetting what we have available.
It’s easy to do and fairly harmless. Worst case, we have too much toothpaste, but we’ll use it eventually. It’s not completely unlike our characters in our lectionary readings for this week either.
First, we have our story from Sunday of the cranky people of Israel and Moses trying to lead them. The Israelites are getting manna in abundance, enough to satisfy any need they might have, but they’re still asking Moses for more. It's as though they've forgotten that the resource is endless. Moses, in turn, begs for help caring for the people, so God says He would take from the Spirit already in Moses and give it to the elders to help Him. There was an abundance of support available, at the ready, not a deficit or a need to request. The pantry was full!
Then we get to John, in a passage that is familiar to us, but gets richer in its symbolism once we have a bit of background.
Jesus has shown up (late, after all his disciples already got there) to the incredibly popular and large Feast of Tabernacles, a celebration wherein God is worshipped for His protection and provision. We have to pause to know just a bit about the Feast of Tabernacles, or Feast of Booths, to really understand the point Jesus is making in these couple sentences. First, by Jesus’ time, the Feast of Tabernacles was large and communal, with tens of thousands gathering daily to watch leaders sing and perform, even juggle fire.
Next, the feast draws its name from the small temporary hut or booth that may have been used in the fields by laborers, or similarly in the desert when the Israelites were wandering. It has walls and is covered in plants (imagine a mini garden, perhaps?), and much of the celebration involved shared meals and prayers in these small tabernacles. In addition to celebrating and honoring God’s provision, the feast reinforced themes of unity and hospitality with one another, encouraging people to dwell in joy together.
There are plenty more details, but we’ll end with a brief note about the Pouring of the Water ceremony, where a priest would draw water from the Pool of Siloam (or Sent), then carry it up the Jerusalem pilgrim road into the Temple. Each festival morning, the freshly gathered water—a precious resource in a desert community—would be poured out along with the regular morning offering as a request for God’s blessing of rain in its proper time.
With this backdrop, on the last great day of the feast, Jesus gets up and cries out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”
It should sound a little more provocative to our ears now. We’re at the biggest family Thanksgiving you can imagine, and Jesus stands up (again, after arriving late… you can almost see the raised eyebrows) to say if anyone is thirsty they can come to Him and drink. It’s the direct claim of God that we have learned it to be, but right in the middle of an entire celebration asking God to provide rain. He’s using the language of hospitality to assert theology. We’re all of a sudden talking religion at a (very large) dinner party.
Then, Jesus takes the claim further and says rivers of living water will flow from those who believe. Now interestingly, both “drink” and “flow” in the original language carry a prolonged state. This isn’t a quick sip or a one-time event, but something ongoing. In other words, feast attendees, you aren’t going to need to keep pouring out water on an altar in exchange for God’s blessing. In other words, Israelites, this ceremony that you all love is going to be moot. In other words, the rituals and patterns of thinking about God’s provision in finite terms are short-lived. Can you imagine the eyebrows now?
Now before we start reading into this abundance and making other interpretations, John helpfully gives us an explanation to say we’re talking about the Holy Spirit, which is about to be given at Pentecost. How like Jesus then, to take the ceremonial symbols attached to harvest and rain, to take the natural things we all “know” and give them completely new context. The Holy Spirit within us, God within us, means a direct line to exactly whatever facet of His character and nature we would need.
For example, find yourself needing more patience for the complaining children of Israel, who yet again are unhappy with what’s for dinner? God took from the Spirit within Moses to give to the other elders. It was already there. His patience is already there for us.
This is where our grocery analogy falls apart, because rather than going to the store and getting the same thing, it’s really like opening your pantry at any time with full confidence that what we need is already available. There’s no need to plan ahead or put it on a list or verify if we’re still allowed to order it.
When a resource is infinite, you don’t need rituals or extra steps to ensure you’ll have it. There’s not an exchange system of attitudes or postures that make more grace, or more love, or more gentleness, or more self-control accessible for us. It’s flowing like living water. And you don’t have to vie or compete for it. There’s no performance that earns a larger portion of “infinite” — it doesn’t run out.
What sounds like a shocking declaration from Jesus is actually the grandest offer of hospitality and unity. We’ve got full access to God’s goodness, no limits, given freely to each of us for our common good, as 1 Corinthians says. Enjoy whatever we need.
God has the impeccable track record of providing and protecting, which of course inspires our worship and gratitude. Now with the Holy Spirit within us, we can let go of the rituals we put in place that suggest we have to earn either His provision or protection.
We can dwell at our tables, extending hospitality and fostering unity with joy knowing we are resourced and cared for by the kindness and goodness of our God. The same God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
A Prayer for Each Moment
God Who Unites,
You gather us, affectionately and with love, and meet our needs with abundant overflow. Let us recognize the Spirit resting on ourselves and each other, that we would see how You draw us together to strengthen and inspire us. To the same Spirit, Lord, and God who keeps us from stumbling be glory, majesty, power, and authority.
Amen
A Prayer for Each Other
Our Father,
You give us everything we need in Your infinite love and affection. Remind us how we are already resourced in our communities, surrounded and supported to dwell in joy together.
Amen
Blessing
May we recognize Your Spirit creating life in and among us, unifying us, resting on us, and bringing us peace.
Photo by Luisa Brimble on Unsplash