John 7:32-52

HIGHLIGHTED PASSAGE John 7:37-39 37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.   COMMENTARY The events in chapter 7 happened during one of Israel's major festivals, the Feast of Booths. Just like our holidays today, each of the Jewish festivals had associations rooted in history and tradition that were attached to the celebration. One of the major associations of this festival was water. This was in part because the feast celebrated God's leading of the Israelites through the wilderness wandering, in which He provided water. The feast also came at the start of Israel's rainy season when the Israelites prayed to God for rains to water the next season's crops. This association provided the backdrop for Jesus' words in verses 37 and 38:   "On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"   Jesus used the theological premise of the Feast of Booths to point his hearers to himself as the One whom Yahweh had sent to usher in true and final deliverance. The feast celebrated how God had demonstrated that He alone is God, and how God would fulfill His promise to care for His people by providing water for them in the wilderness. This demonstration of Yahweh's power and faithfulness in the past served as the basis for their prayer for rain in the coming months. When Jesus stands and beckons anyone who thirsts to come to him and drink, he proclaims the theological principle behind the feast: Life is found in Yahweh. Jesus, however, points to himself as the source of living water. All of his hearers could draw the same unmistakable conclusion, namely, that Jesus claims to be equal with God. John provides additional commentary about Jesus' words in verse 39. He informs us that Jesus was not only speaking of himself as the source of living water, making himself one with Yahweh, he was also speaking of the coming of the Spirit. The Spirit is the living water Jesus says those who believe in him will have flowing out of them. Many commentators on John's gospel rightly point out that John emphasizes Jesus' divinity more than the other gospel accounts. Many fail, however, to recognize that John also emphasizes the close connection between Jesus and the Spirit. For John, the primary consequence and authentication of the deliverance Jesus accomplishes is the coming and indwelling of the Holy Spirit in everyone who believes in him.   QUESTIONS 1. Jesus' call in verses 37 and 38 are intelligible and powerful to anyone who reads them. How does the background of the Feast of Booths add additional meaning?   2. What is the difference between "whoever believes in me will drink living water," and what Jesus actually says in verse 38, that "whoever believes in me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water?"   3. Based on verse 39, how is the work of the Spirit related to the work of Christ?   4. Based on verses 38 and 39, what role does the Spirit play in the life of a follower of Jesus? How would you describe this in your own words and experience?