7:25-38 Streams of living water

March 9, 2021

Read John 7:25-38

Judging correctly about Jesus (7:24) requires realising who he is (25-27). The Jews could not see beyond his birth at Nazareth but in fact Jesus had come not from there but from God, as he now declared loudly in the temple (28). This amazing claim produced two very different reactions: some wanted to kill him (30; 7:6) while others were willing to believe that he was the Messiah (31). An attempt to arrest him (32) prompted Jesus to speak of his return to heaven (33-34). He was referring to his death and saying that before long they would be rid of him.

His hearers assumed wrongly that Jesus was talking about some unlikely mission overseas (35). Ironically, by killing Jesus that mission did in fact come about! For it was through his death that the Spirit was given and the gospel went out to the whole world (Acts 1:8). And that’s what Jesus now speaks about (37-38). On each of the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, a key feature was the pouring out of water, a symbol of thanksgiving for God’s provision in the wilderness (Exod.17:1-6) and in the annual harvest. Isaiah 12:3 was read – “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” – and understood to refer to the Holy Spirit.

So, for Jesus to stand up in the temple on “the last and greatest day of the Feast” and cry out that he is the source of living water was highly significant. Just as he (not manna) is “the bread of life” (6:32,35), so too he (not the water from the rock) is the true water of life (1 Cor.10:3-4). The living water that satisfies thirst and gives eternal life, which Jesus had first spoken about to the Samaritan women (4:10,14), was now proclaimed for all to hear.