Thirsty

John 7:37-40 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.


The Old Testament feast being celebrated had a number of elements. One was the symbolic priming of the river of life that would one day flow from the temple mount. The Old Testament  Hebrew believers saw these prophetic images as material physical future events, but God was giving an advance vision of a spiritual reality. Jesus is the source of the Spirit which was to be poured out on all believers. It it the Holy Spirit that will quench our spiritual thirst so that we will thirst no more. At the moment when the symbolic water was being poured by the altar on the temple mount Jesus declares that if anyone is thirsty they can come to Him and drink.


I would never say that I'm impervious to anxiety because that is just not true, but anxiety in my life is rare, mild, and very short lived. I have found that being filled wit this living water provides what I need in moments of doubt or difficulty. A song we used to sing in Mattapan at the Church of the Holy Spirit declares that "We will not be moved". This life of faith gives us such an anchor. It provides that peace, joy, and assurance that the world can't touch. So, is anyone thirsty?