Come and drink {John 7}
10:30 PM
By Mari Sandoval
For many reasons the
month of April is very special to me: the celebration of Easter and the
celebration of my momma’s birthday! This year she turned eighty and for us it
has been a double celebration: 12 years ago she was diagnosed with an aggressive
cancer. In that stage of her life she was not only dying physically but
spiritually, too! The trial she was
facing led her to seek our Heavenly Father with all her heart and she not only
received His Saving Grace, but was healed from this terrible cancer! Our Lord
granted my mother a new life in Him (John 3:3-7) and from then on she and I
became closer than ever! This was not always so… 30+ years ago when I professed
my Faith in Jesus both my mother and my only brother suggested I was acting
“strange” and we could not communicate anymore because of “my religion”. It was
as if we were not family anymore… such as complete strangers!
We see this happening
in Jesus’s family, too as we read John 7:1-5 “After this Jesus went about in
Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill
him. Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him,
“Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are
doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do
these things, show yourself to the world.” For not even his brothers believed
in him.”
To his family, Jesus's ministry is apparently falling apart. Many
disciples have left Jesus (6:66), his betrayal is in view (6:71), and he has to
stay in Galilee because of death threats in Judea (7:1). Jesus' brothers give
him some family advice: he should go
back to Judea and “do some miracles so
that your disciples may see the miracles you do”. They were scoffing at Jesus and at the same time
tempting him! Isn’t it awesome the way He answers them? : “My time has not yet come, but your time is always
here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it
that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this
feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” (Vs. 6-9) Here Jesus is letting
them know He has nothing to prove to them or to the world. They were acting according to the world’s
standards and that’s why they couldn’t understand Jesus. This statement to his brothers is an
example of His testimony to the world's evil, for He reveals that their
apparent faith is, in fact, not faith at all. The world hates Him, for it does
not want its evil exposed by the light (3:20; 8:12) Jesus will indeed go to Judea to perform a
great work--His death! But it is not yet time for him to die. Jesus has shown
his family that He has not come to do his own will, He has come to do the will
of his Father (6:38), and that His schedule is determined by God!
“But after his
brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in
private.” Why did Jesus go to the
feast after all? Well, in the next verses we read: … About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the
temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that
this man has learning, when he has never studied?” So Jesus answered them, “My
teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's
will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on
my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory;
but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there
is no falsehood.” (vs. 10, 14-19)
The fact that He does actually go to the feast suggests that he received
instructions from His Father to go after he spoke to his brothers. He had to be
in His Father’s business in the right place at the right time! In Jesus' life as well
as our own, the Father's timing is just as important as His will. Many of us
stumble because we may sense we know God's will, but then move ahead of His
timing and the result is mere frustration! How important it is for us to follow Jesus’
example of being sensitive to our Father’s leading. He not only paid the price
for our Redemption but He has given us His Holy Spirit!
“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.’” 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.” (Vs. 37-39) (4:14)
In Revelations we find
this invitation, too: "Whoever
is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the
water of life" (22:17). (Is. 49:10, 55:1)
I love how
this author explains this verse: ” Our need, our
thirst, is what we bring to our relationship with God. This verse is one of
many revealing, diagnostic texts in John. What do we thirst for? What do we
really desire? Sin is our seeking relief from this thirst in something other
than God.
Jesus
invites those who know their need, those who are poor in spirit (cf. Mt 5:3),
to take the initiative and come to him and drink (v. 37). Drinking refers to
believing (cf. v. 38), which means aligning oneself with him, trusting him,
receiving his teaching and obeying his commands. Such faith will enable one to
receive the Spirit and enter an abiding relationship with Christ after his
glorification. All of this is based on who God is and what he has done for us.
When we believe we open our hands to receive what his grace offers--we come and
drink.” (InterVarsity Press)
Heavenly Father: I humbly come to you bringing those family members who
are still walking in the world’s standards and have not recognized yet your
amazing Love for them through the Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. May I be
a witness to them so that they may too receive the miracle of New life in You
and the outpouring of Your Holy Spirit in their hearts. In Jesus’ Name I pray.
Amen.
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