Let All Who Are Thirsty Come and Drink – John’s Gospel chapter 7, verses 25 to 39
Confusion about Jesus
25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, ‘Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.’
John 7:25-27
Is he, isn’t he the Messiah, the Christ?
He cries out in the temple courts, as a man with a megaphone, that He is. Many in the crowd did believe in Him, that he was Messiah, but many did not.
Opposition against Jesus
30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, ‘When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?’ 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.
John 7:30-32
They want to arrest him, but God restrains them, for His time to die is still 6 months away.
Invitation by Jesus
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’[a] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
John 7:37-39
On the last day, a great procession from Siloam’s pool to the temple with water, singing of the “water from the wells of salvation.” It is then that Jesus shouts out “If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink”. Are you an “anyone”? His invitation is both broad and narrow. Anyone, yes, but only anyone who is thirsty. He promises rivers of living water welling up inside all who will come to Him. They will be refreshed themselves, and also be pipes bringing blessing to many.
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
Augustine of Hippo, d.AD430
