Thirsty

Being thirsty is something that we're all pretty familiar with.  However, because it is so common to us, we have to take a step back to figure out what Jesus means when he talks to "all who are thirsty."  

Bodily Thirst

When we feel thirsty, that's our body's way of telling us that we need something.  Particularly, feeling thirsty means our body needs more fluids, and we need to drink something.  The fluid that our body needs to run is water; a biology major could tell you all the things that our bodies use water for.  We can't use just any fluid, only water will do the trick.  When we drink other things (milk, pop, energy drinks, whatever) the water is separated from the other stuff and taken where it needs to go.  If we drink something that doesn't have water in it (motor oil, liquid mercury, oil-based paint), it won't help us at all, and will probably be harmful.  Even things that do have water, but also have a lot of caffeine (coffee, pop, energy drinks, salt water) can be harmful if taken in large quantities, because the caffeine actually dehydrates you.  

When You Drink...

Here's the tricky part:  when you drink something, your body feels the prescence of the fluid coming in, and turns off your thristy feeling, no mater what fluid it is.  So, if you are thirsty, and drink something harmful for you, your body doesn't know right away, and tells you that you aren't thirsty any more, and everything is O.K.  In this way, you can (temporarily) feel like you don't need any more water, and you are in a good condition, even if you just drank something that didn't help you at all.

Dehydration

If you've ever played in the ocean, you've probably gotten a mouthful of salt water.  You know that even though it's water, it's so salty that it actually dehydrates you.  You wouldn't guess by looking at it, but from experience you know that it won't actually make you less thirsty.  If you were stranded on a boat or an island, and you didn't know any better, you might try to drink the salt water when you got thirsty, but that would be a very bad idea.  When we're thirsty, our instinct tells us just to drink whatever we can find, and we might have to exert a good deal of will power to stop from drinking something harmful.

Soul Thirst

When Jesus talks about being thirsty, He's not talking about your body, He's talking about your soul.  When your soul is thirsty, it's telling you that you need something.  Just like your body, when your soul gets thirsty enough, it's going to try to drink anything it can find.

But not everything available for your soul to drink will satisfy your thirst, and most things will be harmful to you.

This has always been a problem for people.  Check out Isaiah 55:2.  Here, the metaphor used is hunger, but it's the same idea.  Our souls feel a need for something, and we'll eat or drink anything that even looks like it might satisfy us.  But the things we try to satisfy ourselves with end up not satisfying.

Emptiness

What does this look like, practically?

When your soul feels thirsty, in general it feels like a sort of emptiness.  Like maybe your life isn't exciting enough, not cool enough, not righteous enough, not full enough.  That's sort of what it feels like.  So, when we feel that emptiness, we try to think of something that we could take into our lives to fill it.  If you feel like your life isn't exciting enough, you might buy a motorcycle.  If you feel like your life isn't cool enough, you might go shopping for new clothes.  If you feel like you're life isn't righteous enough, you might go to church more often.  Some other sommon things we try to fill that emptiness with:  good grades, a lot of friends/really close friends, video games, facebook, good looks, exercise, a girlfriend or boyfriend, parties, alcohol, church, bible studies, good jobs, good families...  The list is pretty long.  Understand this:  none of these things are bad in themselves, they are harmful when you use them to try to fill that emptiness, to satisfy your thirst.  They were never meant to do that.  Sunscreen is a very good thing, but only when you put in on your skin, not when you drink it.  Motor oil is a very good thing, but only when you put it in your car, not in your mouth.  These things that we try to fill our lives with can be great things, but only when used like they were meant to be used.  If you feel that emptiness, that thirst from your soul, and you say "If I could just have _____, then I'd be happy and full," and you put something in that blank that won't satisfy you, you might feel good for a bit, but then you'll get dehydrated.

Still Thirsty

Jesus is talking to people who have tried to fill in that blank with any number of things, and are now realizing that those things have dehydrated them, leaving them worse than when they started.  People that are tired of trying to feel better by making friends.  Tired of trying to feel better by being super-religious.  Tired to trying to feel better by being super-wild.  Tired of all of that.  After you try so many of those things, and none of them fill that blank, you start to wonder if you'll just have to feel thirsty like this all your life.

It's important to note that trying to make yourself feel better by being super-religious is just as helpful to you as trying to make yourself feel better by being super-wild.  Some time I'll talk about that more, for now check out Luke 15:11-32.

The thrist that our bodies feel cannot be satisfied by just any fluid that we put in our mouths, they need water.  In the same way, the thirst our souls feel cannot be satisfied by just anything, we need spiritual water.  Anything else we try to subsitute will be useless at best, deadly at worst.

This is what it means to be thirsty.

The Feast

John 7:37-38

Jesus is at the Feast of Booths.  If you check out Leviticus 23:33-43, you can get some background info on it.  It's an eight day feast.  On the first day, they make booths--huts made from branches--on the roofs of their houses, and start the sacrifices.  It's called a feast, because when they make sacrifices, part is burned up, but most of the meat is cooked and eaten.  The feast starts after they have brought in the harvest and the wine has been made, and it celebrates the fruit that God has given them.  It's a feast to remember the good that God has done for them, both in providing fruit from the land, and for bringing them out of the desert.  The sacrifices from harvest remind them how God provides for them, and the booths remind them of how God brought them out of the desert.  

This verse takes place on the eighth day, the last, of the feast.  The first and last day were "solemn" days, days for people to think on what God had done, to reflect quietly.  For the past several days people have been sacrificing and eating and drinking and rejoicing, having one of the biggest parties of the year.  Now, everyone is quiet.  Solemn.  The only words being spoken, are the ones necessary to continue the sacrifices.  And those words, softly spoken.  Solemn.  

This feast is a time where people think about coming to God.  All the guys were required to come to the temple, where God's prescence was (see Deuteronomy 16:16).  God promises a drought for those who don't come to Him for this feast (see Zechariah 14:16-19).  The people were thinking about coming to God.  Quietly, they thought about how they depend on God to bring them the water they need.

People continue to eat and dink, quietly.  They think about the fruits of the land, which they are enjoying.  They think about the booths they've been living in, like their ancestors did in the desert.  They think about these things.  Solemn.

Jesus puts down his cup.  He stands.  Suddenly, he cries out, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink."  These people have been eating and drinking as much as they can hold, or more, for the past seven days straight.  Imagine Thanksgiving dinner for every meal for a week.  When Jesus adresses the 'thirsty' people, some people think he must be confused.  But His words hit a special chord in the hearts of some.  Some people realize that food and drink are not satisfiying them.  Material things, things they can touch and feel and taste, aren't making them feel whole.  They want something more.  They are thirsty, and Jesus has their attention.  He offers them a drink.  Not a drink of something physical, but a spiritual drink.  One that will quench the thirst of a soul.  

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' "  This is a concept that the Old Testament is filled with.  Over and over, prophets communicate to us God's promise of water appearing in a desert, water bringing life to places that previously were dry and barren.  Water represents life, and Jesus offers living water.  Jesus offers water so potent and in such quantities, that it overflows from the soul of the person who drinks it, causing a river to flow out of the person's heart.  This water Jesus offers is powerful stuff.  

Here's the question.  Are you thirsty?  If so, Jesus is talking to you.  If you realize that the things you've been trying to fill yourself with, the things you do to try to make yourself feel alive, aren't working, and you're thirsty for something more, Jesus is talking to you.  He's offering you something real to drink.  It will satisfy you.  It will make you alive in a way you can't get anywhere else.  This water is the Holy Spirit, and Jesus wants to fill you up with it, so much that it overflows from your heart into your whole life, everything you do.

Are you thirsty?  Come and drink.