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.