Water

I have listened to the voice of God interrupting my festivals and responding to different prayers and I have cried that He has ignored me, when in reality, Christ is calling out to me to drink of His living water all along. 

Tribute to the Eucharist (Michael Damaskinos)

I have been reflecting on the event in the Gospel where Christ stood up during the last day of the festival and announced, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink” (John 7:37).  This was not an insignificant statement…  It was not a metaphor, and it was not random.  Christ – who is GOD – shouted at the climactic moment of the Festival of Festivals during the Feast of the Tabernacles during the time when the priests drew water from the Pool of Siloam pouring it on the altar in the Temple…  The water was poured in an offering to have the Messiah…

“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.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ 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.  On hearing his words, some of the people said, ‘Surely this man is the Prophet.’  Others said, ‘He is the Messiah.’  Still others asked, ‘How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?’ Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.  Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.” (John 7:37-44).

And the significance of Christ calling out to interrupt that Festival was that He was telling the people that the Messiah was here.  That is why the people thought that He was a prophet or Messiah after hearing Him cry out.  They understood the context of that message in the experience of that offering…

It was an anticipated moment.  Christ shouted out when people were expecting something great.  And that shouting interrupted something.  It changed the course of events.  People got a different outcome from the one they were expecting.

And I have been thinking about that today as I have been thinking about my plans in life.  For it seems to me that I have spent a lifetime becoming settled in the expected.  And there is God calling out in a loud voice and interrupting the flow of things.  And He is doing it to show me that He is here – the Messiah who I pray for is delivered to me.  And all this time I have looked at the interruption with trepidation and fear.  All this time I have considered this with a feeling of anxiety.

I have listened to the voice of God interrupting my festivals and responding to different prayers and I have cried that He has ignored me, when in reality, Christ is calling out to me to drink of His living water all along.  And there I have sat – in a huddle – afraid of what will come next!

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.