True Thirst :: John 7:37-39
On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the great day, Jesus took a stand in the temple courtyard and shouted aloud, Whoever is thirsty, Let him come to me and drink!
Brothers and sisters in Christ, (Drink from glass) when was the last time you were thirsty? (Drink) I mean, really thirsty? (Drink) Thirsty down to your soul? (Drink)
Is that why you are here today?
Millions of people right now are longing for drugs or alcohol. They ... are thirsty.
Married and unmarried people are lusting for more. They ... are thirsty.
Millions are betting that science will protect them. They ... are thirsty.
Many seek bigger farms, better livestock, better crops. They long for a better living, a better life, a better house, a better spouse ... the bigger, the better. They’re so thirsty they would soak up Truman Lake and still be the Mojave Desert.
Are you this thirsty? Would you admit it, if you knew you were?
Spiritually, there are many people who are parched.
But they don’t know it. And they can’t feel it.
Their problem is ... they haven’t had a spiritual drink for a long time, if at all. They are caught up in the futile search for God in their heart, in their mind, in their works.
These people aren’t simply just atheists and agnostics, Buddhists and New Agers ... they are the moral, average, common folk you know. Some have religion, many call themselves Christian. A growing number don’t. They might be your friends and family, your neighbors and coworkers, your spouse.
To us they don’t really appear spiritually parched. They say they believe. I bet many of them go to church. They aren’t antireligious or irreligious. They seem to live in accord with the law of the land and the commandments of God. In fact, they seem like good, decent people.
However, so far as they are concerned, God is often just the Man Upstairs or some Higher Power ... the Bible is a good word about good living ... the golden rule ... and going to church could be a good habit. They believe that as long as they don’t oppose God or the Bible ... as long as they never cheat on their spouse ... they’ve got it made. God will overlook my faults, they say.
But brothers and sisters in Christ, they are thirsty.
So today, we see Jesus taking a stand against all the false religion in the world. And he is crying out.
Are you listening?
If you are thirsty, Come to me and drink.
Not everyone will.
There are people who don’t necessarily feel thirsty.
They don’t know as much about God and Christ and the Bible as they’d like. This is the case with me ... and I assume it’s the case with you. Some of them don't come to Bible study. Some don't have private devotions. But honestly, none of us knows enough about the Lord. None of us has the faith or the love he should have.
In other words, we are thirsty.
Even Martin Luther, a doctor of the church, frankly admitted he didn’t know enough.
In the Large Catechism he wrote ... “Oh, what mad senseless fools are we! .... We should guard with all care and diligence against the poisonous infection of contentment and vain imagination, but steadily keep on reading, teaching, learning, pondering, and meditating.”
Can we ever get enough to drink?
We all have a thirst for something. Our thirst sometimes manifests itself in restlessness and frustration. It sometimes becomes evident in vague feelings like there is something more to life.
We try to satisfy our thirst in various ways. We search for God in our heart and in our work and in our mind ... we search for him in the world. We are thirsty.
We think we can find God in our efforts to be the church. We also try to satisfy our thirst behind the idea that we can’t even find God, and so we give up on listening for him. We give up on Bible study. We give in to ourselves.
Are you thirsty? Are you parched emotionally ... troubled by work or marriage? By your own sin? Do you realize your inability to solve your problem yourself?
If you have answered yes to any of these, I would suggest that on this Day of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
Today in our gospel reading Jesus is taking his stand, and he’s crying out to you and me and anyone who believes in him, that is, who had faith in who he is, and what he is doing. God is coming to his people, meeting us where they are in the divine service and crying out to all the parched souls. If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
Like good Jewish men and women, they came for the celebrations. Like good Christians, you come to church. But unlike then, you hear Jesus, don't you? You take him at his word. You come desiring to have your thirst quenched.
Because only Jesus satisfies our spiritual thirst.
The proclamation of Jesus at this point in the gospel of John is very significant. He not only applied all the words of Isaiah 12 to himself that with joy will you draw water from the wells of salvation. But he is showing us that all of the prophecies concerning him Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and the Psalms ... among so many others ... all of them are finding their fulfillment in him. In this moment.
The waters of heaven are flowing forth from the temple.
And it is pure Gospel.
This Gospel isn’t centered in something. It is centered in someone ... that is it is centered specifically and uniquely in Christ himself. The Gospel isn't about giving your heart to him. It is about God giving his to you.
Christ is God ... just as he claimed to be and just as the scriptures attest. And he is is calling your. In fact, unless you acknowledge him in this way, unless you give him equal status with the Father, just as just as we heard Jesus tell Philip last week, If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. So without Christ, you can’t know God.
So Jesus has taken a stand in the temple ... where all the people came together to be one ... and he is pleading with you to come and to drink. Through him He will satisfy you by offering us himself ... his love, his redemption, his forgiveness, his hope.
This my friends is what we mean by the Gospel. Jesus is giving everything to you.
God so loved the world, that he gave his only son for this very reason ... so that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have everlasting life.
This means you don’t have to work your way into heaven.
This means you don’t have to do anything to be filled with the waters of life.
God himself is pouring out his Holy Spirit upon you so that rivers of living water will gush forth from your life. He is calling to you ... who have been redeemed and forgiven. In him, we live and move and have our being. He is our living hope. In him we have eternal life.
Because on the cross, our Lord who knew no sin became sin for you. He so thirsted for righteousness and the death of sin that he drank our cup of God’s wrath to the dregs. Your sin has been atoned for by Christ, who suffered and died for you. Out of his pierced side sprang forth the rivers of living water mixed with blood that was poured out for the forgiveness of your sins.
Take and eat. Take and drink. It is for you.
There is no better time and place to come and drink of the Gospel than during the Service of the Sacrament that is to come. Through the Lord’s Supper, the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation awaits.
And when you come and drink of this good news, something happens.
Jesus causes living water to flow from us. This living water flows from every believer without exception. Just as he promised, Christ pours out his Holy Spirit upon you, making you holy just as he is holy so that it shall come to pass now that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
Having been forgiven, we can now forgive.
Having been reconciled, we can now reconcile.
Through him we have peace.
Won’t you tell the world around you the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lived for you, died for you, overcame death for you, ascended for you, and is preparing a place for you where you will never hunger or thirst again.
There are days when you and I may feel like dead, dry bones. Lifeless. Loveless. Hopeless. It’s God’s way of making us thirsty for more! So come to Jesus, who gives you life.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Drink of his Gospel every day of your life. Let us be satisfied with nothing less than Jesus, and him crucified. Jesus and him risen!
Amen.