John 7:1-52_The Feast & The Flood
Passage: John 7:1-52
7:1-36: The Feast (Context, Controversy)
At the heart of the celebration was a daily rite, a rite we must understand in order to catch the sense of John 7. Rabbinical literature tells us that each morning great multitudes would gather at the Temple of Herod. They would come with a citrus fruit in their left hands (an ethrog). The ethrog was a reminder of the land to which God had brought them and of their bountiful blessings. In their right hands the people would carry a lulab, which was a combination of three trees—a palm tree, a willow, and a myrtle, emblematic of the stages of their ancestors’ journey through the wilderness. – Kent Hughes
Do I see myself standing with Jesus or is it truer that I stand with Jesus’ opponents? – Burge
7:37-39: The Flood (Connection)
The crowds would then follow the priest to the Pool of Siloam, chanting some of the great Psalms and waving their lulabs in rhythm. As they approached the Pool of Siloam, the priest would dip his pitcher into the water, and the people would recite some beautiful words from Isaiah 12:3: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Kent Hughes
Jesus shouts out his invitation to anyone, anyone at all, who wants to have the water of life bubbling up inside them, and flowing out to the world around. John’s comment helps us to hold this promise in the right framework. Jesus was speaking, he says, about the spirit; anyone who believes in Jesus is promised that the spirit, God’s refreshing personal presence, will come to live within them. – NT Wright
One of the tragedies of our age is that we twist the thirst for God into a desire for a new wardrobe, a new car, a new experience, or whatever. Or even if people realize they are thirsty, they take wrong measures to satisfy it. – Kent Hughes
Jeremiah 2:13 – My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Matthew 5:6 – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.