John 7:37-44

TEXT Living Water By the time I get to the end of a cruise you would think I'd have eaten enough. Not me. I get up early that last morning and eat breakfast like I am trying to help the kitchen clean out before the next trip. As we disembark with all our luggage I realize how sedentary and gluttonous I've been. By the time lunch rolls around all I want is a bottle of water. In our text we find Jesus in Jerusalem on the last and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles. For six days the people have been commemorating the 40 years of wilderness wanderings, celebrating the harvest, socializing and eating Levi's BBQ. Now the families have gathered for one more day of picnicking in and around the Temple courts or out in the fields around their campfires. Invited a guests receive a cup of water as a first sign of hospitality. In this setting Jesus stands up and offers everyone water; living water. If you go back and read the whole chapter you find a theme of conflict between Jesus and those who doubt him. His brothers poke fun at him. The religious leaders plot against him. The people are divided. Some question, others proclaim he is surely the Prophet. Some are satisfied with life just the way it is, others thirst for what Jesus has to offer. Hopefully our Lenten journey will not be one of sedentary gluttony. We pray it makes us thirsty. Jesus offers us the living water of fellowship with him. Will that water be one of those things you can't leave behind?