Pentecost
Thirsty? For what?
St. John 7:37-39
8 June 2014 – Redeemer
Imagine a person who cannot tell he is thirsty. He keeps working on a hundred degree day, hour after hour, without a single drink of water. He suffers dehydration, then heat stroke, and he dies. Next to his body is a large jug filled with ice water. He never knew his thirst so he never drank.
Now imagine another person. She is thirsty all the time. Her tongue is parched, her throat is dry, her skin is clammy. All day she thirsts, but she doesn’t know what water is. She doesn’t understand how wells work, or what kitchen faucets or a good old garden hose is for. She too dies, even though her home is filled with many sources to quench her thirst.
We thirst, but we know not the source of our thirst. You are alone. You are unhappy. Your body is drying up – eyes don’t see, knees don’t bend, lungs don’t breath. Your love for others is shallow and stale – you love those who love you and neglect those who don’t. You know that something is wrong, but you are uncertain its source or substance. We thirst, but we know not the water that will quench that thirst. We drink up the good gifts of God, looking to slake our thirst – family, sports, hobbies, houses, cars, vacations – and we still thirst. We drink from the poison pools of Satan – abusing alcohol, perusing pornography, accepting adultery, guzzling gossip and speaking slander and still we thirst.
To paraphrase Luther – I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength know the cause of my thirst or how to quench it. My best efforts to quench this thirst for life amount to swallowing sand. Thanks be to God for Pentecost Day and the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. For the Spirit brings us the living water of God’s Word and in that word we are revived and refreshed by Jesus.
On the last and great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink,” Jesus’ congregation in Jerusalem would have had water on their mind when He called them to drink. The feast that is referred to in the text is the Feast of Booths. During this eight day feast the congregation lived in booths, tents, as they recalled their 40 year camping trip of repentance in the wilderness. Every morning, before the festival sacrifices, a priest would take a golden pitcher, carry it to the fountain of Siloah, fill it with water, and carry it in procession back to the altar where it would be poured out into a bowl. This water in the worship was meant to remind them of the water that flowed from the rock in the wilderness. When their ancestors thirsted God provided water.
In the wilderness the Israelites knew they were thirsty. There was no water in the desert. In that wilderness the Israelites knew that God alone gave them life – through His appointed means – Moses, the rock, the water. God led them into the wilderness. God let them thirst. God gave them to drink.
God the Father sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Day to guide us into that same knowledge. On Pentecost Day the Rock was Peter, the thirst was created by the Law, and the water was the Word and Baptism which delivered the life of Christ to a thirsty congregation. Peter preached and you might say he preached “fire and brimstone.” He preached the scorching heat of God’s wrath over sin by accusing the congregation of killing Jesus. It was as if Peter was saying, “You sought life on your own and now you’re in the wilderness. All that you have is dying, all that you chase will turn to vapor, all that you drink will make your more thirsty, all that you believe is life is death – and in choosing all that you chose to kill God Himself in the person of Jesus.”
Then from that Rock Petros – Peter, poured forth the water of life. This Jesus, you crucified and killed, God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all witnesses. … Know for certain that God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Peter preached “this Jesus.”
When you are thirsty you know where to go – fridge, cooler, kitchen tap. By the gift of the Holy Spirit you know where to go when you thirst for life. The Pentecost congregation asked Peter at the end of his sermon, “What shall we do?” By the Holy Spirit Peter directed them to the water of life, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.”
God’s Word, God’s Water, God’s Supper, God’s Absolution – these are the places – as specific as the rock in the Old Testament, as specific as the cross of Jesus, the tomb of Jesus, the flesh of Jesus. These are the specific places where God brings forth the water of life and give us to drink of it that our thirst might be quenched.
Imagine for a moment that you were mowing my lawn (you’re welcome to do that anytime by the way). I’m sitting on my lawn chair making sure you’re cutting straight lines while I sip something cold and refreshing. It’s 90 degrees. The humidity is high. The hills and large lawn are sapping your strength. You thirst. And you come to me and you say, “Pastor, I’m thirsty.” I hand you an empty glass and I say, “Think about ice cold water, meditate on a frosty root beer, imagine lemonade.” There, do you feel better? You probably wouldn’t mow my lawn anymore and you would certainly call me a fool for not knowing that you must actually drink something to quench thirst.
The Holy Spirit give us real drink for our real thirst. The Spirit does not tell us baptism is a mere symbol of new life in Christ or that the Lord’s Supper is a remembrance of Christ’s death sort of like a funeral luncheon. We believe, by the testimony of the Spirit, that baptism actually brings us from death to life in Christ, that the Lord’s Supper really delivers the heavenly food and drink of Christ’s risen body and blood for our life and salvation. By that same Spirit working in the Word we believe that Jesus’ death accomplished our forgiveness. If you seek to find Christ apart from baptism and supper and word you are not being led by the Spirit, but by the devil himself.
Sometimes I think the Holy Spirit is a little embarrassed about Pentecost Day. It’s too much attention for the Spirit. The Spirit has one purpose – to make you thirst for life and to give you to drink of Jesus. So if you see the wilderness about you and the death with in you give thanks for the Spirit. If you drink of Christ and are sated by His forgiveness give thanks for the Spirit, but do it quietly because all the Spirit wants is for you to drink deeply of the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
7 June 2014 anno Domini