Jesus and his brothers are about to celebrate the Festival of Booths or Sukkot. This was probably the grandest of the Jewish celebrations other than Passover itself. It was very much like our Thanksgiving and was celebrated around the first of October. part of the celebration had the people staying outside in booths they constructed to remind them of the sojourn their ancestors had made through the desert. Jesus' brothers push him to go to the Festival, for they do not even believe he is the messiah. Jesus says he won't go, but after his brothers have gone he follows alone.
A part of this celebration that we don't read about was called Nisuch HaMayim or water pouring ceremony. Water was drawn from the Pool of Shiloah and was then carried in procession with great joy to be poured over the altar. The ceremony was instructed to be done with great joy and it was widely said "He who has not seen the rejoicing at the Place of the Water-Drawing has never seen rejoicing in his life." Perhaps it was at this point in the water ceremony that Jesus calls out to the gathered throngs, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" John 7:38 NRSV
The Pharisees and the temple guards are conflicted about arresting him and Nicodemus speaks up asking how they can condemn him without a trial. We get a glimpse here of Jesus Jewishness and the conflict between who he is as Messiah and the Jewish authorities as their relationship heats up.
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- Pastor Bill
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4 comments:
"If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?"
It seems Jesus once again opened the door to common sense, but the leaders failed to go through.
I've faced those open doors myself...I know I am getting better at making sure decisions line up with the Word, but I confess I still take the easy road too often.
Kudos to the officers and Nicodemus for sticking up for Jesus!
We all need to make our stand!
Pastor, will you be attending the "water pouring ceremony" when you travel there next year?
Hi Mark,
I do not think I'll be there in the right season - I'll be going (we'll be going) in February and this is a festival that occurs in October. We will be going to the Jordan River to the traditional location of Jesus' baptism and any that want to go down to the river and remember their baptism will be welcome and I'll certainly accompany anyone that wants to go!
Bill
Bill, it was so great of you to clarify that celebration in the beginning of the chapter for us. It seems like there are a lot of festivals in John, right from the beginning. It would make sense that they would want Jesus to come to this festival, since they hold it in such high regard. What I keep seeing as we read through this book is Jesus saying, or eluding to the fact that “his time has not yet come.” In the beginning, when he was speaking to his mother, he told he that his time had not yet come either. He clearly was waiting for the perfect time to reveal himself completely, and fulfill the rest of the prophesy. He knew his was living in God’s terms. I wonder if many notice this pattern of phrasing as they read this book.
Great thought, MW, on the verse about circumcision. If circumcision can be done on the Sabbath, but Jesus can’t heal the whole person, what’s the deal? Jesus really is telling them something that makes total sense, but they just don’t get it. Similar to when the man from the pool was healed earlier in this book, but they couldn’t see past the fact that he was carrying his mat on the Sabbath to see that a miracle had really happened. What’s wrong with people?
Sara and I watched a movie called “Revelation” yesterday. It’s an incredible movie about the book of Revelation, and how they use virtual reality programs to bring those people left on earth after the Rapture to Satan. It’s really scary how people can’t see Jesus in any of this, because the Devil is fooling so many. The government becomes corrupt, and no one is allowed to be Christian. However, someone made the statement in the movie, “If you weren’t afraid to open a bible you’d understand that this is just fulfilling the propacy.” Will we see Jesus in even the roughest of times? I kept thinking about that during the movie, but I also hoped and prayed that I would be of the people who were taken in the first rapture. Anyway, we need to see the Grace of God through it all, let it prevail!
God bless,
Marshall
I found Nicodemus' role in this chapter interesting - still playing cautious, but actually speaking up on Jesus' behalf, even if not directly. He's baby-stepping, and still self-protecting. I feel all too familiar with his faith/risk strategies!
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