Thought of the Day February 8, 2019 Give thanks for God's blessings
Christ himself taught about this
life-giving water or fountain of water. Recall his encounter with the Samaritan
woman at Jacob’s well. Jesus saw the thirst in her heart for love, meaning,
life, acceptance fulfillment. He offer her the answer to her thirst when he
said to her: “Everyone who
drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever
drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will
become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)
Later in John 7:37 Jesus explains the source of
this fountain of life and the means to receive it. “Then, on the last
great day of the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus was standing and crying out,
saying: ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink: whoever believes in
me, just as Scripture says, ‘From his chest shall flow rivers of living water.’
” Now he said this about the Spirit, which those who believe in him would soon
be receiving. For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet
been glorified. (John 7:37-39)
What was the
circumstances that moved Jesus to say these words?
During the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot, the
Jewish people were to gather together in Jerusalem not only to remember God's
provision in the Wilderness but also to look forward to that promised Messianic
age when all nations will flow to this city to worship the Lord.
On the last day of the Feast a whole parade of worshipers and
flutists led by the priest would go to the pool of Siloam. The priest has two golden pitchers. One is
for wine. He fills the other with water from the pool. As the flutes continue
to play, a choir of Israelites chants Psalm 118.
The whole procession heads back to the Temple through the Water Gate. A trumpet
sounds as the priest enters the Temple area. He approaches the altar where two
silver basins are waiting. He pours wine into one of the basins as a drink
offering to the Lord and water from the pool of Siloam into the other.
The ceremony was to thank God for His bounty and to ask Him to
provide rain for the crops in the coming year. How often do we thank God for his bounty and blessings? (To be continued)
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