Jesus: the Living Water and the Light

Jesus: the Living Water and the Light*

Jesus ministerial phase has four Passover festivals. The feast of First Fruits is the last festival (which is the Resurrection day, the third day after the Passover), that Jesus celebrated. That's the reason why in 1Corinthians 15:20 reads, "Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the First Fruits of those who have fallen asleep". After forty nine days after the Passover comes the Pentecost festival. Jesus was in Jerusalem for Passover (John 2:13). After the celebration of Passover, He had a conversation with Nicodemus (John 3:1-21), then He went with His disciples to Aenon (part of Decapolis), to baptize people. He comes back to Judea (Jerusalem) to celebrate Pentecost (also known as the Harvest festival or the Feast of Weeks) and then heads back to Galilee via Samaria, where He meets the Samaritan woman (John 4:3-42). In the fifth chapter of John we read Jesus coming to Jerusalem to celebrate another Passover (5:2), and yet another Passover is recorded in the sixth chapter (6:4). In the seventh chapter Jesus was in Jerusalem to celebrate Festival of Shelters (Sukkot) (7:2). He remained in Jerusalem when the Woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus.

You might be thinking why did I mentioned all these festivals? Yes, to understand the complete gist of the words of Jesus, we need to understand the festivals.

Assume with me that Jesus came to Sychar and was thirsty, sat at the well facing south and the Samaritan woman was facing north and having a conversation with Jesus. While Jesus was mentioning about "the fields that are ready for the harvest (4:14-38)", Jesus was mentioning to the right hand side of him to the fields that are on the west of mount Gerizim which king Herod has given to the gentiles. Probably Jesus was mentioning "the fields are white for the harvest", because it was the season for barley harvest. While Jesus was mentioning to "the worship on mount Gerizim and Jerusalem (4:21)", Jesus was mentioning both the places, that He is facing (north) towards.

Till now we have tried to understand the topography of the area and Jesus words and its physical structures. Now let's draw towards the spiritual side of His words and the customary understanding of His words.

We need to understand the Scripture John 4:10-14 and 7:37,38 before analysing it. Both these Scriptures are related to the coming of the Holy Spirit. Speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus tells to be born again of water and in the Spirit (John 3:5). The word "Spirit" in Greek is "pneuma" and in Hebrew "ruach". 

The Samaritan woman questions about the deep well that their patriarch Jacob dug for them and drawing up of  the water was not easy. When Jesus was questioned, "are you greater than Jacob", Jesus in later occasion said, "Truly I tell you before Abraham was, I am", (8:58). We don't know how deep it was in Jesus' time but today it is possibly 100ft deep. And Jesus says, whoever drinks of this well become thirsty again but the water I give will never get thirsty again (4:13). The Samaritan woman doesn't understand about what Jesus meant by "never thirsty again", because the Samaritans believed only in the Samaritan Pentateuch (the first five books of Moses), other than this they know not about the prophets. That's the reason why she questions Jesus, "are you greater than Jacob?" The Samaritans are expecting a Taheb, a Messiah, greater than Moses. Jesus is the one who can meet and fulfill all these expectations. "The living water" (John 4:10) that Jesus promises is of Himself, who fulfills the prophecies of Isaiah 55:1; Jeremiah 2:13 and Zechariah 14:8; Isaiah 12:3,4 (on that day). Speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus says, He is the one descended from heaven" (John 3:13). Jesus is very clear when He said, "I am only with you for a short time. Then I am going to the One who sent Me", (John 7:33). "It is for your benefit that I go away, the Counselor... When He comes He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgement" (John 16:7,8). "As for you stay in the city until you are empowered from on high" (Luke 24:49). He speaks of streams of living water flow from within (John 7:38). But this will take a little time to fulfill because, "The Spirit was not yet been given because Jesus was not yet been glorified" (John 7:39). We can see this unstoppable spring of anointing of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-12. As said in Zachariah 14:8 and Isaiah 12:4, "the day" was the day of Pentecost. The mentioning of ripen harvest is ready to be reaped from that day on. 

Now we will meditate on John 7:37,38 - on v2, we read that Jesus was about to come or came to Jerusalem to celebrate Festival of Shelters (Booths) or Sukkot (Leviticus 23:33-44). Here is an another illustration of "living waters" flowing from the altar. On the last and most important day (John 7:37) Jesus calls on the people to turn to Him and "those who are thirsty, let him come and drink. The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said (Isaiah 55:1; 12:3,4), will have streams of living water flow from deep within him". What happens on the last day of the Festival of Shelters in the Temple of Jerusalem? The Festival of Shelters falls in the months of mid September - mid October. For the past seven days the priests in the Temple, had carried water in a golden pitcher from the Pool of Siloam to be poured into a basin at the foot of the altar. The act of pouring of water is like the start of the rainy season. It is like the pouring of the "tongues like flames of fire that seperated and rested on each one of them" (Acts 2:3; 10:44-46), fulfilling the prophecy of Prophet Joel 2:28-30, "displaying wonders in heavens and on earth: bood, fire, and columns of smoke". The last day of this festival is a day of celebration. People shout praises "Hallel", there will be singing (Paslms 113-118), dancing and music. "He who had never seen this ceremony, which was accompanied by dancing, singing... had never seen true joy (Mishna Sukkot 5:1,4). Today the Moroccan Jews celebrated this festival by pour water on each other in a joyful way. This tradition was mentioned in oral law but not in the Bible. 

For further study on the Living Water - Genesis 26:19; Psalms 36:7-9; Isaiah 49:10; 55:1; Jeremiah 2:13; Zechariah 14:8; Revelation 7:17; 21:6; 22:1,17.

In John 8:12, Jesus declares that "I am the light of the world". In the Feast of Tabernacles, according to Mishna Sukkot, there are four golden menorahs (75ft high) with four golden bowls on top of each, and four ladders each leading to the bowl. Four strong priests will climb up the ladder with pitchers of oil, nine liters each, which they pour into the bowls. The wicks were made and the menorahs were lit. Under this light men would dance with torches in their hands, singing songs and praises, while the levites play harps, lyres, trumpets, and other musical instruments. This when Jesus declares that "He is the light of the world, and anyone who follows Him will never walk in the darkness but have the light of life".

* This is an excerpt from the article, "The Lily among the Thorns". The link provided will redirect to the original article.

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