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The Bible is full of images meant to describe things that can be very difficult to describe. It’s filled with analogies from the natural world that are meant to help us understand the spiritual truths of God. In these few verses from John, we see Jesus using the image of a river of living water to help his listeners understand who the Holy Spirit is and what the Spirit wanted to do in their lives. Jesus made this startling announcement at the annual Feast of Tabernacles. This was the greatest of all Jewish festivals, a weeklong celebration of singing and dancing when all the people gathered in Jerusalem to thank the Lord for last year’s harvest and to pray for the salvation that the promised Messiah would bring. The entire week was filled with festivities, culminating on the last day. At the central gathering on this day, the temple priests processed around the altar seven times, carryng water drawn from the pool of Siloam, while the temple choir sang and the peole shouted thanks and praise to the Lord. After the procession ended, a priest poured the water into one bowl, and wine into another bowl. Then, together, these two bowl were poured out upon the altar. So, when Jesus shouted out his promise of living water on the last day of the festival, he was telling the people that he was the living water that they were looking for. He was the promised Messiah. Everything the people had been celebrating and praying for during that week was being fulfilled right in their midst. The Messiah had come. Their salvation had arrived. And Jesus announced it as water flowed on the altar of the Lord. In a way, the season of Advent can be like the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. Like Tabernacles, Advent is a time of celebration. It’s a time when we gather to thank God for the blessing of Jesus’ birth. It’s a time to pray for the full salvation that will be revealed when Jesus comes again. And, just as the Feast of tabernacles found its culmination on the last day as water was poured out on the altar, so Advent finds its culmination at the end, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, who poured himself out on the altar of the cross for us. Life-Giving Water. The image of living water runs through the whole Bible. The very first pages of Genesis describe a pure spring watering the Garden of Eden and bringing it to life (Genesis 2:6). Psalm 46 sings about a river whose streams “make glad the city of God” (Psalm 46:4), and Jeremiah wrote that those who plant themselves beside this river will flourish without fear or worry (Jeremiah 17:7-8). The prophet Ezekiel had a vision of a small stream flowing from the temple. As this stream became deeper and broader, trees sprang up along its banks-beautiful trees whose leaves brought healing and whose fruit brought refreshment (Ezekiel 47:1-12). In the New Testament, John of Patmos also had a vision of a river of life-this time in heaven. This river flowed from the throne of God through the middle of the new Jerusalem, and on either side was the tree of life. Again, this tree had leaves for healing and a never-ending supply of fruit (Revelation 22:1-5). Similar passages speak of God’s promise to unleash a river that has the power to turn even a desolate and lifeless desert into a lush and fruitful garden (Isaiah 35:6; 43:19-20; Psalm 105:41). All these passages, and so many more, speak of God’s power to bring life, refreshment, nourishment, and healing to his people. The Waters of Transformation. These are very pleasant and comforting images, but Scripture paints another picture of water that can be very challenging. Not only does water bring life, it can also be an agent of death. In the Book of Exodus, Moses parted the Red Sea so that the Israelites could pass through it safely. But when the Egyptian army tried to follow, the waters crashed around them and swallowed them up. Since the earliest days of the church, Christians have seen these Egyptian warriors as a symbol of the things in us that are opposed to God and his loving plan. They have seen in this story an allegory of the way the Holy Spirit wants to put to death and wash away everything is us that is opposed to God and his commands. We see a similar image of water in the story of Jesus’ baptims in the Jordan River. Jesus didn’t need to be baptized, but the embraced it as a sign that he had come to wash away our sin and give us new life. Again, believers from the earliest days of Christianity have seen in Jesus’ baptism a foreshadowing of the other “baptism” Jesus was destined for the cross (Luke 12:49-50). The waters of the Jordan were seen as the waters of death leading to new life, just as Jesus’ death on the cross poured out a new life for all people. Even today, we celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism as a transformation from death to life, from sinfulness to freedom. The Woman Who Drank Living Water. Combining these two images of life and death, we can say that the living waters that Jesus promised at the Feast of Tabernacles represent both the refreshment and the transformation that he wants to pour out on all of us this Christmas. They represent God’s call to turn away from sin and the power of his Spirit to wash us clean. They represent his desire to see us flourishing in his love and bearing fruit to those around us. This is why the Sunday Mass readings for Advent focus so much on wathching for the Lord’s return, and on acts of repentance that will help us prepare our hearts for his coming. The Story of the Samaritan woman at the well (Hohn 4:1-42) is a beautiful illustration of the power of living water both to refresh us and to purify us. This woman had come to the well to draw earthly water to sustain her, but she ended up drinking heavenly water that made her flourish. Her deepest thirst was quenched as her sins were washed away and as she felt God’s grace rush in her heart and fill her up. Later, like the trees in Ezekiel’s vision that bore fruit along the banks of the river, this woman led many of her friends, perhaps even her whole town, to Jesus so they too could receive living water from him. This Advent, Jesus wants to give all of us the same new life, healing, and cleansing that he gave to the Samaritan woman. His living water dreally can satisfy us. More than food or money or anything else, Jesus will meet our needs. He is our sufficiency. He is with us even in the midst of our problems. He is there to quench our thirst when we are dry. He is there to wash away our sin and to put to death our old nature. He is there to fill all our emptiness and our every longing. Let the River Flow in Advent. We all know that Jesus came to save us. But we should also be just as convinced that Jesus came at Christmas to open the floodgates of heaven so that the river of his grace could flow out in a new and powerful way. Advent is all about thanking Jesus for coming among us as a humble baby and asking him to come again in glogy. Ghi chú : Nguyên tác Anh ngữ Let The River Flow của Joseph Difato, Ph.D. đăng trên website joe@wau.org. Bản dịch Việt Ngữ Cứ Để Dòng Sông Chảy của Sóng Biển. |
