”On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of him (ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ, out of his belly) will flow rivers of living water.’ But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (Jn 7: 37-40)
On this feast of Mid-Pentecost, marking the mid-point of our journey from Pascha to Pentecost, we celebrate these words said, nay, cried out, by our Lord to all of us: If “anyone” thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
That also means me, if I recognize that I do, indeed, “thirst” for the Holy Spirit; if I am “poor in Spirit,” rather than self-sufficient (a.k.a. “full of myself”). Today let me once again join the thirsting Church, not the full-of-ourselves Church, that I may re-focus on my cross-carrying journey, toward the “glorified” Lord. He has been “glorified” in His death and His new life, in which He invites me to participate, also today. So let me come to Him this morning, and drink of His life-creating Presence, in some heartfelt prayer and reading of His word, because I can. “Anyone” can. And we can all have “rivers” flowing out of us of “living water,” – of compassion, kindness, wisdom, creativity, courage, patience, humility and love, in the generous Self-offering of the Holy Spirit in our world. “Come and abide in us” today, Lord, as we choose to come and abide in You.
