Sermon -- Pentecost (May 28, 2023)

JOHN 7:37-39

THE HOLY SPIRIT QUENCHES OUR GREAT THIRST.

In the name + of Jesus.

      The feast at which Jesus spoke the words of our Gospel lesson was the Feast of Booths.  It was a commemoration of the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness until the Lord brought his people into the Promised Land.  The people spent the week living in Jerusalem under tents made from the boughs of various trees.  Each day sacrifices were offered at the temple.  The priest would also take a golden pitcher which was filled with water from the Pool of Siloam and pour it out at the altar.  It was a ceremony which anticipated the fulfillment of God’s word in Ezekiel 47.  There, Ezekiel was shown a vision of waters flowing from the altar of the temple.  The Lord told Ezekiel, “Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish.  For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes” (Ezekiel 47:9).  This water would grant life to the world. 

     On the last and greatest day of the Feast of Booths, Jesus was in the temple.  Perhaps he even interrupted the ceremony of the priest as he was pouring out the water at the altar.  “Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”’” (John 7:37-38).  Jesus boldly decreed this to everyone at the feast.  Jesus was saying, “This festival and this ceremony find their fulfillment in me.  I am the living water.  I am the true temple.  I am God who has come to dwell with his people.  Whoever believes in me will be saved.  Whoever thirsts for righteousness will be quenched.” 

     So, why do we thirst?  We thirst when our bodies become dehydrated.  We need water to live.  We thirst spiritually because we are lacking what we need to live in peace before God.  We lack a pure heart and the good works that spring forth from it.  God’s word tells us what a good heart is and what a good life looks like.  A good heart is pure in its motives and intentions.  It views people as someone to love, not to use.  It rejects any spirit of falsehood, jealousy, or revenge.  It does not assume evil about anyone but looks upon people with mercy and patience.  A good life puts these thoughts into action.  Because a pure heart is devoted wholly to God and his word, the pure heart will demonstrate love and kindness to all people, even to the wicked. 

     Jesus taught us, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.  For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48).  This is what a good heart does and what a good life looks like because this is what God is like.  But God’s Law shows us that we are not like God, and we are not good—certainly not as good as we like to think we are.  Repent.

     Our guilt produces our longing thirst.  It grieves us to know that we fall short of God’s goodness and that we have earned God’s judgment.  Therefore, we pant for mercy from God.  We want to escape our wretched condition.  So, we promise that we will do better, but we don’t.  We mean to, but we can’t.  We commit to being patient and honest and chaste and generous and content.  But we fall back into the same sins we have been accustomed to.  We blame others.  They drove us to it.  We blame our circumstances.  We had no choice.  We blame God.  I could keep God’s commandments better if my life were easier.  Because we fail to live up to all our promises, efforts, and intentions, our guilt only increases.  We are like people who are on an island surrounded by the ocean.  There is water everywhere, but if we consume it, it will kill us.  If we trust in our intentions to do better, it will kill us.  All our efforts only result in a greater thirst for relief. 

     Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37).  The only problem is that Jesus has ascended into heaven.  How can we go to him?  How can we drink if we cannot reach him?  Jesus addressed that with a promise.  He promised to send his Holy Spirit.  When Jesus promised, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water,” (John 7:38), he was speaking “about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive” (John 7:39).  By the Spirit, Jesus comes to us.  We hear God’s word, and through it the Holy Spirit supplies the peace and the hope we crave.  He reveals the love of the Father who sent Jesus to atone for our sins.  He reveals Jesus who suffered for our sins and died the death we deserve so that we are pardoned.  He gives us the hope of life everlasting that endures even in the face of sickness, sorrow, and death.  The Holy Spirit quenches our greatest thirst.

     Perhaps it sounds strange to hear the words in our Gospel: “As yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37-39).  This is not to say that there was no Holy Spirit prior to Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit is already active in Genesis 1.  And the Holy Spirit spoke through the Old Testament prophets; for all Scripture is God-breathed.  But the day of Pentecost marks a definite shift in the way God interacts with his Church.

     Prior to Pentecost, if a person wanted to be in the presence of God, he had to go to the Temple.  That is where the Lord put his name.  That is where God said he would dwell with his people.  It was limited to one place.  But now, the Bible has you consider this: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God” (1 Corinthians 6:19)?  The Holy Spirit dwells within you by faith.  He is with God’s people in all places, particularly when we gather in Jesus’ name to hear God’s word and to partake in the sacraments.

     After Jesus was glorified, the Holy Spirit was given to make each believer God’s temple.  The glory of Jesus was accomplished through his death, resurrection, and ascension.  By his death, Jesus has taken away your sins.  You are declared righteous by God for Jesus’ sake.  By his resurrection, Jesus delivers you from the power of death.  You will also be raised from the dead to eternal life.  By his ascension, Jesus reigns over all things for us.  But since he is no longer physically with us, he sends his Holy Spirit to dwell within us. 

     Jesus poured out his Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost.  The apostles had the benefit of witnessing Jesus’ works and hearing Jesus’ words.  Since we do not have the same benefit, the Holy Spirit worked through these apostles who wrote down for us the words and works of Jesus.  The Bible reminds us, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).  Whenever we hear his word, the Holy Spirit is at work to create and to strengthen faith in us.  Everything we need to dwell in God’s kingdom the Holy Spirit gives in God’s word and sacraments.  By these, the Holy Spirit quenches our great thirst.

     The third article of the Apostles’ Creed confesses the Holy Spirit.  Following the Holy Spirit, we confess a series of other doctrines.  Perhaps they seem unrelated to the Holy Spirit: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”  These are not teachings that someone tacked on to the end just to make sure they got covered.  These confess the work of the Holy Spirit who quenches our greatest thirst.

     At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit began gathering people from all nations into the Christian Church.  He draws people into communities of common confession and unites us as one.  We often need to be corrected or enlightened by the word of the Lord for this unity.  He addresses our actions, our attitudes, and our understanding of doctrine.  Through God’s word, the Holy Spirit converts minds and hearts.  He reveals truth and exposes falsehood.  Unity is established by the Holy Spirit through God’s word.  He makes us a communion of saints, creating in us clean hearts and right spirits.

     The Holy Spirit quenches our great thirst for the forgiveness of sins.  While the payment for sin was made on Mt. Calvary by Jesus, it is not delivered there.  It is delivered by the Holy Spirit.  Whether the Spirit-inspired word is preached or applied to water or to bread and wine, there the Holy Spirit is at work to bring forgiveness of sins, new life, and salvation.  The Holy Spirit quenches our great thirst.

     The Holy Spirit also will carry out the resurrection of the body.  St. Paul wrote, “In (Christ) you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).  The Holy Spirit lives in you as a deposit of the life to come.  He has worked new life in you now, making you saints of God.  And the Spirit of Life will breathe new life into your body again at the resurrection.  He will raise you up from the dead and bring you into life everlasting.  The Holy Spirit quenches our great thirst for life, and he brings us to a life that will never end.

     Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:38).  The Holy Spirit not only quenches your great thirst, but he also makes you a source of that living water when you confess God’s word.  You get to confess the comfort that you yourself have based on God’s promises of forgiveness and salvation through Jesus.  You get to declare the confidence God has given you to stand before him at the final judgment.  You get to reveal the hope that endures through all of life’s hardships.  And by your confession, you can quench the great thirst of others.  We live in a world where many are dying without hope.  Only the Lord gives it; for only the Holy Spirit can quench our great thirst and deliver God’s salvation.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.