Come to Jesus and Drink (preaching resource for Pentecost, 5/24/26)
This sermon expounds on the Gospel reading for 5/24/26, which is Pentecost Sunday.
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| Jesus breaths on his disciples (Artwork: "The Great Commission" by Nalini Jayasuriy via Princeton Theological Seminary) |
Introduction
(John 1:14, 16) The Word became flesh and made his dwelling [tabernacle] among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth…. (16) From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
To help us celebrate grace, John uses symbols from the Feast of Tabernacles. God dwelt with Israel in a tent. But now he dwells among his people in and through Jesus—God tabernacling with us.
Let’s fast-forward to the last months of Jesus’ earthly life:
(John 7:2-5) When the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, “You ought to leave here [Galilee] and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
Jesus did not live up to the expectations of the Jews—including those of his own family. His brothers urged him: "Jesus, go to the feast in Jerusalem where there is a huge crowd and use your miracles to gather a following!" They didn’t get it. They didn’t believe he was who he said he was. So Jesus declined their invitation—and rather than going up to Jerusalem with the crowd, he went secretly.
(John 7:14) Then about halfway through the feast, he appeared in the temple courts and began to teach.
And then the scene changes to the last day of the feast. It seems that Jesus used the occasion of an important festival ceremony to make an essential point. Each day at the feast there was a ceremony of water pouring that illustrated the festival’s meaning. God had given the feast to Israel so that they might celebrate His grace of deliverance and provision when he “tabernacled” with them in the wilderness and now in the land. In both the wilderness and the land, water was a scarce and precious commodity. Through the water pouring ceremony, they celebrated God’s life-giving provision for their physical salvation, and they entreated God to provide what they needed in the year ahead.
Each day of the feast, the priests would march down to the pools of Siloam, draw water and then march back up to the temple where they would pour the water on the altar. As they poured, they recited Isaiah 12:3: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” As the water ran down the rock-like edifice of the altar, they would be reminded that, in the wilderness, water flowed from the rock that Moses struck as God miraculously provided for their need.
On the last day of the feast, special attention was given to this water-pouring. The priests would march around the altar seven times, holding the water up before God and leading all to cry out, “God save us!” It was probably during this climactic water-pouring event on the last day of the feast that Jesus, perhaps standing with the crowd watching, addresses the crowd:
(John 7:37) On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”
There is irony here. The people were enjoying the feast, but missing the point. Jesus’ words are given as a challenge that comes crashing into their celebration: Come to me and drink. Two issues here—one leading to the other:
Come to me
This implies turning away in order to turn toward. Toward Jesus, but away from what? What were they looking at instead of Jesus? Ceremonies, festivals, temple—the Law. Remember how John introduces his Gospel: The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The law was temporary—given to Israel until Jesus. Now Jesus is saying, “I’m here—come to me.”
Come to me and drink
Jesus continues,
(John 7:38) Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.
Or as the NRSV has it, "Let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'"
In John 4, Jesus made the same point to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. He said to her,
"Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst, Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
What is this eternal, living water? Notice John’s comment:
(John 7:39) By this [Jesus] meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
The living water is the Holy Spirit—God with us and in us.
And so Jesus’ challenge and invitation is “Come to me—believe in me—receive me—and drink of the Holy Spirit.”
The gift of salvation which is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, is the gift of the life-giving Holy Spirit. In the New Testament, we are told that the Spirit replaces the Law as the source of purpose, guidance and meaning for God’s children under the new covenant. Remember what Paul wrote:
(Romans 7:6b) ...we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
(Ephesians 2:15, 18) [Jesus abolished] in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations… (18) For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
For those who had grown up under the supervision of the law—who had relied on its commands and ordinances to establish the pattern of their lives and of their worship—this was a frightful and disorienting concept. Many early Christians—particularly those from a Jewish background—found it difficult to trust in the invisible, guiding presence of the indwelling Spirit rather than in the written codes of the Law of Moses. Many Christians today struggle with similar fears and reservations. But whatever our background, Jesus cries out to us all:
Come to me and drink!
But when we drink of the Spirit rather than following the Law what happens? Here's what Jesus says:
(John 14:6) I am the way the truth and the life.
These are qualities that the Jews ascribed to the law.
(John 14:15, 18) If you love me, you will obey what I command [to believe and to love]…And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor [Parakletos] to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth… (18) I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
The Holy Spirit is the “another Counselor”—one just like Jesus. The Holy Spirit is God—now coming to dwell in our flesh. And what does the Holy Spirit do in our lives? Notice what Jesus tells us:
(John 14:26) The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you.
(John 15:26) When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.
(John 16:7-11) But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: In regard to sin, because men do not believe in me. [Unbelief in Jesus is the big sin of the world]. In regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer. [Jesus’ ascension validated who he was, and now he is seen on earth through those led by the Spirit]. And in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned [Jesus conquered Satan at the cross, and the Spirit leads us to live in Jesus’ finished victorious work].
(John 16:13) When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
The Spirit shows the church how to live out Jesus’ calling and mission in the new circumstances it encounters as it moves into the future.
(John 16:14) He [the Holy Spirit] will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
These are Jesus’ promises of the activity of God the Holy Spirit in the lives of those who come to Jesus—who put their hope and trust in him.
Following giving these words at the Last Supper, Jesus went out and suffered and died—was buried and on the third day rose from the tomb. And the resurrected Jesus made good on his promise:
(John 20:19-22) On the evening of that first day of the week when the disciples were together, with doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. And Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
The age of the Spirit began with Jesus’ resurrection, was made manifest to his disciples on the eve of Easter Sunday in the Upper Room, then made evident to a large crowd on Pentecost--50 days after Jesus' resurrection. And that age of the Spirit extends forward from there all the way to our day today, and beyond.
In this age, the Spirit replaces the Law, which was the rule of life under the old covenant. And what the Law could never accomplish, is now in the new covenant accomplished in and through those who, as Paul urges in Galatians, “walk in the Spirit.”
Conclusion
What joy there is in trusting Jesus. And what joy there is to live a life walking, by grace, with him--walking in the freedom of the leadership of God the Holy Spirit alive in us. I invite you today to hear and respond to Jesus’ invitation to us and to all: Come to me and drink!