The Day of
Pentecost (A)
May 28, 2023
Text: John 7:37-30
The
Spirit is given to Christians because Jesus has now been glorified. That is, He has been lifted up on the
cross, suffered and died the hellish death of atonement for our sins. He has been buried in a tomb, and He is now
risen from the dead. He has ascended
into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. He lives.
He reigns. And because all of
that is true, the Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, is now
poured out on all who are in Christ Jesus, all Christians, the Baptized, those
who hear and believe His Word, those who dine at His Table, you.
The
Spirit flows to you from Jesus Christ.
As living water (and note here the connection of the Spirit with
water!), He flows from Jesus to you, and to multitudes throughout the world. This is one of the most remarkable motifs in
the Bible. It begins in the beginning,
in Eden. Isn’t it curious how the
narrative about Adam’s creation is interrupted by this significant discourse on
the river? “A river flowed out of
Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers”
(Gen. 2:10; ESV). And so, from Eden, the
river flows to the whole earth to water it and expand the Garden Paradise. We get all sorts of details about the Pishon,
and the Gihon, and the Tigris, and the Euphrates. What is going on here?
Well,
Eden, remember is the first Temple, the dwelling place of God with man. God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden,
in the cool of the day. And so, from
God’s inner-sanctum, the water of life flows, bringing healing, abundance, and
beauty wherever it goes. Ezekiel picks
up on this (Ez. 47). In his vision of
the restored Temple, water is flowing forth from the Temple’s threshold. It gets deeper and deeper, ankle-deep,
knee-deep, waist-deep, and finally impassible.
It is the water that heals the sea, the Arabah, the Dead Sea! Think about what that is. Lowest place on earth. Too salty to sustain any life. But when this water, the River,
touches the sea, the water in the sea becomes fresh, and enlivening. Swarming creatures, and an abundance of fish,
fishermen standing by the sea, ever successful in their catch. The Dead Sea becomes the Living Sea. Now, the swamps and marshes that have no
contact with the River, stay salt and dead.
But wherever the River goes, it brings life. And there on the banks of the River, on both
sides are all sorts of trees. Trees for
food, whose leaves will not whither, and whose fruit will not fail. Fresh fruit every month, “because the
water for them flows from the sanctuary.
Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing” (v. 12). It is the Tree of Life restored.
We
get it again in Revelation. “Then the
angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from
the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city;
also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of
fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the
healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the
throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” (Rev.
22:1-4). New Creation. All new, and better than before. Eden 2.0.
“There
is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,” we sing in Psalm 46
(v. 4). This River is the River that
flows from God Himself, bringing healing and life wherever it goes. That is to say, this River is the Holy
Spirit.
On
the last day of the Feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, known as the Day of the
Great Hosannah, the people would shake off the dead leaves of the branches they
had used in constructing their booths.
So also they would wave palm branches against the altar as the priests
marched around the altar seven times.
And, as was the case each morning of the Feast, at the morning
sacrifice, one priest was sent to procure a pitcher of water from the Pool of
Siloam, to be poured out at the side of the altar.[1] What were they commemorating? The Feast of Tabernacles was all about
remembering how they dwelt in tabernacles, or booths, in the wilderness during
their forty years of wandering. And the
water ceremony was a way of remembering the miracle at Meribah (Num. 20), where
at God’s command, Moses brought water from the rock, water of life in the
waterless desert. “He made streams
come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers,” says the
Psalm (78:16). Yes, this is the episode
where Moses was supposed to speak to the rock, and instead, he strikes
it with his staff twice. It gets him in
all sorts of trouble. This is why he
couldn’t go into the Promised Land. He
didn’t honor God.
But
then, this all points to something more miraculous, more profound, does it
not? Our Lord Jesus, lifted up on the
cross, crucified, glorified… “But one of the soldiers pierced his side with
a”… staff… “a spear, and at once there came out blood and water”
(John 19:34; emphasis added). “(A)nd
all drank the same spiritual drink,” Paul says, “For they drank from the
spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ” (1 Cor.
10:4). Jesus’ body is the Temple of the
living God. Jesus’ body is the dwelling
place of God with man. He is God
incarnate, the Word made flesh, who came to tabernacle among us (John
1:14). From Him, from the stricken Rock,
from the threshold of the Temple, flow rivers of living water, the Holy
Spirit. And His tree of the death, the
cross of Calvary, becomes for us the Tree of Life in the midst of the River,
whose fruits never fail, whose leaves are for our healing. The death of Jesus Christ brings back Eden.
And
so, on the last day of the Feast, the Great Day, as the priest pours out the
ceremonial water at the base of the altar, Jesus cries out, “If anyone
thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart’”…
literally, “out of His belly, i.e. His side… “‘will flow
rivers of living water’” (John 7:37-38).
You only receive the Holy Spirit in and through the crucified,
glorified, Jesus Christ. “(A)nd he
bowed his head and gave up his (S)pirit” (John 19:30). In the death of Jesus Christ, the Spirit is
unleashed to do His creating work. And
the risen Jesus will give the Spirit, now, in a profound and comprehensive way,
when He breathes on His disciples in the Upper Room (John 20:22), and on the
Day of Pentecost as we commemorate it this morning.
The
Spirit, who opens the lips, and animates the pens of Apostles and
Evangelists. The Spirit, who spoke by
the Prophets, and now speaks in Scripture and in preaching. The Spirit, who brings life wherever He
flows, and faith in Jesus Christ when and where He pleases in those who hear
the Gospel (John 3:8; AC V). The Spirit
who brooded over the waters of creation in the beginning (Gen. 1:2), who now
broods over the waters of New Creation in Holy Baptism. The Spirit, who descended as a dove upon our
Lord Jesus, and remained upon Him, at His Baptism in the Jordan River (John
1:33), who now descends upon us at our Baptism into Christ, and remains with
us, to enliven us and strengthen us. To
bear witness with our spirit that we are God’s children (Rom. 8:16). To dwell with us and make our very bodies His
own Temple (1 Cor. 6:19). Living already
now as His New Creation, filled with the water of life. Waiting for, and by our prayers in the
Spirit, hastening the Day (2 Peter 3:12) when New Creation and the sons of God
will be revealed (Rom. 8:19), when Eden will be restored fully, and all will be
life and health and wholeness and beauty and peace and joy, because we will see
Jesus Christ as He is.
The
water poured out from Jesus’ side fills our font, even as His blood fills the
chalice. That is where the River of
living water touches you. “If you
knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’”
Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, and to you, “you would have asked him,
and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10). And so He does. The water that flows forth from His belly now
fills you in Word and Sacrament. Like a
vessel filled by a rushing river, he fills you with His Spirit. And what happens? Now out of your belly, your
heart, flow Rivers of living water, the Spirit, as He opens your lips to speak
the Gospel to those you know and love.
To whoever He puts in your path.
And to the world, in the preaching of the Church. The River flows from the crucified and risen
Christ, to you, and through you, to give life to the whole
world. “For there are three that
testify,” St. John says in his first Epistle: “the Spirit and the water
and the blood; and these three agree” (1 John 5:7-8). They come in a package. They testify together as one.
The
Spirit is given to Christians because Jesus has now been glorified. The Spirit comes as a River flowing from the
Temple of God, the stricken body of Jesus Christ. He flows in the wilderness, healing even the
Dead Sea. And He flows to you, and heals
you. In fact, He raises you from the
dead. Drink deeply of the Spirit, dear
brothers and sisters. Bathe in the River
by the Means of Grace. And then speak
Him forth with fiery tongues. For we
must never dam the River. The
life-giving Spirit freely flows to the whole world. In fact, He opens your lips, and flows from
you. In the Name of the Father, and of
the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
[1] Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular
Commentary of the Bible: New Testament, Vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia) p.
452.
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