John 7: 37-52
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and 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.’” Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some asked, “Surely the Messiah does not come from the Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” So there was a division in the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?” The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” They replied, “Surely you are not also from the Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from the Galilee.”
Reflection by Tom Lewis, MDiv
The Feast of Booths, or Succoth, is a harvest festival so important to the People that it was simply called The Festival. Just as people stayed in shelters while working on the harvest, the participants in The Festival stayed in shelters made of plants, taking meals there. It had a future paradise theme, hearkening to one of the rituals of the festival. Priests would march in procession to the Gihon Spring (red circle), collect a pitcher of water, and proceed to the Temple Sanctuary, where they would pour the water in a hole in the rock (blue circle), thus “priming the pump” of the waters of creation in order to encourage rain for the growing season.
The festival looks toward a final paradise, a return to the Garden. The tradition is that in paradise wine and water will flow from the altar, quenching the thirst of the Judean wilderness to the east. Jesus draws attention to himself in the middle of the festival of water and wine. He takes us to the cross and true paradise.
Each time we celebrate the Eucharist, we look toward the feast to come. We pray for the water of life that causes us to grow and demonstrate the future paradise in the here and now. The Eucharist is our booth, and the world is the harvest. Nourished, we head into the fields of humanity to harvest by words and actions, showing paradise for all who suffer from anything where we can provide help. And where we can’t help, we can be present, so that even those who seem without hope can see Paradise with us.
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