On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” John 7: 37-38
So I was reading Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes last night. In front of the fire. After I rode 27 miles on a bicycle with Dustin to go to Scott and Mary Davidson’s one-year-old’s birthday party, BTW, which is a whole other story about Tucson’s amazing bike paths.
Jesus stands up in front of everyone, and makes a claim which is suspiciously like what God said about Himself in Isaiah. And the Pharisees fumble an arrest because Jesus was too popular with the people, so they back off and come up with a plan- a foolproof plan complete with a weeping frightened woman and a crowd. Jesus is going to get it from either the Romans or the Jews. He can’t wiggle his way out of this one. So Jesus shows up in the temple the next day, sits down (asserting his rabbinic authority) and begins teaching. Bailey adds some details: the day after the festival is treated as a Sabbath so all the laws are in play, the Romans had guards posted to quell the frequent festival day uprisings, and he reminds us that the Romans made it against the law for the Jewish people to put people to death, which is of course why the leaders took Jesus to Pilate. According to Bailey, Jesus scribbles in the dust to prove that he knows every jot and tittle of the law- writing is against the Sabbath law, writing in the dust is not.
And all of the wrath of the Law, the consequences of sin, move away from this woman, who clearly transgressed, and onto Jesus. He is going to pay the price for this encounter. This is when the Pharisees decide He must die. Jesus demonstrates the life-giving power of costly love. And he doesn’t even know her name. It is because of who He is and that He understands what his life and mission is all about. The Passion of Christ. Costly love.
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