Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He said in reference to the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Some of the people therefore, after they heard these words, were saying, “This truly is the Prophet.” Others were saying, “This is the Christ.” But others were saying, “Surely the Christ is not coming from Galilee, is He? Has the Scripture not said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So a dissension occurred in the crowd because of Him. And some of them wanted to arrest Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

John 7:37-44

One of the hurdles Jesus came up against during His earthly ministry was that the religious establishment of the day was opposed to His teaching, even though he used the same Scripture they did and professed the same God.

We have the benefit of that river of living water now, a power that the people receiving Jesus’ teaching at that time did not have. If we take that for granted, we may be tempted to forget how hard it can be to be sure that Jesus is who He says he is when you are on the outside.

We continue to tell people the good news about Jesus because we have experienced it and we know the worth of following Him. Part of being humble and compassionate to those we share the good news with is understanding that we are no better than Jesus! He, like us, had to teach some people in spite of their mistrust or hatred for Him, but never from a superior attitude. Remember: we were once like them, but now we strive to be like Him.

Ethan Kirl

Originally Published April 14, 2021