Scripture: John 7:37-52

Free Water for Those Who Are Thirsty

This is one of the passages in the Bible where the Pharisees and chief priests show their prejudice against Jesus. They didn’t believe that the Messiah could come from Galilee. Also, the way and manner Christ carried out his ministry was not what they expected of the Messiah. He ate with sinners and mixed with Gentiles and the “uneducated,” described as an accursed people which does not know the law. (v 49) He was an “ordinary” son of a carpenter believed to be a charlatan who could deceive the multitude of illiterate people.

On this occasion when Jesus was addressing the multitude saying, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” (Amplified Bible) His inspirational utterances created “a division and dissension” among the crowd. Some said, “Truly this is the Prophet” and others said, “This is the Christ.” But another group wondered, Will the Christ come out of Galilee?

By then the chief priests and the Pharisees had sent officers to arrest him. When they returned without him they exclaimed, “Never has a man talked the way this man talks!” (AMP) The Pharisees were shocked, and challenged the officers, “Are you also deluded and led astray?” In other words, they asked whether the officers had also been brainwashed by the supposed impostor. In their pride and prejudice similar in a way to that expressed in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18: 9–14), they asked, “Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? As for the multitude that does not know the law, they are accursed and doomed.” (AMP)

Even when one of their own, Nicodemus, challenged them on a point of law (v 51), they demeaned him asking, “Are you too from Galilee? Search and you will see that no prophet comes from Galilee.”

After this, they left with what could be described as “hardened hearts,” planning how they could arrest him instead of trying to find out the truth about Jesus and accept his invitation to come to him if they were thirsty, which is like to coming to him if you lack wisdom.

There are still some people in the world today like these Pharisees who are prejudiced against other people and races. They are so blind and hardhearted, that they are unable to think and reason objectively to find the truth.
They perpetually live in darkness and refuse the True Light, Jesus, to illuminate their lives.

To be freed from thirst and illuminate our lives, we need to heed Jesus’ call. He will not only supply our needs but will also supply them freely and abundantly. Interestingly, in John 4, when Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for water, she replied, “How is it that you being a Jew ask me a Samaritan woman for a drink?” This refers to the animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans.

What I see in her is that even though she was a woman of low virtue in her society, she knew the history of her people. Step by step the two traded questions and answers until they got to the point where Jesus disclosed himself as the promised Messiah. Why couldn’t the Pharisees and chief priests discuss with Jesus objectively and put aside their prejudices? Why can’t we behave like Jesus when talking to those who do not know him and present him in a humble manner rather than condemning them if they don’t believe in him?

The woman’s willing heart and her refusal to argue about the animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans eventually paid off. She found the Messiah and took the news to the town and thus became one of the first “evangelists” to bring Christ to her adversaries.

Jesus is still calling us today inviting those who are thirsty and heavily laden to come to him for relief, made possible by his sacrificial death and glorious resurrection. And not only that, our free passage to eternity is also guaranteed.

It is grace you don’t have to labor for.