On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.' " Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive. John 7:37-39a (RSV)

Our bodies contain the following percentages of water: muscles, 75%; blood, 92% ; bones, 22%; the enamel on our teeth, 2%. That liquid with two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen is indispensable for life. Three summers ago our scout troop hiked for ten days on the Philmont Ranch in New Mexico. We traveled light and our meals consisted of freeze-dried food. Several of us became dehydrated. We found the gradual squeezing of water from our bodies created fatigue. The days dragged on.

In biblical times the water cup did not runneth over. Many stories and events centered around pools, lakes, and streams. Seas were parted, calmed, and walked upon. The skies poured forth burning hail and an unexpected rainbow followed a six week monsoon. Water was even employed for baptizing heads and washing feet. Interestingly enough, the first and last chapters of the Bible make awesome references to water. In Genesis 1, God places that primordial liquid first in his mixing bowl. "... the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the water." (1:1-2). Then in Revelation 22 God mixes water with a splash of light. "Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God." (22:1) Jesus' ministry also began and ended with water. The baptismal episode in the Jordan River, literally a high water mark in his life, poured forth his healing ministry to a barren world. John announced, "I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (Mark 1:8) Water was to flow freely in Jesus' parables and miracles. Almost immediately he called two fisherman out of water. (Matthew 4:18-20) He fabricated his own flood story in the parable of the two house builders. (Matthew 7:24-27) He calmed a storm that came out of nowhere. (Matthew 14:22-23) In Cana he changed water into wine in no time flat. (John 2:1-12) He healed the blind, the lame, the paralyzed in Jerusalem in a pool of water. (John 5:1-13) Good so far.

Then in the passion drama Jesus' water-logged ministry appeared to hit dry dock. He who was always dishing out a cup of water to the thirsty, was now suffering from a Death Valley thirst. Centuries earlier the words of King David would choke forth: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws." (Psalm 22:14-15a) With the fluids of his body depleted upon the "tree of execution," and relapsing into unconsciousness, Jesus would ask for just one more taste of liquid life, "I thirst." (John 19:28)

Let's not move too quickly. We sweeten the empty tomb before getting through the stench of the cross. We can't circumvent it. We've got to come to terms with Jesus' dying. Point one: His resurrection is the most celebrated event in the life of the church. Point two: Without his death, however, there would be no Easter; and without his dying there would be no life. His dying was the most difficult of all! Why should that be affirmed any less in the church?

Look at it from another angle. Wasn't it through his dying that his love for us dropped anchor and held? On the cross Jesus was our stand-in before God and the whole of humankind - past, present, and future. If he could love those who tortured him without a legitimate cause, then his power wasn't counterfeit. Neither was God the "absent" Father. His love erupted forth greater than the macho grip of Rome and the starched showmanship of the Pharisees. God was saying, "I do not come to trim you to size. I'm here showing you how life should be lived. Accept the gift of my caring love and get on with living!"

The laser truth for us is that his cross had to be. Without it, love could not have met an ultimate, diabolical test of sadistic torture. When love cracks that, the world drops its teeth and takes a double take. He loved us and poured forth his Spirit for us. Jesus survived the "I thirst" agony of his humanity. Now his Spirit-transformed love affirms, "He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.' " (John 7:38)

There is a story about two brothers who were convicted of stealing and were branded on the forehead with the letters S.T., meaning "Sheep Thief." One of the brothers fled to another country and sank into obscurity. His bitterness and self-pity led to an early grave. The other brother had a different attitude. He agreed to face up to his stigma and win back self-approval and community acceptance. His courage and honesty paid off. One day a stranger came and observed the letters on his forehead. "What do they stand for?" he asked. "It happened so long ago that I had almost forgotten. I believe the letters are abbreviations of 'saint.' " God doesn't have a short memory. He will not forget those of us who take him at his Word.

His surging Word for us is faith. Faith is remembering him who has not forgotten us. It doesn't end there with him. It must flow forward with us. Knowing that he believes in us helps us to believe in "us." Faith of this sort requires tough patience. "Please be patient," says Snoopy, "God isn't finished with me yet."

Faith, then, pipes us into God. Faith taps the reservoirs of his Spirit, releasing the floodgates of his Life Source. There, we are overwhelmed by his surging surf. We meet him, as did Jesus, knee-deep in the Jordan, on the terms of intimacy. His compassion for us splashes forth. He never gives up on us, you know. "Will our trust turn its parched lips toward his healing streams?"

Remember that Jesus did not thirst on a tree so that we might dam up the "waters of life" in the stagnated eddies of doubt and fear. He thirsted in order that his love might flow freely through us to thirsting others. Carlyle Marney is a friend who influenced my humanity and preaching more than anyone else. Over two decades ago he wrote, "... the only chance for you to have borne your weight against the tottering piles of moral sourness of our history lies in your having passed through here as a redeemer. Redemption involves our being immersed in a stream in influence." "Whoever drinks the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13)

Cheers!