Lent Day 20: Is that living water, streaming out of you?

Jesus has declared publicly that he is the bread of life. And now he says he slakes the thirst of those who come to him. (From John 7)
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. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

> People had mixed reactions to Jesus in his day, just as they do now. Most will say he was a good man. Some will even attribute more to him:

On hearing his words, some of the people said, ‘Surely this man is the Prophet.’

Others said, ‘He is the Messiah.’ Still others asked, ‘How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 
Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?’

> In any crowd, there are divisions and confusion about Jesus' claims. Some people react with hostility and want to entirely stamp out Christianity (as the category of Jesus' followers.) Over the centuries, people have persecuted the disciples of Jesus for various reasons.

Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.
 
Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why didn’t you bring him in?’

‘No one ever spoke the way this man does,’ the guards replied.

You mean he has deceived you also?’ the Pharisees retorted. ‘Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law – there is a curse on them.’
> It's rarely popular to follow Jesus teachings. People feel judged and convicted when his words are quoted and his claims are examined. So they turn away in their sins. They'd rather do their own thing than let the Living Word and the Living Water heal their brokenness.

>  Today, "anything goes. The world can tolerate anything but the Way, the Truth, and the Life. "No one comes to the Father but by me," Jesus claims (John 14:6).

> Yet some people will genuinely inquire. Some will sincerely pursue understanding of what Jesus said about God and himself. Those seekers are often the target of scoffers and hate-speech.

Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 
‘Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?’

They replied, ‘Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.’

> What is the truth worth to you? Will you endure the mockery and the accusations of those who hate God and his righteousness? Is eternal life a prize for which you would give up any prestige, wealth, and power?

> If you say you are Jesus' disciple, can others drink from the living water streaming out of you, which Jesus promised to those who belonged to him?

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