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Day Eight
As we begin our second week after Easter, we often find ourselves settling into a “normal” pattern of life (or whatever “normal” looks like these days). The joy of the holiday is in the rear view mirror and the path in front of us starts to reveal its challenges and roadblocks, and before you know it we find ourselves in a season that is just like any other. The “tyranny of the urgent” takes over and takes us further and further from the empty tomb, and the resurrection loses its sense of immediacy and visibility.
The challenge to us in this season of Eastertide is to not let that happen.
When the glory of Easter first appears that wonderful Sunday morning, we find ourselves at the end of a journey that has prepared us well for the celebration. Lent reminds us of our need. The cross shows us how that need was met. And as the empty tomb declares victory over sin and death, it is a message which pours over us like water on thirsty land.
But as so often happens in our Christian walk, it’s easy to lose sight of our need. In fact, what often happens is that we start to drift back into an illusion of our own sufficiency. We drink from the well of our own gifts and capacities, and we lose sight of just how parched we are without the continual gift of God’s grace and strength.
In John 7, we find Jesus going to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles), a harvest festival that commemorates how God provided for the Hebrew people in the desert after they left slavery in Egypt. As part of the rituals of the feast, the crowds of people would process to the fountain of Gihon, where the priest would fill a pitcher with water while a choir would sing, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” (Is. 12:3), and it is during this remembrance of God’s provision of water that Jesus suddenly declares with a loud voice:
“Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”—John 7:37-38 (NLT)
What we need as we make our way through this season (and at all times, really) is to come to these living waters and be reminded that no other waters can satisfy our thirst. If the empty tomb is to be a central presence in our lives, then the emptiness of our souls without the living presence of Christ should be something we continue to reflect upon.
As we make our way from Easter to Pentecost, we need to continually re-orient. The temptation to lose sight of what God has done and is doing, to trust in ourselves instead of his work of transformation, will always be present. The call to “take up our cross and die to ourselves” did not end with the resurrection: Jesus himself said it was a daily decision (Luke 9:23).
Today, will you acknowledge your continuing thirst and constant need for Jesus? He invites you to come and drink deeply of his gifts of grace.
To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus
For my life is wholly bound to his
Oh how strange and divine, I can sing: all is mine!
Yet not I, but through Christ in me
Read the rest of the lyrics here.
Questions for Reflection
1) Do you feel the tension in your soul between acknowledging your need for Jesus and trusting in your own gifts and capacities? What helps to keep you centered?
2) Here are some of the promises listed in this song, speaking to what Jesus provides for us. Which ones speak to your place of hunger and need right now?
—Joy
—Righteousness
—Freedom
—Steadfast love
—Deep and boundless peace
—Hope
—Presence in trials (“I am not forsaken”)
—Power
—Defense
—Guidance (“He will lead”)
—Victory and overcoming (“The night has been won”)
—Forgiveness
—Renewal
—Promise of everlasting life (“He will bring me home”)
3) What are some of the “unsatisfying waters” from which you’re sometimes tempted to drink? Spend some time in conversation with God about them, asking him to strengthen you as you resist their empty promises, and asking for a heart always open to the invitation of Jesus.
4) Read and reflect on this passage of Scripture. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”—Galatians 2:20 (NIV)