No Frills Water

John 7:37

On the last day of the great feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 

Jesus made many controversial statements throughout His short life. This scriptural remark stated the following: 'if anyone came to Him outside of the established religious traditions that they would receive the Spirit of God directly.' Jesus made this statement not only in a controversial manner but in a very “inappropriate” place: a crowded venue where the Jews celebrated The Feast of Tabernacles (or Sukkot today). This was a celebration of the Jewish holiday to acknowledge the gathering of the harvest as well as the Jewish exodus from Egypt. Jesus was not just implying that He was their deliverer and that through Him the Holy Spirit would come to perform a mighty harvest of souls, no. He was emphatically saying so. One thing we always learn from Him is that He redefines what's “appropriate”.

As you could imagine, this evoked intense passions in people. Some wanted to believe, others not. Some said He was a prophet others doubted His lineage. And, some wanted to take Him out because He was challenging their religious activity. Jesus does this today: He challenges us. Just the mention of the name of Jesus can clear a room. Christians can be passionately on fire for Him or drastically dead effecting nothing in the world around them. But here, Jesus said to His followers that He was the water of life and He was Living water. Anyone who would drink of Him would never thirst again. Once you find Jesus, no substitute will do- He is the real thing.

So, Jesus said that He was water what does that matter to me you may ask? I’ll go one step further: He didn’t say He was one of the other two forms of water. Just no frills water! Water seeks its own level, gets to everyplace on the earth, comes up from the ground, and it falls from the sky. Water is an amazing substance. And, so is Jesus! Unfortunately, some people who know Jesus or know of Jesus get the water thing about Him all wrong.

People try to process Jesus. Ice is water in a different form. Water in this case needs to be processed by extreme temperature to exist this way. Some people like to do this with Jesus by ambivalence or “Practical Atheism”. Religion on Sunday but a practicing Atheist all week long. They literally freeze Him out of their daily lives and try to do the same in the lives of everyone around them for good measure. They treat Him coldly and do not respect the fact that he is living water not just something 'useful'.

Steam is also water in a different form. Again, processed by extreme temperature to exist this way. Some people like to do this with Jesus using religion, tradition or worse. They like to use Him to damage others, and be a general irritant. Also, some try to harness the power of Jesus like a great steam engine to get where they want to go and when they want to go there. Both scenarios remain ambivalent to the “no frills water”. But Jesus is just that: simple water. The essence of our lives. The substance that without question makes up the world.

All living organisms are predominantly made of water: human are 60% water, fish 80%, and plants 80%-90%. Pretty amazing. Some people are not good with just basic water. They need to manipulate a little. Jesus in a “no frills” way is just too basic for them. They need to enhance the Jesus in the Jesus. They want to freeze it, boil it, run it through some filters, flavor it, bottle it, can it, slap a label on it and so forth. They think that Jesus needs help especially in a church service. He doesn’t. They like to manipulate Jesus to suit their own interest and agendas. Knowingly or not they portray Jesus as a form of Himself but not in the accurate sense that He truly is. Jesus doesn't need our help.

If Jesus were here with you and even if He was at your church, do you think He’d have something to say about the way He is portrayed and presented? Is He enhanced in some way? Is it Jesus and something else that saves? Is He marginalized or sequestered and used for an agenda? Is He just generally misunderstood? Jesus needs you and I to let Him be Jesus. The Savior, Redeemer, Justifier, Friend and God He is in basic form. He doesn’t need our help.

Jesus wants to be the basic matrix of your everyday life. He wants to be the center of it all. When He appeared at the feast He emphatically said that He was their deliverer and their redeemer. Will you let Jesus as basic as He is be your deliverer today? Again He doesn't need your help. I’m fairly sure however that you need His right now. So, come to Jesus and drink freely of the Living Waters of life from Him. He wants to be your basic no frills Deliverer and your simple Redeemer today.