Dear St. Theresa family,
(a quick Friday Bible Study in preparation for Pentecost)
This Sunday is Pentecost and the birthday of the Church, when hear about strong winds, tongues of fire and people speaking different languages. Great images pointing to the power Christians will rely on as they get about the business of spreading the good news. Unlike Easter with weeks of bible texts to draw on Pentecost gives us only one day. Like Easter there is so much the New Testament says about the Spirit but only one day to say it. One of these we don’t get is John 7:37-39. Go read that.
C. S. Lewis said that we cannot try to understand everything Jesus says in a literal way. For instance, he once pointed out that when Jesus said we were to be like doves he did not intend us to lay eggs. That’s an obvious example of the kind of thing we deal with in the passage. Jesus has a big task. He is telling us of the ways of God, describing for us the kingdom of God. He is also describing how God deals with us, how the Holy Spirit communicates with our human spirits. We are the creation of God, but our spirits can wander far away from the Holy Spirit. It is this sense of separation which Jesus set out to fix. To do so he speaks in a way which was rich and powerful for his culture using words such as “like,” to compare things and he always uses direct and simple images for daily life.
One day, while speaking near the temple, he said, “If anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink.” For a Christian this is not merely a long-ago statement to a long-ago group; Jesus is saying this to us now, what does he mean?
In every human spirit there is a thirst for something…relationships, meaning, love. Whether we know it or not our deepest thirst is for God. He is saying that a relationship with him as Lord can help us find those other things. Jesus does not offer us a relationship with himself which is of itself, in some magically religious way, produces what we thirst for. Instead we come to realize that a relationship with Jesus helps us to approach the world and everyday life in such a way that we become capable of finding relationships, love, joy, and meaning in the things we experience and the people we encounter.
Notice what he says immediately afterward. He points out in vs. 38 that anyone who does drink in his spirit must not do so only to satisfy his or her own longings (read thirst). A relationship with Jesus is not for the sole purpose of what it gives us. We go after these things of our Lord so that we in turn can be grace to others.
Having gone to the spiritual well which Jesus can be for us, we are then to be a source of nourishment for those with whom we come in contact.
If you are coming to Mass this weekend wear something red!
Grace and peace,
Fr. Larry
