In a time when lack of access to clean water afflicts so many,
the image of flowing rivers is both potent and poignant.
Thirst is one of the hardest deprivations to bear—the one
physical form of suffering Jesus named in his last hours
on the cross. To bring water to dry fields or clean water to
a person dying of cholera represents a powerful ministry.
Jesus promises rivers of living water in desert country
where his hearers know its significance.
Jesus is referring to the effect of the Holy Spirit on
the lives and ministry of those within his hearing—and
ours. Not only will the Spirit quench our thirst or give us
unlimited access to the source that sustains our lives; but
when the Spirit is “poured out” on us, we will become
conduits of living water for others. The Spirit will empower
and authorize us to bear God’s own gifts. This is the
ordination of all believers upon which Luther insisted: Our
own hearts, transformed by the action of the Spirit will
be like artesian wells where water from a deep source is
constantly replenished.
Flow is a verb worth pausing over while reflecting on
this passage and on life in the Spirit. What flows from us
comes almost in spite of ourselves. We simply open a way,
and the water finds its course through the hills and valleys
and rocky places of our lives into the open spaces where
others may reach it. The Spirit that comes as wind and flame
and Word also comes as water that finds its way through
any terrain, persistent and patient enough to wear away the
resistance of granite and make tunnels in any wall.
By Marilyn Chandler McEntyre from The Upper Room: 60 Days of Prayer for General Conference 2016