www.HopeandHelpCenter.org
Tuesday, March 17
John 7:37-52
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, 'Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water." ' Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, 'This is really the prophet.' Others said, 'This is the Messiah.' But some asked, 'Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?' So there was a division in the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, 'Why did you not arrest him?' The police answered, 'Never has anyone spoken like this!' Then the Pharisees replied, 'Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law-they are accursed.' Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, 'Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?' They replied, 'Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.'
The old adage admonishes: "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Even today, horse traders know that one of the most important indicators of a horse's health is in its mouth. If its teeth and tongue appear healthy, then the trader can look at the rest of the horse. If its hooves aren't split and its back isn't tired and saggy, chances are good that it will be a worthwhile investment. That was as true two millennia ago as it is today. The adage came to be because in days of yore, if someone gave you a horse...if that horse was a gift, you weren't supposed to look in its mouth, especially not in the presence of the one giving you the gift. After all, the horse was free to you, the recipient. This was such common sense that everyone knew it and understood the meaning.
In this scripture, the people of Israel had come to their annual Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) where they gathered for six days of worship and celebration of a promised future kingdom, one that the Hebrew scriptures promised would come to the earth only at the end of days. What a wonderful vision they had been taught since their earliest memories as children! It was to be all that they hoped for. The desert land would become rich, flowing with milk and honey. Peace would enshroud both the land and the people. Not just precious water to drink, but living waters that gave eternal life would flow from even the rocks. What a wondrous vision of an amazing future! Every year, often with great difficulty and at great expense, they crossed the desert to gather in this place for the hope of a better future.
And then, here stood this soft spoken, diminutive figure from Galilee talking like a crazy person. Many people knew exactly who he was and who his parents were. He stood there offering the free advice that the incredible future was at hand...right then and there...through him. "Huh?" Put yourself in their shoes. You and your ancestors had been performing this annual ritual for thousands of years. It was still hot and dusty. The only food available to you was what you brought with you. Who did this guy think he was, anyway? How easily would you be persuaded? Life was difficult and fleeting, after all. Scripture reports in places that some even grumbled about the difficulty of having to obey the imperative to gather at the Feast. And here came this lunatic standing there saying these wonderful things. He needed his head examined - or in the metaphor of the gift horse, someone needed to look closely at the health of his mouth. Don't you have to wonder how could he be saying such incredible things? Oh, and by the way, two thousand years later, in a world filled with plentiful water and all the milk and honey your hard earned cash can pay for, have you stopped looking the gift horse in the mouth? rw
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