Listen! The sound of water cascading down this set of steps is wonderful. Musical, gentle, continuous, and somehow very attractive.
But you can’t listen to a photo.
You can’t touch the water.
Any refreshment is received via your imagination and past experiences of wetness. I have the advantage of actual memory. I stood there, listened, and took the photo. This water is “real” to me in a way that it cannot be for you: UNLESS you have also been to the grounds at Alnwick where the waterfall-steps are part of the landscaping of the park near the Castle.
In a similar way, when Jesus-followers share their testimony, they speak of truth and experience that is theirs. They speak of encounters, of experiences, of revelation, comfort and challenge. An audience can’t deny your testimony without calling you a liar or a lunatic- but for them it is like listening to a photo.
Religious faith and experience is incomplete if it is purely abstract or academic. People encounter Jesus in many different ways- your story and mine could be very different- but there will be some point at which God reveals some decisive truth or distinct sense of Presence. This transcends our “normal” physical way of being, and gives a spiritual depth that can be missing even from “religious activities”.
This what I mean: Jesus attended the great Feast where pilgrims and religious leaders read the Scriptures and participated in rituals, praises, prayers and sacrifices. Then he spoke- and challenged all of Jerusalem to seek God in a deeper, fresher encounter. Jesus spoke of Living Water, of fountains and springs, and rooted it into His own self. Bringing this sense of immediacy and urgency into the most sacred Feast, Jesus knew some of the crowd was “listening to a photo” when the way to real reality was found in the Person of Jesus himself. Water is desired most by those who are honestly thirsty, actually seeking God with all their soul, mind and body.
A whole NEW revelation was being given- and would be confirmed by the events of Holy Week and Pentecost. Read these verses prayerfully… and JUST LISTEN.
“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” – John 7:37-39
The Reflectionary 