Godmanchester Baptist Church » Lent 2012

Saturday 7 April

John Smith — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 03:30:00 +0000

On the Road to Emmaus

¹³ Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles^[a] from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; ¹⁶ but they were kept from recognising him.

²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³² They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

Luke 24:13-16, 28-32

The Danish story of Babette’s feast was published in 1958, and the film adaptation won an Oscar. Babette, a French refugee, becomes the cook to a puritanical household in Jutland. Their diet is simple, even boring, but she begins to liven it up, causing a mixture of delight and disapproval. In due course, she wins the lottery and, with their begrudging permission, persuades the community to let her prepare a sumptuous feast. Unbeknown to them, she spends the whole of her winnings on food and wine imported from France, which she prepares with love and skill. Guests are invited and, as the evening progresses, wonderful dishes emerge from the kitchen and cold hearts are surprised by the joy of good food, wine and company. When the guests have departed and the washing-up is done, it is clear that something indescribably amazing has happened. Scales have fallen from hearts, reconciliation has occurred and a new future beckons.

Many have seen in this film overtones of the gospel. Babette’s diners become a new body of Christ, changed by the love and sacrifice that she has expended without regard to cost or effort. The meal she prepares is a selfless act; she cannot enjoy the meal itself but takes a greater, providential pleasure in the delight she brings to others through her cooking.

The disciples on the road to Emmaus invited Jesus to share a meal that was no doubt provided by some other unseen host, whom they paid. In this story, therefore, both guest and host are in a sense unseen. A popular inscription often found in the home describes Christ as ‘the unseen guest at every meal’, but he is also the host of every meal. Although unseen now, he is with us now by his Spirit, and he invites us to dine with him, one day, at the most lavish banquet ever offered in heaven or earth.

Christ, the unseen guest at our table, use in the service of your kingdom, so that we may meet you in those whom we meet on our road, and always thank you for your goodness. Amen

Good Friday

John Smith — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 03:30:00 +0000

Jesus Before Pilate

²⁸ Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.

³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. ³⁹ But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

⁴⁰ They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

The Death of Jesus

²⁸ Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

³¹ Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. ³² The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. ³³ But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

JOHN 18:28, 38-40; 19:28-34

There is a tendency to see Pilate as a kind of victim: a man with a dreaming wife who is overruled by the crowd, who tries to save Christ by negotiating first with King Herod and then by offering to release Jesus. Yet Pilate was the governor of Judea: he was in charge of Jerusalem and his word was final.

He wanted Jesus out of the way as much as anyone else did: Jesus was dangerous politically as well as annoying in religious terms. Since they held power in the land, only the Romans could carry out crucifixion. And the Jewish leaders wanted crucifixion for the wining and dining teacher and preacher whom they hated so much, but who had been hailed as king less than a week earlier. Pilate gave Christ his cross.

While on the cross, Jesus accepts a sponge, skewered on a branch of hyssop, that has been dipped in wine. The hyssop that the soldiers use is significant, for the plant was used as a kind of paintbrush to brush the doors and lintels before the original Passover (Exodus 12:22). Hyssop was probably more like what we know as marjoram, and represents lowliness (1 Kings 4:33) and cleansing (‘Purge me with hyssop’, Psalm 51:7). This emphasises the sacrifice that Jesus, the Lamb of God, has made in shedding his blood.

Hyssop also had medicinal uses, mostly associated with the prevention or reduction of infection (particularly leprosy). According to Leviticus 14:49-51, a branch of hyssop was used to cleanse the house after such infection had been eradicated.

For John, Christ is ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ (John 1:29, 36). A Passover crucifixion underlines the connections between Jesus and the sacrificial lamb of Exodus 12, and inevitable conclusion that Jesus’ death on the cross must be seen in the context of God’s redemption of Israel. His death is the culmination of that story.

But God not only redeems Israel but all who come to believe that Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb of God who pays the deadly price of universal sin and defeats death by rising on the third day.

Jesus, Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world. Have mercy on us and grant us peace. Amen

Thursday 5 April

John Smith — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 03:30:00 +0000

¹⁴ When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶ For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfilment in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁷ After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. ¹⁸ For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹ And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁰ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Luke 22:14-20

While bread and wine do not have quite the same significance for us as they did for first-century Jews, they are still very important in today’s diet. Both have an ancient history. Noah is considered the first wine maker (Genesis 9:20). God’s curse on Adam was, ‘By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return’ (Genesis 3:19).

We have always needed and enjoyed bread and wine. They feature significantly in the Passover meal commemorating the exodus from Egypt, and Jesus wished to share that feast with his disciples before the final agony and triumphant victory of cross and resurrection.

Jesus does not simply recall history or merely eat a meal, but he reinterprets the Jewish Passover meal in respect of himself as Saviour and Son of God. .

In ‘On Pascha’, the earliest Christian sermon that has survived from antiquity (written around 167AD), Bishop Melito of Sardis spells out the connection between Jesus and the Passover tradition, that Jesus described himself as fulfilling:

He is the Pascha of our salvation. It is he who in many endured many things: It is he that was in Abel murdered, and in Isaac hound, and in Jacob exiled, and in Joseph sold, and in Moses exposed, and in the lamb slain, and. in David persecuted, and in the prophets dishonoured. It is he that was enfleshed in a virgin, that was hanged on a tree. It is he that has been murdered.

We, like many others, will re-enact the Communion service today, Maundy Thursday. We will remember and give thanks for the gift of Christ to his people – the gift and the command to ‘do this in remembrance of me’. We will lament what followed but rejoice in the Easter dawn that is surely to come, in the light of which we bathe, even in the darkest hours of Good Friday

Lord Christ, you offer us the bread of your body and the wine of your blood. As we are fed and nourished in body and soul, may our hearts and minds be always lifted to you, from whom comes salvation itself. Amen.

Wednesday 4 April

John Smith — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 03:30:00 +0000

Jesus Predicts His Betrayal

¹⁸ “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfil this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’

¹⁹ “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”

²¹ After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”

²² His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. ²³ One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. ²⁴ Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”

²⁵ Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷ As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.

So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” ²⁸ But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. ²⁹ Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. ³⁰ As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

JOHN 13:18-30

It is easy to form a vague impression of the last supper as the occasion when Jesus shared the Passover with his disciples, during which he washed their feet, had a row with Judas, predicted Peter’s denials, invented Holy Communion and gave a ‘farewell discourse’.

Judas had reclined at many meals with Jesus but he does not stay long at this final one. He would have attended many Passover meals as a boy, perhaps sometimes as the youngest present, when he would have asked his father the question, ‘Why is this night different from all other nights, and why do we eat unleavened bread?’ The ancient story would have been retold; beginning with the call of Abraham and moving through to the deliverance from Egypt and the giving of the Ten Commandments. The bitter herbs represent the bitterness of hardship under Pharaoh in Egypt. The roasting of the meat symbolised judgment. The bread would then be broken by the host, who prayed blessings and thanksgivings, and a piece given to each person to dip into the bitter herbs.

This broken bread was called the ‘sop’, and. to be offered this ‘sop’ first was a special favour – a sign of honour and love. Jesus had already washed the disciples’ feet (John 13:4-12), including those of Judas. Jesus knew, as he knelt before Judas, that this dirty-footed man was going to hand, him over, yet he continued, to show him love and respect at the Passover table, and it is sometimes suggested that, he offered Judas the ‘sop’ first.

Judas had already planned his betrayal and been paid by Caiaphas and the high priests (Matthew 26:14-16). Jesus knows this and Judas realises he is discovered. Days later, he would feel remorse, repent and hang himself (27:3-10). But in this penultimate encounter between Jesus and Judas, Jesus gives him bread, broken, as soon his own body would be broken.

Jesus gives his bread, himself, not only to his friends but also to those broken by sin. We have seen him dining with tax collectors and sinners and being criticised for it. Now, at the last supper, he dines with those who are both friends and sinners. His friends, Judas among them, are sinners and they let him down. Yet Jesus still shares his bread and offers himself so that their sin may be replaced with the friendship of God himself.

Lord,you share your bread with sinners yet count us as your friends. We thank you, we bless you, we praise you. Amen

Tuesday 3 April

John Smith — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 03:30:00 +0000

⁷ Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

¹⁶ Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:7-8, 10:16-17, 11:23-26

The removal of yeast from the house was a key pre-Passover ritual. Yeast makes bread rise, and Passover bread must be unleavened, like the bread the Israelites ate in Egypt before and after the tenth plague (Exodus 12:8-20, 39). Yeast represents sin, so the home is purged of sin before the meal can commence. There are similarities with the Shrove Tuesday tradition in which unwanted foods are purged from the house by eating or destroying them. Paul therefore uses the same image to encourage the Corinthians to adopt new ways and new beliefs about the hope and glory revealed in Jesus Christ, celebrated at the new paschal festival of Easter.

Then Paul mentions the ‘cup of blessing’: the third of four cups of wine drunk at the Passover. The first cup (‘of sanctification’) starts the meal; the second cup (‘of praise’) comes after questions and answers and teaching about the origins of Passover; the third cup is reminiscent of the blood of the paschal lamb and follows thanksgivings for what has already been consumed. Then the final cup (‘of acceptance’) is blessed and shared. This cup, also sometimes known as ‘the cup of Elijah’, emphasizes the hope of messianic redemption: ‘I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes’ (Malachi 4:5).

At the time of Jesus, the Passover meal began with the dipping of bitter herbs into salty water or vinegar. Then, after the second cup of wine had been drunk, there would have been a ceremonial hand-washing before touching the unleavened bread, which the host broke after having said a prayer of blessing. The first of these blessings would be said over the first cup of wine: ‘Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, who hast created the fruit of the vine.. ,’. The breaking of bread was accompanied by two prayers, one giving thanks for the bread itself and the other giving thanks for the commandment to eat unleavened bread at this time. The fact that it was broken and shared among everyone reminded them that the poor had only broken bread to eat.

This was not the bread of which Jesus said, ‘This is my body’. Later in the meal, ‘after supper’, he took another piece of bread and added a second breaking of bread. The first, prescribed breaking of bread, dipped in bitter herbs, is what was distributed, before Judas left the meal, and was preceded by the first ceremonial washing, when Jesus went so far as to wash not merely his own hands but their feet (see John 13:3). Jesus’ taking of the bread came effectively after the meal was ended, at: the point at which it was traditional to say thanksgiving prayers, rather like a ‘grace’ after a meal.

Jesus therefore pointed the whole event towards himself by adding a second bread breaking, declaring that it was his body, broken for them. While Jesus’ taking of the cup, as Paul calls it, was already part of the Passover meal (it would have been the third cup), the breaking of bread was new. After he had done this, they all sang the traditional final hymn and left (see Matthew 26:30).

Jesus reinvented the Passover by declaring himself the Passover lamb, long-awaited and promised.

Christ our Passover, respond to our poor thanksgivings and offerings of praise with your customary loving kindness, now and always. Amen

Monday 2 April

John Smith — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 03:30:00 +0000

Jesus Clears the Temple Courts

¹³ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵ So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” ²⁰ They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹ But the temple he had spoken of was his body.

JOHN 2:13-16, 19-21

At the Passover meal in Jesus’ time the most important element was the ‘paschal’ lamb, although nowadays it is not customary to eat lamb at Passover. This is because Passover can no longer be celebrated in the Jerusalem temple. In AD70 the Romans destroyed it, as Jesus predicts in Matthew 24:1-2.

For Jesus, the Passover would have been celebrated by eating paschal lamb that the temple priests had deemed to be pure and spotless. It was what Jesus objected to so much when he turned over the tables. Jewish families had a choice, to breed or purchase a lamb of their own or to buy one in the temple that had been pre-approved. Since there was a commercial interest for the temple authorities to sell the lambs they had acquired for the festival, it was not easy to gain their approval for ‘external’ lambs. Therefore most people bought their lambs in the temple, falling victim to what was effectively a monopoly.

The lambs would be purchased on the tenth day of the month of Nissan, to be sacrificed, five days later. On that day silver trumpets were sounded by the priests as a signal to begin the slaughter. The fat was burned and the blood collected to be poured on to the base of the altar. No bone of the Passover lamb was to be broken (Numbers 9:12). Meanwhile, the assembled crowd sang a response to the Psalms: Hallelujah (‘Praise the Lord’).

It must have been quite an experience of sound, sight and smell. But after AD70 Jewish tables no longer had a Passover lamb with which to celebrate and, still to this day, orthodox Passover meals have only the shank bone of a lamb, indicating the absence of the Passover lamb. It is known as the zroah (‘arm’), and has its own symbolism, reminding partakers of God’s outstretched arm to save his people (Deuteronomy 26:8).

Christ identified himself with the Passover lamb, and as the Christian Church was beginning to take shape and increase, the Jewish Passover had to adapt to not having a lamb on the table. As Christians we might want to say that that was because Christ the Passover sacrifice was alive and present in his Church for it was the outstretched arm of Christ on the cross that ultimately saved God’s people.

God of Passover, show us your outstretched arms of love in all we encounter this day. Amen.

Saturday 31March

John Smith — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 08:00:00 +0000

¹ Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

⁹ Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, ¹¹ for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

JOHN 12:1-2, 9-11

Passover is approaching. What we call Palm Sunday is the day after the final Sabbath before the Passover.

The Sabbath before Passover (Shabbat Hagadol) has various traditions connected with it, many of which, are still celebrated today. Jewish tradition associates this day with the preparations that the Israelites made in Egypt before the first Passover, when the firstborn males in Egypt were to be killed by plague (Exodus 12). The date on which they were given instructions for the Passover was the ‘tenth of the month’, and the Passover itself came five days later. Tradition has it that once the lambs were selected, they were tied to the bedposts in Jewish homes for safe-keeping. Inevitably this behaviour was noticed by the Egyptians, who also knew that livestock trading and other work was forbidden on a Sabbath. So they asked the Israelites what they were doing and were told of God’s plans to slay the firstborn (because it was a Sabbath, the Israelites were forbidden from being dishonest about their plans). Some Egyptians then demanded of Pharaoh that he let the Israelites go, but he refused and there was a rebellion.

For Christians, this tradition tells us that the meal Jesus shared with Mary Martha and Lazarus was very likely to have been the Shabbat Hagadol. The Passover was on the Thursday, the Sabbath was five days before that, and Jesus visited Bethany on the sixth clay before the Passover — that is, on the Friday. If we assume that the dinner Mary and Martha prepared was a meal to celebrate Jesus’ visit and welcome him back, it was held on the Friday evening, the traditional time for a Sabbath evening meal.

If Jesus returned to Bethany (the closest place to a home that he had), for a last meal on the last Sabbath before the Passover, and. that Sabbath recalls the preparation of the lambs for the Passover; then here is a hint by John that Jesus is the new Passover Lamb of God, whose sacrifice will bring about a second exodus, delivering not only the Jews but all people.

That meal in Bethany must have been a great delight for for both Jesus and Lazarus. It was not long before that Lazarus had died and been raised. As they ate together, with Lazarus alive and well, we might suppose that the promise of resurrection could well have come up in conversation! Although John is not explicit, here is a meal that points us forward to the resurrection banquet.

Lord Jesus, who took time to be with your friends, help us to speak of resurrection and hope, that people may desert the ways of the world and come to believe. Amen

Friday 30 March

John Smith — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 03:30:00 +0000

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

²¹ Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²² A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” ²³ Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” ²⁵ The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. ²⁶ He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” ²⁷ “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

²⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

MATTHEW 15:21-28

While Jesus and his disciples were Jewish, this woman was not. She and we are cruelly reminded of that fact in this encounter when Jesus refers to ‘dogs’, a disparaging and common slang word used by Jews to refer to Gentiles. In using the word, Jesus seems to be condoning a racist attitude. It is something of a test for the woman which she passes and gets her healing for her daughter. She refuses to be humiliated. She expects more of Jesus than predictable rejection. She gets her miracle, and those who look on in disgust get a sign. The kingdom is opened to everyone, as the healing grace of God is extended in every direction.

In the light of this aspect of a humble but expectant person approaching the throne of grace, Archbishop Cranmer introduced what is called the ‘prayer of humble access’. We are still familiar with the prayer, which begins:

‘We do not presume to come to this your table, merciful Lord’ and contains the words ‘We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs from under your table, but you are the same Lord, whose nature is always to have mercy’.

This prayer turns the Canaanite woman’s experience Into our experience and reminds us that we, like her, are not automatically recipients of mercy and love. Indeed, we are dirty sinners, who can barely expect even divine scraps of grace. Yet God, in his infinite love and mercy, through Christ’s death and resurrection, offers not scraps but a heavenly banquet to all who approach in humility and penitence.

While we have the assurance of mercy, it is still appropriate to be humble before God. That is why the prayer is so apt, and that is why the story of the Canaanite woman, in which acceptance overrules rejection, is so important to those of us whose spiritual heritage is Gentile in origin.

Jesus Christ, you confound us with your words and actions. We thank you for the privilege of being your people and for the access to the Father that you make possible. By your Spirit, make us humble sharers of your bread for the world until that day when every barrier of race and gender is broken down in your eternal kingdom. Amen

Thursday 29 March

John Smith — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 03:30:00 +0000

²⁹ Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹ Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” ³³ They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

LUKE 5:29-35

Eating and learning together have always gone hand, in hand. The colleges of Oxford and Cambridge and other ancient universities were built around a chapel and a dining hall: food and prayer lay at the heart of the academic community and, to some extent, still do today. If we travel further into the past, we find scholars dining in what became known as a symposium. The word is still used today but in a limited sense of its full meaning. In classical Greek culture, a symposium was a meal at which the diners reclined on couches while eating and drinking. Conversation, discussion, even heated argument were integral parts of a symposium.

When we read of Jesus dining with people such as Levi or Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10), we see that they provided great teaching opportunities. Levi invites Jesus to a symposium in his house and, after Zacchaeus has decided to follow him, Jesus invites himself to his house, not simply to eat but to teach.

The Pharisees clearly did not like that kind of thing: they thought that Jesus should not go near these impromptu times at which food is eaten, wine is drunk and discussion arises. Their opinion is that Jesus and his entourage should fast in the face of such festivities. They would rather retreat to a moralistic high ground than join in. But such high ground is remote and barren and there is nothing to be achieved by being there. Jesus did not care what the scribes and Pharisees thought of his actions or his methods of teaching: the kingdom of God justified his method.

If Jesus were with us today, he would be evangelising in pubs and bars. As Robert J. Karris puts it:

‘In Luke’s gospel, Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming home from a meal… Jesus got himself killed because of the way he ate.^,

Lord of everywhere, be present in all our meals as teacher, judge and friend. Give us courage to dine with strangers and share with them the gospel of salvation Amen

Wednesday 28 March

John Smith — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 03:30:00 +0000

¹⁰ However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.

Jesus Teaches at the Festival

¹⁴ Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. ¹⁵ The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”

²⁸ Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him,

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

JOHN 7:2, 10, 14-15, 28, 37-39

Water is the simplest form of drink: it contains no calories and few minerals or vitamins, but we are largely made of water and without it we die. Even those who fast must take water. Water is the juice of life; it is the liquid of baptism, the rain from heaven, and it covers two thirds of the earth’s surface. We know it as ice caps, oceans and geysers and, while we depend on it, it is water that may ultimately inundate and destroy our habitat.

There was a Jewish festival, the Feast of Tabernacles (or ‘Booths’), which was an early version of harvest festival: ‘You shall keep the festival of booths for seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing-floor and your wine press… for the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all your undertakings, and you shall surely celebrate’ (Deuteronomy 16:13, 15).

The seventh day of the Festival of Booths culminated in a particular ritual involving water. The people gathered in and around the temple mount in Jerusalem and the priests would pour water down the mount, streams of water celebrating the gift of life and the abundance of God’s goodness. This flowing water was also reminiscent of the water that Moses produced from the rock at Horeb (Exodus 17:6).

It is extremely likely that this very act was taking place when Jesus invited the crowd to come to him for living water. In his Gospel, John has already quoted Jesus saying to the Samaritan woman, ‘Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life’ (4:14). Now, Jesus associates his mission and ministry with another Jewish tradition, the flowing water of the feast of Tabernacles. It is as though he says, ‘You see the water flowing down the mountain? That is me. I am the living water and, if you drink of me, you will never thirst.’

John tells us that he is referring to the gift of the Holy Spirit. Not only is Jesus going to give living water but the water is going to flow out as well as in; the Spirit will gush forth from those who have drunk of Christ, spreading the love and mercy of God until the end of the age. The Holy Spirit is often likened to water – flowing, gushing, baptising, even drowning us. God’s gift of the Spirit causes our cup to overflow (Psalm 23:5), and truly we cannot have too much of him.

God, fill us until we overflow with that living water of your Holy Spirit, to cleanse, revive and refresh our lives. Amen