Part 4 of this story series ...
His voice shook the silence of the Temple, at the pinnacle moment during that great feast.
His words were mysterious to many, excitingly hopeful to others and downright incensing to the rest.
For His decision to disrupt the silence was finely coordinated and not at all coincidental ... with the celebrated appearance of The Golden Pitcher.
You see, every day of Sukkot, a liquid religious offering was given. The Golden Pitcher was paraded to the Pool of Siloam, filled with the water from there, then taken to the altar, where it was poured along with a libation. This beautiful ceremony was for the people to express thirst and pray for autumn rains.
But on the last and greatest day, amidst all of the turmoil surrounding Jesus, He chose this precise time to make His proclamation.
It stunned all of them.
As the priests poured the water over the altar and the people stood silently and reverently, His voice rang out.
"IF ANYONE IS THIRSTY," He said, "LET HIM COME TO ME AND DRINK! WHOEVER BELIEVES IN ME, AS THE SCRIPTURE HAS SAID, STREAMS OF LIVING WATER WILL FLOW FROM WITHIN HIM!"
In that moment, with that statement, Jesus had elevated the prayer for rain to one of a prayer of spiritual thirst. He was offering an abundance of "water," a relationship with Him.
The crowd stirred. Some said among themselves that surely, Jesus was the Messiah. Others questioned whether He could be, because He was from Galilee, and prophecies said He'd be from Bethlehem. (They didn't know, of course, that He was born in Bethlehem.)
But the spiritual leaders of the people were angrier than ever.
They'd had enough.
So they sent the Temple guards to arrest Him.
What happened next? And what does the tale of The Golden Pitcher have to do with a Christian safehouse? Tune in for the conclusion of the story ...
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