Meditations on Israel: Water

We are now in Jerusalem. We drove down from Galilee. Yesterday was my birthday. I climbed up the cliffs of insanity (that is from Princess Bride for you movie buffs) to Masada. Masada is the fortress Herod built in southern Judea and was the last hold out of the Jews who revolted against the Romans in the first century. It is a fortress built on the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing around. After Masada we swam in the Dead Sea. All in all it was a great 51st birthday. The thing I started to notice was how many times our guide talked about water. He talks about ancient wells, about sophisticated irrigation, about annual wet seasons. He shows us every cistern and every irrigation pipe. This is a dry and weary land. Today we were near the temple mound. We talked about the feast of harvest when at the climax of the feast they take water and pour it out on the Temple floor. It is an offering of abundance and worship of a God who has provided the land with enough water for another harvest. It was at this time that Jesus stood up and shouted, "If any of you is thirsty let him come to me. I am the living water and you can drink." It is an astounding statement. Today I thought for the first time that every one who heard Jesus say that was thirsty. You can't live in this land and not get thirsty. Water is the first thing you think of in the morning. I stand in the shower and wonder if I should turn off the water to soap up. There is just not enough water here. Jesus invited the thirsty to come to him. Every one was thirsty and of course that was his point. It was an invitation to everyone and it still is. You are thirsty even if you don't feel it right now. The thing you are thirsty for is God himself and it is God himself who is offering to slake your thirst. Go ahead and drink deep. For once there is more than enough.