Flowing Waters of Life

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pentecost was an event like none other. First, Jesus had told His disciples, “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” ( Luke 24:49). So they went back to Jerusalem and waited. But for what did they wait? They had no idea. Jesus gave no indication of what the “promise of my Father” was, nor did they know what it would mean to be “clothed with power”. The whole situation was rather odd.

And it only got more odd when the day of Pentecost actually happened. Luke records that a mighty wind swept through the house, and tongues of fire came to rest upon the disciples. Then they went out and began preaching about the resurrection of Jesus in the public square. Furthermore, they were preaching in every language of their hearers, languages they had never spoken before, possibly that they had never heard before. They experienced a “reset”, if you will, of the curse inflicted at Babel thousands of years before. And then the message - “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Salvation preached in the name of the man the Jews had murdered less than two months ago.

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit flowed mightily through the city of Jerusalem, carrying the Word of God to convert the hearts of men and bring them to faith in the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. And that same Spirit of God still flows wherever the Word of God is preached and His Sacraments are given.

Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” The living waters that Jesus gives are the life-giving waters that quench the thirst within you. Because of the Holy Spirit stirring within you, you have been called to faith in Jesus, and that faith kindles in you a thirst for the living waters of life. You were plunged into these waters in the font of Holy Baptism. There, you were drowned and died with all sins and evil desires, and you were brought out safe to stand on the Rock who is Christ, from whom the waters flow.

You were called out of death into life by the power of the Holy Spirit. You have been claimed as Christ's own, and marked with the holy cross. In your heart wells up the springs of living water, bubbling up to eternal life. This spring never ceases to bubble forth with the water that satisfies all thirst. This is the still water to which your Good Shepherd has led you. That spring, fed by the Word and Sacraments, sustains you through every day along life's way.

And yet, you continually thirst for the water of life. The springs bubbling up inside you come from the Holy Spirit, who delivers Christ to you through the hearing of the Word and through receiving the Holy Sacraments. These Gifts are the great, inexhaustible cistern from which your living springs flow forth into rivers of life. Because you have the gifts of God, even though you thirst, your springs will never cease to satisfy.

Therefore, rivers of living water flow through you. Beginning with the faith that is within you, the waters of life that bubble up in you do not stay bottled up inside, but they flow out into rushing, life-giving rivers that flow out to others around you. By receiving the death of Jesus in your body, you become a vessel by which that death, and the life it brings, is conveyed to those around you. That river of living water pouring out of you brings to those it finds all the blessings that God has to give through you. Through you, the waters flow, encompassing others in their life-saving flood.

You do this work by bringing your children to the font for their own holy bath. You bring your family to the worship of God, so that they hear the proclamation of the Gospel. You share your faith with those you meet, as the Lord gives you opportunity. You do works of mercy for those around you. As the streams of living water flow out of you, the love of God is shown in and through you as you serve as His hands and feet and mouth to people in need of His love and healing and protection in this world.

However, the good of others has not always been your top priority. A great deal of other things have come before the work of God in your life. It is ever-so-easy to get caught up and carried away in the wide and broad stream of the devil's lies and tricks. He has told you that you do not have to share the Good News with anyone if you don't feel like it. And so sharing your faith and letting the rivers of living water flow have fallen by the wayside on many occasions. You have caved in to the temptation to share your faith only with easy people, only with people who are socially desirable. You have tried to harness the living waters like a hose, watering only those you like. You have stayed home, in your comfort zone, instead of stepping out in faith and letting your light shine before men.

The living water in you has welled up, but you have failed to share it with those in need. The Church stands in need of your support, but you have failed to give as you ought. The Ministry continues in this place, and throughout the world, but without your time, talents, or treasure. The poor and needy are always with you, but you have not helped them. Those sick, hungry, naked, homeless, imprisoned – they need your good works and your acts of Christian charity, but there has been none.

But do not lose heart! The Lord of Pentecost covers even this. The mighty rushing wind of the Holy Spirit carries away even your failure to share the Good News. The flood of living water that drowned your old sinful nature in the font still bubbles up within you and purges you of this and every other sin. There is no sloth, no failing, no misdeed so great that the Spirit which gave birth to the Church on Pentecost cannot remove by the blood of Christ our Lord.

Just as the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and made them apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ on that Pentecost day, forever changing their lives, so also has He changed your life irrevocably. He has drowned your old evil nature and has brought you out of the waters to stand on the Rock whence the water of life flows.

Each and every day, the Holy Spirit forgives your sins, calls you to faith in Christ, and keeps you in unity with Him and the one holy catholic and apostolic Church. Every day the Holy Spirit is at work, changing your heart to be one full of faith, hope, and love. Every day, the Holy Spirit remakes your heart to beat with faith in Jesus and love for your neighbor, so that you cannot help but do those things which God commands for the good of others.

Every day, the Spirit is working within you to remake your mind in conformity with the mind of Christ. He works within you to give you the mind and will to do the good that is commanded. He gives you the mind and motivation to show mercy to those in need. He gives you the will and the tools to support the ministry of the Church here and everywhere.

You are equipped to let the living waters flow through you to the world. You have received the rebirth in the washing of regeneration. Now, the rivers of living water well up in you, and overflow to those around you, carrying them away in the flood of Jesus' grace and mercy. Because you are in Christ, you will share His love. You can do no other. Because you are in Christ, you will love your neighbor and forgive his trespasses as you have been forgiven. Because you are in Christ, you will care for the poor and needy in their distress. Those around you will thirst for the living waters which are bubbling up in you, and they will be satisfied by the same Christ who dwells richly in you. They will see your faith and give glory to God because of the grace in Christ Jesus. They will thirst, and they will be satisfied.

Who knows what the Lord will do with those whom He has called according to His good purposes? The Lord God worked a great miracle on Pentecost, as 3,000 people were called to faith and were baptized. The Lord called into being His Church through the preaching of His Word. The Lord has called each of us out of death to life, and has brought forth rivers of living waters from the heart of each of us. Who knows what He will do with us and through us? Perhaps the Lord of Pentecost has a great work in store for us. For where Christ is, there rivers of living waters flow.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.