"If anyone thirsts,
come to me ..."
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"They will draw happily
waters of salvation"
RETIREMENT 2010:
10 and July 11, 2010, with the community the Furrow:
The Feast of Tabernacles (Jn 7 37 s .)
The celebration of Jewish holidays pace the course of the fourth Gospel, so much so that in the Bible, Fr Mollat had proposed to develop a plan based on these liturgical signs.
Even if good reasons argue for another structure, one can not underestimate the role of festivals in the composition of John. After a first Passover in Jerusalem and a pilgrimage feast in John 5, the second Passover is mentioned in the Galilee and serves as a backdrop to the whole discourse on the bread of life (Jn 6).
The Feast of Tabernacles occupies a special place: it is the setting of chapters 7 to 10 [3] and, arguably, the allegory of Good Shepherd in John 10, before the Feast of Dedication (Jn 10, 22).
Indication of the duration of the feast and celebration of the last day, the most solemn (Jn 7, 37), invited to give full weight to the characteristics of rituals week of Sukkot.
should therefore recall them briefly.
The ritual of the festival:
The Jewish holiday of Sukkot has been the subject of numerous studies that show the evolution of the theme and its wealth the time the New Testament [4].
Originally, under the title "harvest festival" , it is one of the three pilgrimage festivals, under the Code of the Covenant (Ex 23 16). Over time, she was charged with a sense of historical commemoration: the recall of forty years in the wilderness where the people staying in tents, while God himself lived among his people in the tent of meeting.
The book of Nehemiah demonstrates the development of ritual (Neh 8, 15). Jewish tradition says the how to be prepared the bouquet (lulav) to wear during the procession of the feast: a palm frond, myrtle branches and willow, and finally the citron (éthrog [5]).
The last part of the book of Zechariah reveals the eschatological orientation of the Day:
"It will be a unique day - the Lord knows.
There will be no day or night,
but at night the light shines.
In that day, living waters out from Jerusalem,
half to the eastern sea,
half toward the western sea.
This will be the summer and winter.
Then the Lord will show himself king over all the earth.
In that day the Lord will be unique
and its unique name " (Za 14, 7-9).
In the final, the prophet foresees the pilgrimage of peoples:
"Then all the survivors of people who have marched against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord, the Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles" (Za 14, 16).
In this essential text for understanding the importance of the festival of Sukkot in Jesus' time, retain the strong link made between the universal kingship of God, light and water.
The light of God enfold the holy city, as foreseen Is 61; water Announced Ez 47 by springing not only to the Dead Sea for remediation, but also to the Mediterranean. Nations are invited to the party, and those who refuse to see it threatened hard problems (Za 14, 18 ff).
addition to the information given by the Torah, the Mishnah tells us about a very popular rite, that of drawing water in the pool of Siloam and libation at the altar of burnt offering.
This rite is explained by the expectation of rain in late autumn rain necessary to start a new farming year. Among the prayers planned for this occasion, let us remember the refrain taken from the prophet Isaiah: "They will draw water with joy of salvation" (Is 12, 3). According to a homily Jewish ceremony called "the joy of home bailing," because there they drew the Holy Spirit "[6] .
The rite of light was no less popular: the temple was illuminated and the rabbis were dancing in the holy place, a sign of the joy that comes from the Torah.
was said that "one who had not seen the joy of home bailing did not know what joy" (Sukkah 5).
For completeness, we should mention the other festivities that surrounded the festival of Sukkot: First New Year (Rosh ha-Shanah), then the party of Atonement (Yom Kippur), five days before.
could find many more relations with all the chapters 7-10 of John, but that would take us too far. What we want to relief as part of the festival of Sukkot, it is the two proclamations of Jesus
"If anyone thirsts, let him come unto me ..."
and "I am the light of the world. "
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Yes, you go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Instead of the cypress bushes grow, instead of the nettle the myrtle will grow;
it will be to the Lord a name, a perpetual sign, which will not subtracted.
(Isaiah 55.12-13)
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Meditation:
Come to me! The message of the festival of Succoth !
Hola! All of you who are thirsty! Come to the water, even one who has no money!
Come, buy and eat, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price! (Isaiah 55.1)
is a call of grace, mercy, a call to get up, wake up. Why suffer from thirst and not go into the water? Hola! Be careful, do not sit there without daring prostrate nothing ... hope Living water, often despised
- they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters (Jeremiah 2.13) - Water RAM is always ready to spread for anyone who wants to receive it!
The call of Jesus Christ in the Feast of Tabernacles (Feast of Succoth), John 7.37:
The last day The great day of the feast, Jesus stood, cried: If someone tonight, let him come to me and drink! He who puts his faith in me - as it is written - rivers of living water flow from within him.
This is truly a living water that he is, waters of Siloam (Isaiah 8.6) All of you who are thirsty! You who are thirsty!
What a situation! Men experiencing thirst: a thirst for justice, peace thirst, thirst for calm amid a tough world ... Will they sit with their troubles? The prophet urges forcefully expressing words full of tenderness buy without money and without price ... It's free grace. The call of all time, because we can already read
I put before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed, loving the Lord your God, listening to and cleaving to him ... (Deuteronomy 30. 19-20)
God wants to introduce every man in his own project, in a life that has meaning, but it does not impose itself ... It provides free to anyone who will receive ...
Stretch ear and come unto me: hear, and you shall live for you I will make an everlasting covenant, that of loyalty to David, who is safe. (Isaiah 55.3)
On what basis? Under a work announced : Servant of the intervention for the transgressors ... (Isaiah 53.12)
In this chapter of the Book of Isaiah, to strongly emphasize the permanence the attention of the Lord, the man of God who gave this speech is then up to the promises: the everlasting covenant, which was made to David! The prophet Isaiah himself, the man who spoke some two hundred years ago had he not uttered the words,
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, it has sovereignty over his shoulder; they shall call his name Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of the Century, Prince of Peace. Expand sovereignty, give endless peace for the throne of David and over his kingdom, the strengthening and support for equity and justice, now and forever is what will the jealous passion of the Lord (YHWH) Armed Forces. (Isaiah 9.5-6)
And you stay there ...
The undecided, those who still reject the idea of walk with God, are inundated with words of mercy, for we must seize the moment when it presents itself, say "yes" when it is time:
Seek the Lord for that it may be found, call upon Him while he is near ... our God will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55.6,7)
It's time to make a decision - "Today if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the irritation "(Hebrews 3:15). The foundations of forgiveness of God are they not presented forcefully by the Cross of Calvary? Thoughts of God beyond our understanding, is it added, but fulfilled his word:
As the rain and snow descend from heaven and do not return without having watered the earth without making it fertile and germinated without giving seed to the sower and bread to the hungry, and it is my word that comes out of my mouth: it does not return to me empty, without does what I want, without realizing that for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55.10-11)
Conclusion
is strong on words that ends this passage from the Book of Isaiah, chapter 55 . is a way happy, blessed as that Witnesses of God to know his name.
Yes, you go out in joy and be led forth in peace; mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the cypress bushes grow, instead of the nettle the myrtle will grow, it will be to the Lord a name, a perpetual sign, which shall not be cut. (Isaiah 55.12-13)
What the witnesses live, the work, the opposition, even threats, however there joy. And every time a shadow of discouragement has enveloped the goodness of their God and their messianic outlook should be restored. Thus we read in the last pages of the Hebrew Bible:
Then those who feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord has been attentive and heard, and a memorial book was written before Him for those who fear the LORD, and for those who believe in his name. And they shall be mine, my peculiar treasure, saith the LORD of hosts, the day that I do, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. (Malachi 3:16-17)
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10 and July 11, 2010, with the community the Furrow:
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