When Words Are Like Water

May 28, 2023

Rev. Mary Erickson

Hope Lutheran Church

Acts 2:1-21; John 7:37-39

When Words Are Like Water

Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today is Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost and the many Sundays within the season of Pentecost take up nearly half our calendar year. During this long season we consider the church, the Spirit-filled mission of the church. So this season is our wheel house; it’s where we live on a daily basis, where we find our purpose.

Jesus had promised his disciples that he would send them an Advocate. They would be clothed with power from on high. Jesus’ promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit made a dramatic entry: the rush of a violent wind, flames of fire, the loosening of the disciples’ tongues, Peter’s bold proclamation.

The disciples are taking over exactly where Jesus had left off.

Some wise-cracker in the crowd jeered that the disciples were just inebriated. But it wasn’t alcohol talking. It was the Holy Spirit. It was the Spirit’s river of living water.

Typically, on Pentecost, our thoughts move to flames. The tongues of fire linger over the disciples. The Spirit comes down in the form of fire. But Jesus has a different description in our reading from John chapter 7.

Jesus makes these remarks at a different Jewish festival. Not Pentecost, but the Festival of Booths. It takes place in the fall, not in the spring, like Pentecost. The Festival of Booths coincides with the fall harvest of grapes and olives. Devoted worshipers traveled to Jerusalem and stayed for a week in small booths or shacks they erect – like the ones they’d use in the field during harvest. Each day during the seven-day festival, people prayed for a good and rainy winter season to nourish the soil for next year’s spring. The priest would offer a water libation. On the last day of the festival, the water offering was made seven times.

In this context, Jesus loudly cries out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me!” And then he tells them that this living water will issue forth from the hearts of his believers. That thirst-quenching water was from the Holy Spirit.

Fire and water – both provide images for the Holy Spirit. They have starkly differing dynamics. Fire is consuming and intense. Water is nourishing and sustaining. Fire is life-altering. Water is life-giving. The Holy Spirit appeared like tongues of fires and unlocked the tongues of the disciples. But at the same time, rivers of living water flowed from their hearts.

When Peter addressed the crowd, he likened the Spirit’s activity to water. He quotes the prophet Joel: “In the last days, God declares, I will POUR OUT my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy… Even upon my slaves, both men and women, I will POUR OUT my Spirit.”

At Pentecost, that prophecy was fulfilled. The Spirit flowed like a river of living water through the disciples.

There are times when words are like water. Words spoken at just the right time can quench a deep thirst. They can also act like a cleansing flood, clearing out all manner of detritus.

This morning I’d like to reflect on three ways when our Spirit-filled words are like water.

• Spirit-filled words provide encouragement and comfort.

• They also act like a flood. They correct our direction while forging a pathway into a new future.

• And finally, they sustain us with gospel joy and assurance.

First: Spirit-filled words provide encouragement. When you receive a word of comfort at just the right time, it can give you the strength to go on for a very long time. Years, even.

Martin Luther wrote about what he called the “mutual conversation and consolation of the saints.” You know what this is. Sometimes you come to church on a Sunday for worship and prayer. But then the nugget of grace you really needed came to you in the parking lot after worship during a conversation with a caring friend.

The Spirit moves through our words. They can be like water to the parched soul. There was a disciple in Jerusalem by the name of Barnabas. The book of Acts reveals that Barnabas had a nickname. He was known as “Son of Encouragement.” Isn’t that a great nickname? We could all aspire to be such encouragers!

Perhaps you’ve seen those lists of affirming phrases you can say to children. They suggest phrases like these:

• Way to go!

• I’m proud of you.

• You’ve just about got it!

• That was so kind of you.

• Hang in there, I’m with you!

• You’ve really come a long way.

• I have faith in you.