John: Who Is This Man?

Everything that occurred during the Feast of Tabernacles was designed to remind the Israelites of the time their forefathers spent in the wilderness. For the duration of the feast they dwelt in booths made of tree limbs. This reminded them of how they had lived in tents in the wilderness. On each day of the feast a pitcher of water from the pool of Siloam was poured over the altar in the temple to remind them of the days in the wilderness when God had given them water out of a rock. With exquisite sensitivity Jesus enters into the meaning of that symbolism and uses it to point to himself, in the words in Chapter 7 of John's gospel, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink.... 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water,'" (John 7:37-38 RSV).