"On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, 'Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water."' (John 7:37-38, NRSV)
Jardins de la Fontaine is a gorgeous public space in Nîmes. It was built in the 18th century to domesticate the original spring that gave birth to Nîmes and allowed it to flourish. In Roman times, there were temples, a theater, and statues celebrating the life-giving spring. Today the park is a bustle of activity: kids on pony rides or riding human-powered go-carts, people sitting on benches or on the grass enjoying the weather, walkers, teenagers playing soccer, grandparents treating their grandchildren to ice cream or a crèpe. The sounds of talking and laughter and the bubble of the spring fill the air. Life.
Jesus calls himself living water and urges all to drink deeply so that we might have the fullness of life for which we are created. Plants cannot grow without water; we cannot grow without living water.
Did you catch the little twist, though, in today's passage? "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water." It is not just Jesus who is living water. As we fill ourselves up, we too become springs. Paul talks about the fruits of the spirit. This is, I think, the heart of that. Jesus' living water is not for us alone, but is meant to fill us up and pour out of us to nourish others. And so on.
In the Song of Solomon we read, "many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it." Love is the flood. Receive it, absorb it, and let it flow from every pore.