The Lutheran Hour

"A Timely Invitation"

#90-39
Presented on The Lutheran Hour on May 28, 2023
Guest Speaker: Rev. Dr. Hector Hoppe
Copyright 2025 Lutheran Hour Ministries

Text: John 7:37-39

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

We begin under the blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Come in, come in, please. Come into my house, and I’ll treat you to a soda.” Ah, what a timely invitation. You were running for almost half an hour. You were tired and wanted to sit down, and there your friend finds you and offers you a glass of water, or two, or a fruit juice, which is possibly the most appropriate way to recover energy and nourish the body. As you walk into his house, you say, “Thank you, thank you so much. What a timely invitation! There is no place open to buy something to drink in this area!” Your friend smiles and feels happy because he is able to give you what you need, just at the right time, and he will also be able to spend some time with you.

In our lesson today, Jesus stands up to make an important invitation to those who are listening to Him. It is an invitation at the right time and addressed to the people who need it. Jesus, with His brothers and His disciples, were together with many other Jews gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles, or the feast of Tents. This was one of the most popular festivals among the Hebrew people. During those eight holy days, they remembered how the Israelites lived in tents or provisional huts during the forty years they wandered through the desert on their way to the Promised Land. Right there, in Jerusalem, they were now building some huts or assembling tents to spend the night during those eight days. They also remembered how God had made water sprout from the rock in Horeb, so the people in the desert and their animals could live. That is how their tradition of asking for abundant rain on those days for the next planting was born.

On the last day of the festival, the most important day, the priests left the temple in a solemn liturgical procession to fetch water from the Siloam Pool. They brought it in a vase made of pure gold and, following a ritual, they poured the water on the altar as the Levites recited psalms. They knew very well the importance of water, and they knew that they depended on divine grace to obtain it. It is in this context that Jesus stands up and makes an open invitation to all who believe in Him with these words: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”

The water that Jesus offered then, and still offers to all believers today, is more than to irrigate the vineyards and olive groves, it is to quench the inner thirst that we have. This thirst is evident in our behavior, in our feelings, and in our attitudes. The Jewish people were burdened with sorrows, but above all with spiritual sorrows. Their leaders put on them heavy burdens, many rituals, ceremonies, and laws that crushed them and left them parched in spirit. In the drought of their hearts, they suffered the dryness of the spiritual desert. They were not sure that God was at peace with them or that they were following His will. Jesus presents Himself to these people as if He was the rock of Horeb, from which fresh water flows.

Jesus’ invitation to drink from His water is timely for us today as well. Sometimes we thirst for revenge: we want to make another pay in the same way we have been mistreated. But the water of Jesus helps us to forgive and to seek peace. We are anxious to know what will happen in the days to come. In our lives where there is so much uncertainty, insecurity, imbalance, but the water of Jesus reconciles us with our situation and teaches us to hold His hand. All the thirst that we have within us, which is shown in the barrenness of our attitudes, in contempt for our neighbor in need, in our indifference to read and study the sacred Word are nothing more than symptoms of what is happening in our spirit.

The water of Jesus washes our spiritual eyes, and we can recognize we are in a deeply corrupted world and that we too have been affected to the root with sin. The only way out for sin is God’s forgiveness. In the end, who doesn’t recognize their need for forgiveness? Only the proud, the arrogant, and vain who won’t consider his or her life before God or look in the mirror of His divine Law. The water of Jesus is forgiveness, relief, cleansing, satisfaction, hope, and eternal life. Baptism is a clear sign of God’s love and the power to wash away our sins according to His eternal promise: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16a).

At this feast, Jesus adds one more promise: “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” Dear friend, have you ever seen a water spring? Water that sprouts from the earth? In Palestine, far to the north, many springs can be seen. These springs are active in bringing water to the surface which then gather and begin to form the Jordan River. The springs are added to the rain which the Hebrews prayed for at each feast of Tabernacles. As the Jordan flows into the Lake of Galilee, it continues its path southward, proceeding until it ends at the Dead Sea. That water, whose origin was the springs, provided fish, fruits, and vegetables to Jesus, to His family, the disciples, and the entire region where Jesus did His ministry. With the promise to create springs in the hearts of believers, Jesus was fulfilling the promises of the Old Testament, of which the prophet Isaiah is a good example:

“And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail” (Isaiah 58:11).

John, the evangelist, explains that this promise of Jesus to create springs of living water within us referred to the Holy Spirit who would come upon believers after Jesus’ ascension. And now we go, from one feast to another. With this promise of rivers of water and life we are going from the feast of Tabernacles to the feast of Pentecost. The Christian church throughout the world celebrates today as the occasion in which God fulfilled the promise of the Old Testament, and that Jesus ratified. Believers were filled with the Holy Spirit. Although in previous days, the disciples had received the Holy Spirit from Jesus when He breathed on them after His resurrection, now, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came publicly and fully with His power to guide the church.

The first believers were flooded, overflowed with the Holy Spirit. On Pentecost the church exploded, but it did not break. It was made whole and fully satisfied with the water of life and thus prepared to irrigate its banks with water from the divine spring. The first church could not contain the waters of its springs. On the same day of Pentecost, in the first message in the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter clearly proclaimed the work of Jesus on the cross for the sins of the world, declaring His triumphant resurrection over sin, the devil, and death. Right there, about three thousand people believed in the Christ that Peter proclaimed, and were baptized. The church could not contain the water that came out of her. The church exploded with joy, spreading blessings everywhere. This way God began a new era for His people. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was proclaimed that day in at least ten different languages. Go to all nations, Jesus said, and believers told the wonders of God to all the nations that had gathered to celebrate the feast. Little did they know that the feast had just begun!

The sources of living water, the water springs, have not dried up. God continues to make the water of life sprout from His believers to quench the thirst of the anguished and to bring forgiveness to the repentant.

One of the things that amazes me about this very brief message from Jesus is that He not only took into account the people who were with Him at that time, but He also kept you in mind, dear listener. Christ made a promise to the believers of His time with you in mind! It is the same evangelist John who records Jesus’ prayer for His disciples and for us today.

Jesus says in John 17: “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours” (v 9). “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their Word” (v. 20). And to this day, the Gospel, the message of God’s grace, cannot be controlled. The Gospel springs from the hearts of believers to touch others who have not yet seen, heard, or understood God’s grace.

The water of life is not just for us. There is no use stagnating the water for a while because it becomes bitter or salty like the Dead Sea. The rivers of living water that Jesus proclaims are pushed out of us by the Holy Spirit. There are others who need to quench their thirst caused by guilt, shame, and hopelessness. Only Christ can perform that miracle, and He, in His eternal design, chose the church, the believers, to shower others with divine grace.

At Pentecost we realize how generous God is. He doesn’t give us a bit of the Holy Spirit; He gives it all. Now we can share in a language of love what Jesus did on the cross for every person in the world. Maybe we don’t speak ten languages, maybe just three, or two, or one. But the Holy Spirit teaches us to speak firmly, without fear, with sweetness, showing others understanding and patience. The Holy Spirit teaches us and enables us to be more effective with our body language, to hold the hands of those who are afraid of walking alone, to hug the ones who are falling apart for whatever reason, to lift those who sinned against God and against their brothers. We do all this by sharing the forgiveness that is found in Christ.

Did you notice that the early believers did not waste any time at Pentecost? Peter and the other disciples saw fit to invite all nations to get to know the love of God manifested in Christ Jesus. In the same way, God is timely and generous when He deals with us today. He comes to us, over and over again, causing us to grow in the faith, flooding our spirit with His life-giving water—the Holy Spirit—who guides us and empowers us to show Christ to others.

Dear friend, it is also fitting to regularly connect with God in prayer. So, please join me in asking God to guide us to be effective and joyful witnesses of His love and mercy.

Dear Father, we thank You for rescuing us from sin and eternal death. You are an awesome God, and we recognize You as the Lord of heaven and earth, of time and eternity. Keep us in the one true faith, so that we might talk to others about the work of our Savior, doing this in the power of Your Holy Spirit. In the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.

Reflections for May 28, 2023
Title: A Timely Invitation

Mark Eischer: Joining us now here’s Lutheran Hour Speaker, Dr. Michael Zeigler.

Mike Zeigler: Thank you, Mark. I’m here visiting with Pastor Hector Hoppe, who we just heard share this wonderful sermon on John 7. Thank you for being here Pastor Hoppe.

Hector Hoppe: Thank you, Mike. Thank you Lutheran Hour Ministries for having me. It’s an honor.

Mike Zeigler: We are here in the studio and we just got to hear Pastor Hoppe record some Spanish versions of devotions and The Lutheran Hour. I want to say, since you didn’t get to hear Pastor Hoppe speak in his mother tongue, I want you to know that when he speaks in Spanish, it just sounds like song. One of your services that you provide to Lutheran Hour Ministries is recording sermons in Spanish for a program called Para el Camino. It’s available on the internet.

Hector Hoppe: Yes.

Mike Zeigler: Why is it important for a listener to hear not only for you, you mentioned about the comfortability of speaking in the mother tongue. Why is it important to hear in the mother tongue?

Hector Hoppe: I have to brag about this a little bit. I heard that people like to listen a good Spanish, not a Spanish that is fabricated in terms to reach all Latin American cultures. I try to be careful not to speak my own Argentine Spanish, but when you hear the language in which you were raised, you just connect immediately. You don’t need to stop and listen. No. You just listen. So that is a wonderful thing.

Mike Zeigler: In your sermon that you shared with us today, you said that the water of life is not just for us, and that could mean the people like us, the people that we know, the people that speak our language. So it’s not just for us and there is no use in stagnating this water. What a great image! Why do you think that is such a powerful and perennial temptation to stagnate the water of the Holy Spirit, to hold onto it, to try to control it?

Hector Hoppe: I believe because at some point, we were taught that we need to be faithful and keep the faith, so we keep it. We keep it too well. We keep it to ourselves.

Mike Zeigler: Keep it.

Hector Hoppe: Actually, we define faithfulness by keeping the faith. There are other ways to define faithfulness in the church, the church that grows, the church that is like the early church in the book of Acts, the church that kept adding members to … It was not the church adding, it was the Lord adding to the church because the church was on the move. So if we don’t move you, if we just keep on the water with us, we’ll be like the Dead Sea. There is no fish there. It’s horrible. I tried that water. I did try it and it’s just horrible. I think that happens to us quite often that we love our Christian culture so much that we fear that somebody new from other nations, from other languages will change us. I don’t fear. I hope they will change us. I hope they will bring the color of their cultures and the measure of faith that God has given them to enhance our Christian life.

Mike Zeigler: This is something special about the Christian faith, that it is translatable. We don’t say that it can only be in one language and has to always be said this way, but many languages, many tribes, tongues and that’s the vision in the book of Revelation that these differences aren’t erased. How have you experienced that in your travels around the world, that unity, that universal language of love that Christians have?

Hector Hoppe: I am inspired by Pentecost because right at the beginning, on the very first day, God started the church in 10 languages, or more. I think we need to see that and then people will take what they learn in their own language to their own places where they were. In the book of Acts, some people were astonished that Paul could speak three languages. He will address others in the language that they needed to hear the Gospel. So that’s one thing that really impresses me and I like that. The second thing about the body language that I expressed in the sermon, I think the church has a body language which is helping the poor, visiting the ones in prison, comforting the sick, listening to others. Sometimes you don’t need to say anything. You need to sit by somebody. You need to walk with somebody. And the church, the early church after Pentecost practiced that right away. Right away they put together a bunch of deaconesses to help feed the people.

Mike Zeigler: There was an argument between the Greeks and the Hebrews about who is getting enough food.

Hector Hoppe: Exactly.

Mike Zeigler: So it’s messy.

Hector Hoppe: Oh, no. Mission is always messy.

Mike Zeigler: Yeah.

Hector Hoppe: Church is always messy.

Mike Zeigler: Yeah.

Hector Hoppe: It’s because we are sinners, but it’s—

Mike Zeigler: that body [we touch?] unities us though.

Hector Hoppe: it’s fantastic. Yes. I was reflecting on that prayer of Jesus when he addresses in his prayer the Father and says, “Keep them in the truth that they may become one.” So I believe that it is not our task to become one. This is something God does, because Jesus said that they become one like You and I are one. Oh, my goodness! What a communication! What a oneness Jesus and the Father has. We don’t understand it and we don’t understand many times the oneness in our Christian church around the world because God knows what one is. We may define it by doctrine. I don’t think that’s the only thing that matters here, but God knows what oneness is. So oneness is not uniformity. It’s not to worship the same style. It’s not to dress the same way. It’s not to speak one language. It’s just everyone is the same but now forgiven and they have the right to express and to work in their environment the way the Spirit leads them.

Mike Zeigler: Well, thank you for being with us today, Pastor Hoppe, letting the Holy Spirit push that water of life out of you and to us.

Hector Hoppe: You’re very welcome. Thank you.

Music Selections for this program:

“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.

“Holy Spirit, the Dove Sent from Heaven” arr. Robert A. Hobby. From Hymns for All Saints: Lent, Easter, Pentecost (© 2006 Concordia Publishing House)

“Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House) Used by permission.