Homilies on the Gospel of John

“In the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”

1. They who come to the divine preaching and give heed to the faith, must manifest the desire of thirsty men for water, and kindle in themselves a similar longing; so will they be able also very carefully to retain what is said. For as thirsty men, when they have taken a bowl, eagerly drain it and then desist, so too they who hear the divine oracles if they receive them thirsting, will never be weary until they have drunk them up. For to show that men ought ever to thirst and hunger, “Blessed,” It says, “are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness”; and here Christ says, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” What He says is of this kind, “I draw no man to Me by necessity and constraint; but if any has great zeal, if any is inflamed with desire, him I call.”

But why has the Evangelist remarked that it was “on the last day, that great day”? For both the first day and the last were “great,” while the intermediate days they spent rather in enjoyment. Wherefore then says he, “in the last day”? Because on that day they were all collected together. For on the first day He came not, and told the reason to His brethren, nor yet on the second and third days says He anything of this kind, lest His words should come to nought, the hearers being about to run into indulgence. But on the last day when they were returning home He gives them supplies for their salvation, and cries aloud, partly by this showing to us His boldness, and partly for the greatness of the multitude. And to show that He spoke not of material drink, He adds, “He that believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” By “belly” he here means the heart, as also in another place It says, “And Your Law in the midst of my belly.” But where has the Scripture said, that “rivers of living water shall flow from his belly”? Nowhere. What then means, “He that believes in Me, as the Scripture says”? Here we must place a stop, so that the, “rivers shall flow from his belly,” may be an assertion of Christ. For because many said, “This is the Christ”; and, “When the Christ comes will He do more miracles?” He shows that it behooves to have a correct knowledge, and to be convinced not so much from the miracles as from the Scriptures. Many, in fact, who even saw Him working marvels received Him not as Christ, and were ready to say, “Do not the Scriptures say that Christ comes of the seed of David?” and on this they continually dwelt. He then, desiring to show that He did not shun the proof from the Scriptures, again referrs them to the Scriptures. He had said before, “Search the Scriptures”; and again, “It is written in the Prophets, And they shall be taught of God”; and, “Moses accuses you”; and here,“As the Scripture has said, rivers shall flow from his belly,” alluding to the largeness and abundance of grace. As in another place He says, “A well of water springing up unto eternal life”, that is to say, “he shall possess much grace”; and elsewhere He calls it, “eternal life,” but here, “living water.” He calls that “living” which ever works; for the grace of the Spirit, when it has entered into the mind and has been established, springs up more than any fountain, fails not, becomes not empty, stays not. To signify therefore at once its unfailing supply and unlimited operation, He has called it “a well” and “rivers,” not one river but numberless; and in the former case He has represented its abundance by the expression, “springing.” And one may clearly perceive what is meant, if he will consider the wisdom of Stephen, the tongue of Peter, the vehemence of Paul, how nothing bare, nothing withstood them, not the anger of multitudes, not the risings up of tyrants, not the plots of devils, not daily deaths, but as rivers borne along with a great rushing sound, so they went on their way hurrying all things with them.