The Call to the Thirsty
It was the first warm day of a rainy, chilly spring. Taking advantage of the break in the weather, I went to work on a long list of rain delayed yard projects. At day’s end I was hot, tired, and my clothing wet with perspiration. The one thing I wanted most was a large glass of cold water.
Gulping down two glasses of water, I considered how something which was supposed to have no taste certainly tasted good. I considered how it acquired its good taste only when I was thirsty.
In John we read that Jesus called the thirsty, not those who had no thirst. Likewise, later in the story, He called those who “labor and are heavy laden” (Matthew 11:28), not those who labored not, nor were burden free. Did not the Master desire all to come unto Him? Why was the call extended only to the thirsty, those who “labor and are heavy laden”?
Jesus was calling those who were in need. To the thirsty He gave drink, to those who labored rest, and to those with heavy burdens He gave relief. Jesus is saying that thirst does not come until we are laboring in God’s vineyard. It is only then, at day’s end, that we acquire the taste for the water Jesus gives. It is only then that we are receptive to what He has for us. A life self satisfied, laboring not for others, will never acquire the taste for the water which Jesus likens to “rivers of living water.”
