Study #4: MEM

MEM: THE 13TH LETTER OF THE HEBREW ALPHABET

MEM AND THE DECLARATION OF JESUS AS MESSIAH ( PART 2 )

Imagine the uproar Jesus created when He proclaimed that He was the Messiah using the Metaphor of Life-Giving Water ( MEM ).

The priests had just poured out the water collected from the Pool of Siloam into a basin at the Temple Altar as a symbolic appeal to their Creator God to provide water ( through bountiful rain ) for the people of Israel, and Jesus – as if in answer to their collective prayer – tells the people to come to Him for water as their eternal source!

The reactions among the people were mixed:

1. Some believed He was their Messiah ( John 7:41).
2. But others especially the Pharisees disputed that anything good can come from an upstart Galilean and ordered the Temple guards to arrest him. But the guards themselves were too transfixed to do so! Their excuse: ” No man ever spoke like this Man” ( John 7:46 ).
3. And even Nicodemus, a fellow Pharisee, who was a secret believer of Christ, rose to His defence only to be chastised with an insult: “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee” ( John 7:52 ).

John’s account of this incident still fascinates and challenges us today – but the question remains the same: is Jesus truly our Messiah too?

Abba Father, You know our hearts all too well. The Water Libation Ceremony tells us what the world needs from You is the blessing of drinking water. But more importantly it speaks of what we need for our spiritual thirst – the Holy Spirit given to those who trust in Jesus. For such thirst can only be quenched by coming to Jesus as our Messiah. Indeed we confess He is and always will be the MEM of our salvation.