Show Don't Tell: John 7:37-52

Instead of saying "Jesus offered living water on the last day of the feast," hear the cry over the water ceremony. On the last and greatest day of the festival—when priests pour water at the altar commemorating wilderness provision—Jesus stands and says in a loud voice: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." By this he means the Spirit, whom those who believe in him are later to receive. On hearing his words, some say: "Surely this man is the Prophet." Others: "He is the Messiah." But some ask: "How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Does not Scripture say the Messiah will come from David's descendants and from Bethlehem?" Thus the people are divided because of Jesus. Some want to seize him, but no one lays a hand on him. The temple guards return to the chief priests and Pharisees. "Why didn't you bring him in?" "No one ever spoke the way this man does." "You mean he has deceived you also? Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him?" Nicodemus—who had gone to Jesus earlier—speaks: "Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?" "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee."