Lectionary Readings: Year A, Pentecost Sunday

The Jesuit mystic, Anthony de Mello said, “If you want to know what it means to be happy, look at a flower, a bird, a child; they are the perfect images of the kingdom. For them live from moment to moment in the eternal now with no past and no future. So they are spared the guilt and the anxiety that so torment human beings and they are full of the sheer joy of living.”

One of my mentors told me that any anxiety that we might experience only ever comes when we are focused on the past, or looking to the future. Looking back we often dwell on past mistakes, our desire to correct things, or on guilt we may feel. Looking forward means being worried about the inherent ambiguity the future brings. Now, it’s true that we might look back on beautiful memories of loved ones, or cherished experiences, or we may look forward to an unambiguous future – like when we’ve just been offered a new job with better pay. But even when we have moments of joy looking at the past or the future, we are always reminded of the fact that all these things either were, or are not yet.

But now is now. And now will always be now.

And that’s what de Mello is talking about. Children revel in the immediate, in the now. They revel in life itself. They don’t think about the past, or dream about the future. Instead, they live in this perpetual present moment, the “eternal now.”

Of course, as children get older, they begin to form memories, and they begin to think about what might be. Their minds begin to grasp the concept of the past, and they begin to understand the idea of the future. And with that knowledge comes troubles, temptations, worry, and a recognition that what is now is not like it used to be, and maybe it won’t be that way all the time. And the sheer joy of life begins to fade. And this joy of living in the immediate moment begins to take a backseat to past guilt, past memories of a better time, or the possibility of a future not quite as good as it is now. For most of us, it is almost impossible to just experience the moment – the present moment – without the thoughts of what we have done, or what we still must do. Our minds are focused too much on the past, or the future, and not enough on the now.

But when we experience that moment, it is as if the world has ended and eternity has broken into the small confines of this world. It is as if that moment of nothing – that moment where there is no past and there is no future – that moment where nothing else exists but this present moment – that is when nothing suddenly becomes everything.

It is in this nothingness that is simultaneously everything that we find life. It’s a foreshadowing of eternity – a neverending life lived in an eternal present moment. A stream of respite and strength that fills us, and then allows us to return to our past troubles and future worries with new life, new strength, and new joy. It is a wellspring of life that flows out of us and through us and restores our soul. It is living water

In our very short Gospel reading today, Jesus uses the same phrase: “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”

Because this is such a short Gospel reading, it demands a bit more context. When he says this, Jesus is at the Festival of Tabernacles. This festival is a harvest festival. Each day during this festival, the priests of the temple would perform a water drawing ceremony. There would be a procession from the temple down to the Pool of Siloam, complete with singing and music. This pool collects water from the Gihon Spring, the place where the kings of Israel were anointed. It has ties to the anointing of King David, and certain rabbis also called this The Messiah’s Pool, because while they were processing, they would sing the words from Isaiah 12:3, which reads, “You will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation.” That word, “salvation,” shares the same root for the name of Jesus. In Hebrew the name of Jesus is “Yeshua,” or, “God is salvation.” 

When the procession of priests, acolytes, dancers and singers got to the Pool, the priests would take a golden pitcher, and fill it with water. Then the procession would return to the temple, where this water from the Pool of Siloam would be poured over the altar from one side, while another priest poured wine from the other side. This water and wine was to symbolize the living water of the Holy Spirit that would be poured out upon the people in the time of the Messiah. 

This water drawing ceremony happened every day of the feast except for the last day of the feast, because the last day was a day of rest, a day on which no one should do any work. It is on this last day, the day where there was no procession down to the Pool of Siloam to draw water, that Jesus stands up and says, “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.’”

This is the context in which Jesus declares that those who believe in him will see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in their own lives. And it is in this statement that he declares that he is, in fact, the Messiah. He is the wellspring of life. The living water.

Three small verses. But in context, they carry an enormous revelation.

And after Jesus declared his identity, some said, “This is the Messiah.” And others said he couldn’t be, because he came from Galilee. They could not understand, because as yet, there was no Spirit. And there was division in the crowd about who Jesus was. And some wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

Today is Pentecost, the day that we celebrate the arrival of the Holy Spirit. It is the day that we consider the Birthday of the Church, because up until this moment the work of God in the world had been done by the person of Jesus. But when the Holy Spirit arrived, and descended upon the followers of Jesus, these people took over the work of reconciling the world to God. The Holy Spirit opened up their hearts and minds and allowed them to see – and understand – just exactly who Jesus is, and what he did – and with boldness they preached this Good News to those who heard the word. The baton had been passed from Jesus to his followers, and the church was born.

Now, we don’t hear it in the scripture today, but the disciples were in that upper room afraid, in shock, and grieving for the loss of their friend and teacher. Some of them had every reason to look back on the past and feel guilt, shame, or just grieve the loss of their friend and rabbi. Every one of them had reason to fear the future. Those who had wanted to arrest Jesus were finally able to do so, and they had not only arrested him, but killed him. But Jesus rose from the dead, appeared to his disciples, ascended into heaven, and told them to wait for this very day.

And on this day, in the upper room, the disciples were full of anxiety. There were the troubles of the past, and there was the worry of the future. And they had no living stream to drink from. They believed. But they did not understand.

At least not yet.

But then, there was the sound of the rushing of a violent wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. And tongues of fire appeared among them, a tongue of fire rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages. People from all around were amazed that they could hear these men talking in their native language – and these people, filled with the Spirit, were talking about “God’s deeds of power.” They were talking about Jesus, about his death, his resurrection, and all that God had done. And Peter said, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

These disciples had been full of anxiety, and of worry. They had a troubled past to look back on – Peter especially. And they had an uncertain future to look forward to. But the Holy Spirit came and made them realize that none of this mattered. The past was nothing. The future was equally nothing. They were filled with the Spirit, and the only thing that mattered was now. Right now.

And in that moment of nothing they saw everything. It was in this moment that the Holy Spirit gave them a glimpse of past, present, and future, all wrapped into one, so that they could see that all of this, to God, is an eternal, infinite now. 

And out of their hearts streamed forth rivers of living water. Out of their hearts streamed the sheer joy of living. 

It didn’t matter what language they spoke in, it didn’t matter whether people heard and understood. What mattered was the moment. And that they could speak and share this river of life that flowed through them, and which drew from a well that has its source in eternity.

Jesus said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”

If you want to know what it means to be happy, look at a little child. They are perfect images of the kingdom of heaven. They live from moment to moment; they live in the eternal, the infinite now.

I pray that we would all become like little children, so that we may enter into this eternal, infinite kingdom. Not just someday, but everyday.

[This sermon was delivered at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Wickenburg, AZ on May 24, 2026.]