Intoxicated by the Living Spring

Intoxicated by the Living Spring

Saying 13: Thomas' Confession

Jesus said to his disciples, "If you were to compare me to someone, who would you say I'm like?"

Simon Peter said to him, "You're like a just angel."

Matthew said to him, "You're like a wise philosopher."

Thomas said to him, "Teacher, I'm completely unable to say whom you're like."

Jesus said, "I'm not your teacher. Because you've drunk, you've become intoxicated by the bubbling spring I've measured out."

He took him aside and told him three things. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked, "What did Jesus say to you?"

Thomas said to them, "If I tell you one of the things he said to me, you'll pick up stones and cast them at me, and fire will come out of the stones and burn you up."

The Parable of the Thirsting Ones

There was once a circle of companions who followed the Whisperer of Echoes through the parched lands. They each believed they had begun to understand him, so one evening beneath a bruised violet sky, the Whisperer asked:

“If you were to liken me to something, what would you choose?”

The first companion, robed in laws and righteousness, replied, “You are like the guardian of the gate, a just sentinel.”

The second, draped in scrolls and syllables, said, “You are like the old thinkers, a philosopher untangling the stars.”

But the third, whose hands trembled though they held no book, could only whisper, “I cannot say. Every word I reach for dissolves in light.”

The Whisperer smiled like a crack in the veil and said, “Then you no longer need me as your teacher. You have already swallowed the living spring that I portioned out.”

And suddenly the third companion fell silent, not out of ignorance, but because something had bloomed inside him. A wine of understanding that left him dizzy with awe.

The Whisperer took him aside and spoke three mysteries, not in language, but in thunder, mirror, and stillness.

When the companion returned, the others pressed him. “What did he tell you?”

He looked at their eager eyes, then to their hands, strong enough to hurl stone yet too frail to hold fire. He said only, “If I told you even one truth, you’d stone me in fear. And from those stones, flame would leap and consume what you thought was you.”

Opening

Beloved friends, today we turn to a striking passage from the Gospel of Thomas, a text not often preached, but one that holds profound insight into the mystery of Christ and the nature of true spiritual awakening.

In Saying 13, Jesus asks his disciples a deceptively simple question:

"If you were to compare me to someone, who would you say I’m like?"

Their answers, and especially Thomas’ response, open a window into the very heart of the divine mystery.

I. The Disciples’ Responses: Trying to Contain the Infinite

Jesus first invites his disciples to compare him to someone they know.

• Simon Peter says, "You’re like a just angel."
  He sees Jesus as righteous, holy, an exalted messenger, but still within the known celestial hierarchy.

• Matthew says, "You’re like a wise philosopher."
  To him, Jesus is the supreme sage, dispensing wisdom that shapes minds and cultures.

They both reach for categories that are noble, but ultimately human. They try to fit Jesus into boxes that the mind can grasp.

Then comes Thomas. He doesn’t reach for any category at all. Instead, he says:

"Teacher, I am completely unable to say whom you’re like."

This isn’t ignorance. It’s reverence. It’s the humility that comes from glimpsing something so vast it defies comparison. Thomas knows that to truly behold Christ is to stand before the unnameable, the one who breaks all our molds.

II. The Bubbling Spring: Mystical Intoxication

Jesus then says something startling:

"I’m not your teacher. Because you’ve drunk, you’ve become intoxicated by the bubbling spring I’ve measured out."

Thomas has drunk directly from the living spring, what we might call divine gnosis, a mystical knowing that isn’t taught from pulpits or written in books. It’s an experience that flows from God alone, bubbling up within the soul until it intoxicates, changes, and transforms.

Many of us are content to sip from the cisterns of tradition, to learn about God through sermons or study. But here is the invitation: to drink from the spring itself.
To taste, to be overwhelmed, to lose ourselves in the living water that is Christ.

III. The Secret and the Fire

Jesus then draws Thomas aside and tells him three things, three secrets we are never told.

When Thomas returns, the other disciples press him, eager to know. But Thomas replies:

"If I tell you even one of the things he said to me, you’ll pick up stones and cast them at me, and fire will come out of the stones and burn you up."

What a mysterious, almost frightening image. It tells us two things:

1. The truth of Christ is disruptive.
   It shatters conventional piety. It burns away false certainty. Those who cling to old wineskins may respond with violence, whether of words, exclusion, or worse.

2. But even their violence would unleash divine fire.
   The very stones they hurl would ignite with revelation, consuming illusions and purifying hearts.

This is not a truth that comes easily. To truly know Christ, to know beyond doctrines and analogies, may isolate you. It may cost you relationships, reputation, even the comfortable frameworks you’ve lived by.

IV. Why It Matters

This saying overturns our tidy images of Jesus as simply a moral teacher or philosopher. It calls us to a deeper encounter.

• Jesus is not merely a wise man to be quoted, or an angelic figure to be admired.

• He is the living spring, who when tasted, intoxicates, breaks down our categories, and changes everything.

Like Thomas, we are invited into a mystery so profound it can’t be spoken, only experienced. And like Thomas, we may find that carrying this secret sets us apart.

Conclusion: A Call to Drink Deeply

So today, ask yourself:

• Have I settled for comparing Jesus to things I already know, keeping him safely within the boundaries of my understanding?

• Or am I willing to drink from the living spring, to be spiritually intoxicated, undone, and remade?

• If he whispered truths to me that would scandalize the crowd, would I still listen?
  

Meditation Questions on Saying 13

1. Who is Jesus to you, really?

• If Jesus were to ask you, “Who do you say that I am?” how would you answer today, not just with inherited beliefs, but from your own heart’s encounter?

• Are you seeing him as simply a wise teacher? A moral guide? Or have you glimpsed something beyond categories?
  

2. Have you drunk from the living spring?

• Jesus tells Thomas he has become intoxicated by the bubbling spring he’s poured out.

• Have you experienced a moment where God’s presence felt so real it changed you, where it was not something learned, but known deep within?

• What keeps you from drinking more deeply?
  

3. What secret truths might Jesus whisper to you?

• If Jesus took you aside as he did Thomas and spoke three things into your soul, what might they be?

• Would you have the courage to hear them, even if they upended your life or made others misunderstand you?
  

4. How do you respond to divine disruption?

• Thomas says that if he told even one secret, others would stone him, and fire would come out of the stones.

• How do you respond when God’s truth challenges your old ways of thinking, or calls you into places that are uncomfortable?

• Have you ever resisted a deeper revelation because of fear of rejection, conflict, or loss?
  

5. Are you willing to carry a costly mystery?

• The deepest truths often set us apart. Are you willing to bear the mystery of Christ, even if it means misunderstanding or loneliness?

• What might change in your life if you let go of trying to fit Jesus into safe, explainable categories?
  

Closing Reflection

Take a few quiet moments to sit with these questions.
Let them stir your heart, even if they unsettle you.
Ask God to draw you to the bubbling spring,
to intoxicate you with divine love that surpasses knowledge.