The Day of Pentecost, May 30, 2004
Acts 2:1-11 or Joel 2:28-32; Psalm 104:25-37 or 104:25-32 or 33:12-15,18-22; 1 Cor. 12:4-13 or Acts 2:1-11; John 20:19-23 or John 14:8-17
The coming of the Holy Spirit is the event for which Jesus commanded the apostles to wait just before he ascended. By the Holy Spirit, a group of hesitant followers of Jesus, who fled when he was arrested and who hid during the days immediately after Good Friday, were changed into a bold company whose leaders taught openly in the temple and performed miracles.
When they were arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, they confronted, refuted, and rebuked the members of the council on their own territory. The Sanhedrin included the same people who had shamefully condemned Jesus to death secretly at night a few weeks earlier — from whom these same believers had cowered in the upper room for fear of being arrested themselves and put to death. The change in these believers went beyond the dramatic to the miraculous. Pentecost proclaims that God really does enter into our natural lives and transforms believers into new people. The Feast of Pentecost (“50th day”) is the fitting and inevitable consummation of the Easter season — though resurrection and Pentecost are the characteristics of the people of God at all times and in all places.
In the lesson from Acts, it is easy to focus on the fact that the believers spoke in tongues that they had not known before. This is impressive and exciting enough, but the focus should be placed on what they said: “We hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power” (Acts 2:11).
In the two selections from John — one on the night Jesus was betrayed and another one of the resurrection appearances — the power of the Holy Spirit is proclaimed as the vital “next step” for believers. In John 14, Philip’s question shows that he still does not understand very much about Jesus. Jesus responds that the works he has done will be done by believers — indeed, believers will do greater works. This will be so because of the Ascension, because of a new relationship with Jesus (“asking in his name”), and because of the gift of the Holy Spirit, who will “be with [them] forever” (John 14:16). By this gift, believers will be radically set apart from the world. In John 20, the gift of the Holy Spirit brings peace and authority to proclaim and pronounce forgiveness. Only those who are “outside” the world can truly exercise the authority of proclaiming what the world needs most.
Look It Up
In the lesson from Joel, the context is markedly different from that given in the lesson from Acts. Acts is celebratory and even miraculous, but the setting of Joel is judgment that brings destruction. There is obvious contrast between these two lessons, but what do they have in common?
Think About It
If it seems that the Holy Spirit is leading us into behaviors or beliefs that are in conflict with what the Church has uniformly practiced and proclaimed, what are our choices?
Next Sunday
The First Sunday After Pentecost: Trinity Sunday, June 6, 2004
Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29 or Canticle 2 or 13; Rev. 4:1-11; John 16:(5-11)12-15
