Acts 2:1-8
1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?
Spirit - Wind - Fire
Starting with creation, the witness of scripture reveals innumerable ways the Holy Spirit always has been present. God always has been triune—this gift and reign of the Holy Spirit of life is nothing new! But… the Holy Spirit constantly is doing something new. As theologian Jürgen Moltmann explains, "…the Holy Spirit is…the creative and life-giving, redeeming and saving God… present in a special way."
Every year we revisit images of visible fire and audible wind as evidence of the HS's presence among us and within us. The wind of pentecost cleans, refreshes, clears, renews. The fire of pentecost sears, burns, purifies. A year after a wildfire, new seedlings cover the forest floor. Some seeds need to be singed by fire in order to open. The forest service regularly engages in controlled burns.
The Day of Pentecost
As with many events we read about in scripture, no one knows the exact location of this gathering, but strong tradition claims it was in the same upper room as Jesus' last supper / founding meal we remember on Maundy Thursday.
Everyone from everywhere was in Jerusalem for the Jewish Pentecost to celebrate the Ten Words or Commandments of the Sinai Covenant and the wheat harvest. Parallel to Easter and Pentecost, Shavuot refers to seven weeks – "a week of weeks" – after Passover. The day of Pentecost is one of the three most major Christian festivals; the Jewish Pentecost was one of three mandated festivals.
Pentecost sometimes is called the Birthday of the Church. Just as for God's people Israel, the Ten Words bind us to each other and to our God. As for Israel and for all people everywhere, an adequate, quality grain harvest is a life-sustaining essential.
Where We Live
Before Jesus' Ascension, his disciples ask if now he'd finally "restore the kingdom to Israel," and Jesus told them the question was wrong, because "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." [Acts 1:8] In other words, they would help "restore the kingdom."
Remember the Golden Calf Event in Exodus 32? God said, "Moses, your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt." Moses replied, "God, your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt." Which is it? Moses' people or God's people? It's both/and.
• Luke 4:18-19 begins Jesus' public ministry with the HS;
• Luke's book of Acts begins our public ministry with the Holy Spirit.
Filled with the Holy Spirit
"The holiness that cannot be contained in the [Jerusalem] Temple dwells in us." Matthew Skinner, Luther Seminary Baccalaureate, Saturday 25 May 2024
O enter, Lord, thy temple,
Be Thou my spirit's guest,
Who gavest me, the earth-born,
A second birth more blest.
Thou in the Godhead, Lord,
Though here to dwell Thou deignest,
For ever equal reignest,
Art equally adored.
Paul Gerhardt, 1653; translated by Catherine Winkworth
Tune: Zeuch ein zu deinen Toren
Scripture: Acts 2:17
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