The Day of Pentecost, Whitsunday - 12 June 2011
Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:25-35, 37b
I Corinthians 12:3b-13
St. John 7:27-39
BACKGROUND: Pentecost
The Christian festival of Pentecost occurred on the day that concluded the Hebrew harvest festival. Following the Passover, the harvest festival began with the offering of barley, and concluded 7 weeks later with the offering of wheat. This festival was called Pentecost because of the fifty days that extended from the first offering to the second. It is also known as The Festival of Weeks. It was one of three pilgrimage festivals, which also celebrated the gift of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible (Torah). This particular pilgrimage marks the seven-week harvest festival, thus there were many people from many lands in Jerusalem, as the account in Acts indicates. This particular pilgrimage marks the offering of First Fruits (see Numbers 8:26), and thus the harvest and the offering are linked together. An example of this festival is the Book of Ruth, which describes the harvesting season, and Ruth’s willingness to accept the Torah, and to become one of God’s people.
Acts 2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. 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. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
`In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' "
Luke clues us in that something important is about to happen when he describes Pentecost as “having come” literally completed or fulfilled. He uses this same formula in Luke 2:6, “the days were fulfilled” at the birth of Jesus, and again in Luke 9:51, “when the time was come (or fulfilled)” when Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem and the passion. This day is a turning point; something new is going to happen. To give this new thing a basis in the old, in the prophetic word to Israel, Luke has Peter quote the Prophet Joel (3:1-5) who foretells the outpouring of the Spirit. The event at Pentecost is divided into three sections: A) The rushing, mighty wind (the Greek words for wind pnoé, and spirit pneuma are phonetically related) and the tongues of flame signal the outpouring of the Spirit, B) The description of the Pentecost holiday and the gathering many peoples, and C) Peter’s sermon – a proclamation about Jesus and who he was, along with a quotation from Joel, promising the Spirit. Luke’s construction is different than that of the other Gospel writers, especially John. This is a unique event, perhaps following a period of discernment and meditation on the Paschal Mystery. In Luke, the Spirit is poured out when, and only when, the people are ready to receive that Spirit.
Breaking open Acts:
- What are the points about Jesus that Peter makes in his sermon?
- What are the points that Joel makes, as he is quoted in Peter’s sermon?
- What evidence for these points do you see in your own life, and in the life of your congregation?
Psalm 104:25-35, 37b Benedic, anima mea
O LORD, how manifold are your works! *
in wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Yonder is the great and wide sea
with its living things too many to number, *
creatures both small and great.
There move the ships,
and there is that Leviathan, *
which you have made for the sport of it.
All of them look to you *
to give them their food in due season.
You give it to them; they gather it; *
you open your hand, and they are filled with good things.
You hide your face, and they are terrified; *
you take away their breath,
and they die and return to their dust.
You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; *
and so you renew the face of the earth.
May the glory of the LORD endure for ever; *
may the LORD rejoice in all his works.
He looks at the earth and it trembles; *
he touches the mountains and they smoke.
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; *
I will praise my God while I have my being.
May these words of mine please him; *
I will rejoice in the LORD.
Hallelujah!
We only read selected verses from this psalm that celebrates God and God’s creation. In the initial verses, which are not included in this morning’s reading, the psalmist recalls each of God’s creative acts. Would that we could have sung some of the verses this morning, in which we celebrate our new font, and the gift of baptism, “You let loose the springs in freshets…they water all the beasts of the field.” Our reading, however, recovers that sentiment with its first verse (v. 25) “this sea great and wide…” Of note in these verses are the notions of a provident God providing not only life but also food, and the God who sends forth breath (ruah or spirit) renewing the face of the earth.
Breaking open Psalm 104:
1. When you observe creation, do you see God?
2. What are the glories that you observe and what do they teach you about God?
3. How does creation enable your life?
4. How is baptism a part of creation?
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
No one can say, "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Paul links the ability to confess Jesus as Lord, to a gracious gift of the Spirit, and then goes on to describe these gifts. They fall into three separate categories, with three examples each. The first category is the ability to speak about wisdom, knowledge and faith. The second category is gifts of power: to heal, to work miracles, and finally to prophecy. The final category is the ability to discern: different spirits, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. This is what Paul expected from the Pentecost outpouring, and in his epistles he expounds on how these gift are used correctly. Finally he discusses the unity that comes with the Spirit, a lesson that we need to remind ourselves of with some frequency.
Breaking open I Corinthians:
- What kind of wisdom do you have? What kind of faith do you have?
- What powers has God given you to affect the lives of others? Have you worked a miracle?
- What are you attempting to discern in your life?
John 7:37-39
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "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.'" Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
There are two Gospel choices for this day. The first is the account in John of the appearance of Jesus to the disciples (Thomas being absent) in which Jesus “breathes on them” and asks them to “receive the Holy Spirit”. The second is more appropriate to our services today in that it speaks about water, thirst, and refreshment. That this discourse should happen on the Feast of the Tabernacles might be John’s manner of using the cleanings and washings connected to the Feast as a precursor to the “waters flowing from the heart of the believer”. The connection with our renewal of our baptismal vows on this day is not only clear but also helpful. In John’s chronology, however, that outpouring of Spirit and water is something for the future, something of promise. The time is not yet ready (see notes on the First Reading) “because Jesus was not yet glorified”. Thus we end the Paschal Feast, with Jesus glorified and the Spirit poured out upon us all.
Breaking open the Gospel:
- Are you “thirsty” for something in your life of faith? For what?
- What “living water” flows out of your heart?
- How have you received the Holy Spirit in your life?
After breaking open the Word, you might want to pray the Collect for Sunday:
Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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