Welcome to Pentecost Sunday, the day most Christians recognize as the birthday of the Church. Here is the story recorded by Luke, the author of the Book of Acts:
When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages. They were surprised and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans, every one of them? How then can each of us hear them speaking in our native language? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; as well as residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the regions of Libya bordering Cyrene; and visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the mighty works of God in our own languages!” They were all surprised and bewildered. Some asked each other, “What does this mean?” Others jeered at them, saying, “They’re full of new wine!”
Peter stood with the other eleven apostles. He raised his voice and declared, “Judeans and everyone living in Jerusalem! Know this! Listen carefully to my words! These people aren’t drunk, as you suspect; after all, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning!
Peter replied, “Change your hearts and lives. Each of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far away—as many as the Lord our God invites.” With many other words he testified to them and encouraged them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Those who accepted Peter’s message were baptized. God brought about three thousand people into the community on that day.
The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. A sense of awe came over everyone. God performed many wonders and signs through the apostles. All the believers were united and shared everything. They would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them. Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity. They praised God and demonstrated God’s goodness to everyone. The Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved. - Acts 2:1-15, 38-47 (CEB).
This is one of those sci-fi passages that can be baffling to modern readers. We need to remember that this passage did not have us in mind. It was written to communicate what was being told to Luke from stories he gathered as he researched the development of the Church after Jesus died. If the story sounds a bit like a folk tale, it should. Decades had passed since the event described. Set aside the Western need for certainty and verifiable details. Allow yourself to hear what is trying to be communicated for the original recipients. Below are a series of take-aways that jump off the page once we see the story from their perspective:
The Festival of Weeks/Shavuot/Pentecost. This started as a Spring harvest festival, but then morphed into something more in Judaism. Let’s appreciate what we’re seeing here. Remember that Jesus told the disciples to stay put until they were baptized by the Holy Spirit. The Festival of Weeks was perhaps the highest-attended festivals in ancient Judaism during the time of Jesus. While it first celebrated the Spring harvest, it eventually celebrated the giving of the Law/Torah – a gift from the mouth of God to Moses on Mt. Sinai. It is no accident that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is remembered as having taken place on the day the Law was given. This is a new, quite literal expression of the Word of God being given. Take-away number one: on the day set aside to celebrate the early harvest as well as the historical day when “God spoke”, the disciples experienced God’s presence.
A Mighty Wind (not the hilarious movie). We read that there is the sound of a mighty wind. We recall that ruach and pneuma, the Hebrew and Greek words that give us the word “breath” and “wind”, can also be translated as “spirit.” This was reminiscent of the scene in Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry bones, when the Spirit of God brought to life that which was formerly dead. Take-away number two: the sound of wind affirms the presence of the Spirit of God that brings new life.
People engrossed in fire! Flames settle on each person. One translation suggests that each person was immersed in the flame. In the Exodus story, Moses experienced God’s call through a burning bush full of flame but never consumed, and as the Israelites wandered toward the Promised Land, God’s presence at night was evidenced as a flame. Take-away number three: the scene has us seeing the disciples immersed (the literal translation for baptism) in the presence of God.
Que pasa? The immediate result of the disciples’ baptism in the windy, flaming presence of God was that they began speaking in other tongues. From the tongues of fire come words in other tongues, a spiritually fueled pronouncement of God’s speaking the Word again. People nearby who were visiting Jerusalem for the Festival of Weeks/Pentecost heard the disciples speaking in their respective languages. This shocked them because the disciples were not from a region of academic excellence where you might find many bilingual speakers. No, the disciples were viewed as uneducated country boys with accents and outfits that gave their home zip code away. The Word of God was being given to people from all over the world, not just in the Aramaic language Jesus spoke, but in the native tongues from distant places. This echoes the call of Abraham, when he was told by God that this new venture they were undertaking would bless the whole world. It was also a reversal of the ancient Tower of Babylon myth, where God humbled humanity by creating multiple languages. Now, God has “come down to earth” and unified humanity by enabling people to hear and speak as one – a move toward radical inclusion. Take-away number five: The message of God was meant for the whole world, in their native tongues, not just for Israel.
The Fruitful Result. The result of all of this was a growing community built on the realized shalom of God. People shared their resources with each other as they each had need. They broke bread together, defying strict cultural rules dictating otherwise. They continued to learn together from the remembrances and insights of those who knew Jesus well, and they continued the practices that fostered their connection with God: prayer. Take-away number six: the presence of God led them toward the practice of shalom.
CrossWalk Copycat. “The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers.” This verse should resonate with anyone who calls CrossWalk home because it reflects our means and ends that lead us to shalom. We value and incorporate lifelong learning (Stretch), serving others (Kneel), leveling the playing field by welcoming everyone as equals (Grace & Justice), cultivating spiritual practices (Connect), and doing it all together as the spiritually attuned faith community (Incarnate). Take-away number seven: CrossWalk is modeled and is modeling that early expression of the Christian movement!
The Lord’s Prayer (adapted by Philip Newell): Ground of all being. Mother of life, Father of the universe, Your name is sacred, beyond speaking. May we know your presence, May your longings be our longings In heart and in action. May there be food for the human family today and for the whole earth community. Forgive us the falseness of what we have done as we forgive those who are untrue to us. Do not forsake us in our time of conflict but lead us into new beginnings. For the light of life, the vitality of life, and the glory of life, are yours now and forever.
Enjoy: The Lord’s Prayer in Multiple Languages
Commentary from SALT. Pentecost (Year B): Acts 2:1-21 and Ezekiel 37:1-14
Big Picture:
1) Pentecost (from a Greek word for “fiftieth”) is the fiftieth and last day of the Easter season. Next week is Trinity Sunday, and then nearly six months of “Ordinary Time” begin, during which this year’s walk through the Gospel of Mark (and occasionally John) will continue. From ten thousand feet, the Christian Year appears divided almost in half: about six months of holy seasons (Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide), and about six months of Ordinary Time. Like a pendulum swinging back and forth, or a pair of lungs breathing in and out, the church alternates between these two movements each year: high holidays and everyday life, the joys of celebration and the grunt work of growth.
2) Pentecost is the Christian rendition of the ancient Jewish pilgrimage festival, the Festival of Weeks, or Shavuot (pronounced “sha-voo-OAT,” the last syllable rhyming with “coat”), celebrated 50 days after Passover. For the ancient Israelites, this festival was an explicitly inclusive harvest celebration (Deut 16:11; Lev 23:16), and over time, it also came to mark the reception of the Torah at Mount Sinai. For Christians, it celebrates the reception of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church. Happy Birthday!
3) The passage from Ezekiel is in the context of Israel’s exile to Babylon in the sixth century BCE. The prophet’s symbolic vision of a valley filled with the bones of the slain evokes the death-like experience of exile itself, and God’s spirited revivification of those bones functions as a hopeful promise of renewal and restoration.
Scripture:
1) The community of disciples are gathered because of the Festival of Weeks (Shavuot). Jesus had promised the arrival of the Holy Spirit not long after his departure — and sure enough, on the festival day itself, the Holy Spirit arrives. The scene is spectacular and chaotic: a violent, rushing sound like wind, and then “divided tongues, as of fire” — not a fire that destroys, but rather a fire like the one Moses encountered at the burning bush, which was “blazing, yet it was not consumed” (Exodus 3).
2) The Spirit’s most immediate, conspicuous effect is linguistic: many are empowered “to speak in other languages,” and at the same time, each person gathered hears the testimony in their native language. Think of a meeting at the United Nations, in which each person hears (through a headset) the proceedings translated into their mother tongue. The upshot of all of this is a sense of togetherness and unity: diverse as they are, everyone understands and can communicate, thanks to the Holy Spirit. Accordingly, they’re dazzled and taken aback, asking, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:12).
3) As if to answer this question, Peter stands and speaks. He cites the prophet Joel, adapting those ancient words to illuminate the present: the final and decisive chapter of history has arrived, the dawn of God’s joyous Jubilee that Jesus declared early in his ministry (Luke 4:18-19), and now the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon “all flesh.” Jesus both heralded and inaugurated this new era, and now the Spirit will empower a community through whom the movement’s message of healing, liberation, and joy will go out to the ends of the earth. The church is born!
4) On one level, from a Christian perspective these events provide a new layer of meaning for the ancient harvest festival: the Spirit comes in order to gather in the sheaves of God’s great harvest of redemption. On another level, the story of Pentecost reverses the ancient story of Babel (Gen 11:1-9): in an arrogant attempt to “make a name for ourselves,” humanity tries to build a tower with its top in the heavens — and God scatters them by diversifying their languages. Here in Acts, instead of humanity presumptuously ascending toward heaven, God graciously descends to earth; and instead of humanity linguistically fragmenting, the Spirit brings us together, bridging divides so we can understand each other.
Takeaways:
1) The birthday of the church is a perfect time to reflect on what “the church” is in the first place. This week’s passage points toward a portrait of the church as a dynamic community of people following Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit to carry out God’s mission of healing, liberation, and joy for the sake of the world.
2) This community is strikingly inclusive and egalitarian. The Jews Peter addresses are immigrants from all over the known world (“known” to Luke, that is!) who now live in Jerusalem, and the Jesus movement will soon open up to include Gentiles as well (Acts 10). Accordingly, Luke casts the church as a diverse, prophetic community of bridge-builders, visionaries, and dreamers, male and female, enslaved and free (Acts 2:17) — and soon enough, this egalitarian, communitarian ethos extends to the church’s social organization as well: “they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:43-47). (On the early church’s socio-economic life, check out this remarkable, provocative short essay by theologian David Bentley Hart, “Are Christians Supposed to Be Communists?”)
3) Likewise, this is a perfect week to reflect on how we understand the Holy Spirit. Luke’s portrait of the Spirit draws on ideas at least as ancient as Ezekiel’s vision, in which God’s “breath” or “spirit” — both ru’ah in Hebrew — brings life, renewal, connection, and restoration, sometimes in sudden, disruptive fashion (compare Ezekiel’s “suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together” to Luke’s “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind” (Ezekiel 37:7, Acts 2:2)).
4) But for all the drama, Pentecost is only the beginning: throughout the Book of Acts, again and again, the Spirit mobilizes the church and opens up new horizons for ministry (see Acts 4, 8, 10, 13, 15, 19, and so on). Breath means new life — and new life means new growth, change, and ongoing development. The Spirit protects and connects, but also challenges, provokes, and pushes us along. And thinking this way about life in the Spirit is the perfect segue into the nearly six months ahead of Ordinary Time, the season of everyday life and growth. So, “Happy Birthday,” yes — and also, “Let’s go!” The church is not a building, nor is it a particular membership or group of people. At its heart, the church is a mission, God’s mission — and the call, the challenge, the adventure continues. Let’s go!