28 May 2023 - Pentecost, Year A

 

Theme

On Pentecost Sunday, we reflect on the arrival of the Holy Spirit to God’s people and our scripture readings for this week guide us to do so. In Acts, the Holy Spirit came upon the believers at Pentecost, who in turn spoke in other languages and prophesied. In Corinthians, the Apostle Paul talks about the variety of gifts that the Holy Spirit gives, but stresses that all these gifts come from the same Spirit. In the two Gospel readings, Jesus speaks of the Spirit that he will be giving them. In Numbers, a story is shared of one of the few occassions in the Old Testament that the Spirit of God empowered a group of people to prophesy.

Scripture Readings

  • Acts 2:1-21 - The followers of Jesus met together on the day of Pentecost. A roaring sound, a mighty wind and what looked like flames appeared and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. By the Holy Spirit, they spoke each others languages but onlookers thought they were drunk. Peter preaches and explains that what was happening was prophesied about many years before.
  • Psalm 104:24-34, 35b - The Psalmist praises God for the variety of things God has made. God delights in God’s Creations and its survival depends on God.
  • 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 - The Holy Spirit gives many types of gifts, but they all come from the same God whome we serve. Spiritual gifts are given so that we can help each other. The Church is made up of many different kinds of people, but we have all share the same Spirit, by which we have all been baptised.
  • John 20:19-23 - After Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors when suddenly Jesus appeared alongside them. He offered them his peace and showed them his wounds. He then commissions them for ministry, breathes on them, and tells them to receive the Holy Spirit and if they forgive anyone’s sins, they too will be forgiven.
  • Numbers 11:24-30 - Moses met with God on the mountain and God’s Spirit descended on seventy elders who prophesied, which “never happened again.” Although the people asked Moses to make it stop, Moses responded that he wished all prophets were given God’s Spirit to prophesy.
  • John 7:37-39 - Jesus declared that anyone who is thirsty can come to him to drink because living waters will flow from his heart, referring to God’s Spirit which would be given to them after he entered into his glory.

The Context

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. It is a crucial day in the life of the Church. Not only does it close off the season of Eastertide and inaugurate the Season after Pentecost, it is the day that the Church celebrates the arrival of the Holy Spirit for all people and the beginning of the global Christian Church.

Personal Application

There is much that tries to drain our faith and energy. There are times that we might feel dry and thirsty, not knowing where to turn for help. The disciples were perhaps struggling with similar thoughts in Upper Room after Jesus had been crucified and didn’t know what the future of their faith would look like now that he was gone. In this moment of despair, Jesus appears amongst them, breathes his Spirit on them, gives them peace, and commissions them for ministry. In the second Gospel reading, Jesus invited his followers to come and drink from the living water he has to offer - the Holy Spirit of God.

I wonder how Jesus may be showing up where you find yourself in this moment, whether it be despair, stress, joy or somewhere in between. Imagine Jesus meeting you where you are, offering you his peace, breathing his Spirit upon you and commissioning you to continue his ministry in the world. Imagine Jesus inviting you to drink from the Living Water, God’s Holy Spirit, so that your thirst can be quenched.

Communal Application

My favourite part of Pentecost Sunday is reflecting on the expansiveness of the gift of the Holy Spirit in these stories. When the Spirit of God descended on the followers of Jesus, people from different cultures and nationalities could all understand each other and worshipped together united in Peace and Joy.

When the Spirit of God is active in the world, there should be incredible peace and joy amongst the people. Unfortunately, many of our churches look more like battlefields than they do like the early church at Pentecost. There is more division that unity; more fighting than peace; more exclusivity than inclusion.

I wonder what our churches (and our world) would look like if we allowed the Holy Spirit to move amongst us as it did on that Pentecost Sunday we read about in Acts 2? I believe that the “signs” of the Holy Spirit (prophesying, interpreting, faith, healing and miracles) are less important than the way those gifts are acted out. As the Corinthians passage states: we have all been given different gifts, but it is the same Spirit who gives these gifts. The Spirit that gives these gifts is God’s Spirit. It is a Spirit of love, grace and peace. Therefore, the people enacting these gifts should be displaying these same characteristics as they do so.

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