John 15,26-27; 16,12-15.
Pentecost Sunday is the birthday of the church, the day when the new era of the Spirit began. In the first chapter of the Bible, we are told that when God created the earth it was a formless void, but the Spirit of God hovered over it, giving it shape and order. The beginning of the church came about in roughly the same way. After the death and resurrection of Jesus, his disciples, despite his appearances to them, were still a formless, fearful band of followers. With the coming of the Spirit, at Pentecost, they were changed dramatically, becoming new creations. They were transformed from being fearful, anxious, silent disciples, into fearless, eloquent, witnesses to Jesus. The mighty wind and the tongues of fire are fitting images for the energy and warmth of the Holy Spirit descending upon them.
Filled with the Holy Spirit, they received the gift of tongues, (a standard gift of the Spirit), and could be understood by people from all the surrounding countries, gathered there, who were amazed to hear them speaking in their own languages about the marvels of God.
Originally, Pentecost was a harvest feast celebrating the completion of the ingathering of the grain. It occurred fifty days after the feast of Unleavened Bread which began the grain harvest. For the people of Israel, Pentecost, also, was also the commemoration of the giving of the law to Moses on Mt. Sinai.
The Pentecost story stands the story of the Tower of Babel on its head. In that story (Gen 11, 1-9), the people had become so arrogant as to want to climb up into heaven, God’s dwelling place. God punished them by giving each person a different language so that they could no longer communicate or cooperate to plot other wicked schemes. In Pentecost we see language perform exactly the opposite function. In Genesis Ch 12, immediately after the Tower of Babel incident, the story of salvation begins, with the call of Abraham, and it reaches its completion in Pentecost.
The harvest of sin at Babel, marked by a complete breakdown in communication between peoples, is now replaced by the harvest of grace at Pentecost marked by a perfect communication between the apostles and the peoples of all nations. Pentecost, the feast of the giving of the Holy Spirit, marks the completion of the harvest of grace from Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Today’s gospel also associates the giving of the Spirit with the forgiveness of sins.
Pentecost, the anniversary feast of the giving of the law at Sinai acquires a radically new meaning as the feast of the giving of the Spirit, whose law is love.
Today’s second reading from I Cor. 12 speaks of “a variety of gifts of but always the same Spirit.” Do you think of yourself as a person gifted by the Spirit? If you do, then, what gifts has the Spirit given to you and how are you using them? If you don’t think of yourself as a gifted person, you should, because you are Spirit- filled from your Baptism and Confirmation, and in other ways, too. The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are ; wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the lord.
The Holy Spirit unites us with God and each other, in love (1 Jn. 4,13). He enlightens and guides us as to how best to express this love, (Jn. 14,25-26), and enables us to serve God and others.
Please pray for the church whose birthday it is today, and for Pope Francis its head.
Fr Geoff O’Grady