Hello my friends!

I hope this finds you doing well.

Pentecost has become such a meaningful Sunday and season for me. I think because being raised in Fundamentalism/Evangelicalism and not really following the liturgical calendar, it has caused me to be more curious about it in my adult life.

What I have discovered about Pentecost has resonated with me deeply, especially in how it is seen as the “birth of the church” and what it means for us Christians today.

First, let's look at Acts 2:1-21 together:

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,[b] 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

Peter Addresses the Crowd

14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 “‘In the last days, God says,
 I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
 your young men will see visions,
 your old men will dream dreams.

18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
 I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
 and they will prophesy.

19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.

20 The sun will be turned to darkness
 and the moon to blood
 before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

21 And everyone who calls
 on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Okay, now let’s start with that name: “pentecost.” As with all of scripture, understanding the Jewish context behind it is always so important.

The Festival of Weeks or “Shavuot” occurs seven weeks after Passover in the Jewish tradition. It then begins on the fiftieth day after Passover. The Greek word for fiftieth is “pentekoste," which is the name it has today. Pentecost is one of the three festivals many Jewish people would make pilgrimage to Jerusalem for, with the other two being Passover and the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles of course.

This is why in our passage we just read, we see so many from all the nations of the world gathered in Jerusalem.

Pentecost is a festival celebrating the harvest time, where families would bring the first fruits of their crops in anticipation of God blessing the remainder of the harvest season (Exodus 23:16; Deuteronomy 26:5-11).

This makes Pentecost already very symbolically rich for imagining the beginning of a bountiful event, but in Acts’ case what was we see being blessed by God is not food, but human beings.

Another component that makes Pentecost especially meaningful in the Jewish context is that it is connected to the day commemorating when the Israelites received the Torah or Law from God through Moses.

In the first century, it was common Jewish belief that the Torah was embodied in two ways, the written Torah and the oral Torah. God had written the first on stone and the second was handed down orally from generation to generation. Many aspects of the oral Torah would not be written down until the end of the 2nd century, which is known as the “Mishnah.” One had to learn both embodiments of the Torah and the oral embodiment had to be given to them by a teacher, not a text.

This is especially significant in the book of Acts as the entire Jewish community would later be reckoning with what it looked like to pass the oral Torah along given that so much of the written Torah would be destroyed with the Temple in 70 AD by the Romans.

This also connects to how the Holy Spirit arrives: through fire, smoke, and loud noises, so similar to when Moses received God’s holy words. Where God had spoken through a burning bush, God would now speaks through people. Where God had been present on a mountain, God would be present among the people. Where God had written on stone, God would now write on human hearts.

This imagery not only points to the past but towards the future with the culmination of history, most often called in the Bible, “the Day of the Lord.” As Peter points to in referencing the Prophet Joel (Joel 3:1-5), fire, smoke, blood, and loud noises would also mark God’s presence at the culmination of “the last days.” Thus, this Pentecost in Acts was the first Pentecost, celebrating the harvest of “the last days.” It marked the beginning of the final era before God would culminate all creation, history, and humanity.

Thus, Pentecost shows us that the church was “born” to reflect what heaven is and will be when it covers all of creation. Also, the “last days,” is the period between Christ’s ascension into heaven and Christ’s second coming. We have been in the “last days” for the last +2,000 years.

As we will see, these “last days” are not to be treated with fear and terror as many “end times” theologies would have us do. Rather, they are to be treated as the days that God is reconciling, unifying, and tearing down all barriers that separate God from humanity and humanity from one another. It is to be a celebration of hope over what is to come.

I like to think of Pentecost as a kind of reversal of the Tower of Babel. There, the people’s languages were confused and they were dispersed into chaos because they were arrogantly trying to build a tower to contain God for themselves, to make themselves powerful. At Pentecost, God gives the power of the Holy Spirit freely to those who were waiting in patience and humility and they were sent out in unity among others with many diverse languages.

All this context and symbolism for me helps to get at the heart of the matter for us today. If Pentecost is the “birth of the church,” who are we as the church called to be in these “last days?”

It is important to note here that the Greek word we derive the word “church” from is “ecclesia,” which means “called out ones” [ECC = out; KALEO = call].

So, just as God called Israel to be a collective, unified people that would be a “light to the world,” we are meant to ask ourselves, what is the call for the collective body of Christ, the “church?”

I think Pentecost gives us a radical answer to this question!

We find that answer in how the Holy Spirit is “poured out.”

In verse 17, we hear Peter quoting Joel as saying that “in the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all people.” God goes on to really drive home how “all means all” in the phrase “all people.”

We see the Holy Spirit breaking down every barrier we humans typically use to discriminate, devalue, and separate others from ourselves.

Yet what is so important to note here is that the Holy Spirit is a gift. The Greek word for Holy Spirit is “Paráklētos,” which literally means, ‘counselor,’ ‘companion,’ ‘helper,’ and ‘advocate.’ It is not a colonizing force that invades as it pleases and obliterates human identity and diversity, but an advocate that brings unity and peace through the beauty of diversity!

The Holy Spirit begins with language. Where we humans so often discriminate people for their national and ethnic identity, the Holy Spirit doesn’t force everyone to speak the same language, yet all who were present heard the wonders of God in their own native tongue. (Verse 11).

Where we humans so often discriminate others based on their religious or nonreligious beliefs, the Holy Spirit is poured out on Jewish people, converts to Judaism, and all those who would be considered not Jewish or “gentiles” present, which includes us Christians too!

Where we humans so often resorts to patriarchy, sexism, and gender discrimination, we see the Holy Spirit not discriminating, but being poured out on both “sons and daughters.” (Verse 17)

Where we humans so often discriminate between generations, calling the older generations old and obsolete and the younger generations lazy and entitled, the Holy Spirit is poured out on both the “young and the old.” (Verse 17)

Where we humans so often discriminate and show animosity towards the poor, the Holy Spirit doesn’t show favoritism depending on economic status and is poured out on even those the world sees as “servants.” (Verse 18).

Notice how God says “all people,” but does not seem to mention the rich, the famous, the enslavers, the able bodied, and the powerful? We shouldn’t take this to mean that they do not also receive the Holy Spirit, but it is yet another instance of God being a God who first and foremost “advocates” for those the world chronically neglects, discriminates, and oppresses.

It is a powerful way of calling those who might benefit from the subjugation of those who are now their equals in receiving the same spirit of God to repent and “call upon the name of God and be saved.” (Verse 21)

I believe Pentecost paints such a powerful picture of who the church is “called out” to be in our world.

The church is called to be a people that sees the spirit of God in “all people,” no matter their nationality, ethnicity, religion, race, gender, sexuality, ability, or social standing.

The church is called to be a people who look for the Spirit of God in all people, not because they see themselves as the only ones who have ownership over God’s spirit, but because God has chosen to pour out the Holy Spirit on “all people.”

The church is called to be a people who live and move in the way of God’s spirit, not the colonizing and conquering way of the empire, but by the gifts of unity, understanding, diversity, healing, solidarity, and peace.

The church is called to be a people who are “advocates” and “companions” like the Holy Spirit, to the least, the lowly, the marginalized, and the poor, speaking the truth of God’s radical, reconciling work to the broken and corrupt powers of this world.

Imagine if the church fully embraced this Pentecost call in our world today.

Now I want to hear from you. How do you feel about the vision of Pentecost described here and how it relates to who the church is called to be? Do you have different thoughts? Send me a message and tell me about them.

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Thank you all for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every week.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Ben

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