May 19, 2024. Texts: Acts 2:1-21; Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15.
A Reflection on the Day of Pentecost in Three Words
The first word is Spirit.
The spectacular interruption of an ordinary Pentecost harvest festival would never have happened at all if God’s Spirit hadn’t decided to join the fun. Hold that thought – it wasn’t so much an interruption as a disruption. Needless to say, people were surprised. Including many who don’t really like surprises. Even from God. You know who you are.
Some said afterward that it was a defining moment with God that reversed the old Tower of Babel incident. Before that, all humans spoke one language. Afterward humans were faced with language barriers and mutual suspicion. But is God really that obvious? And was our language barrier just a technical matter in need of a divine fix? Really?
Another difficulty with the Babel reversal theory is that during and after the Pentecost festival that day, there was still a lot of incomprehension. Some people only heard sounds they neither understood nor appreciated. And even those who heard their own languages spoken were conflicted about the meaning of it all.
Was Peter right in saying that it was the end-time fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy? Well, if he was right, then those should have been the last days. But they weren’t. And that’s a little awkward, right? But let’s give Peter credit for seizing the moment to witness to God’s activity.
God’s Spirit has been around since the beginning. You know – Genesis: in the beginning the wind of God moved over the water…and all that? A lot has been said about the Spirit. And here’s the thing. We have not even begun to say all that there is to say about the Spirit.
In fact. What we still need to learn is how to shut up and listen. And then before we go all prognostication on something, take some time to reflect. Because the Spirit is God on the move among us. Get ready for God’s speaking…creating anew…purifying.
Joel was right though – these things come down to God making such a splash that we remember that God really is. It’s not us who formed the earth; who breathes life back into us when we have been blown apart by circumstances we didn’t anticipate; who does a hard reset when we need it. So when we need a good wash and rinse, a deep soul cleanse with the Spirit’s help, whose name are we gonna call (again and again)? Jesus, God: same thing really.
The second word is hope.
When is there ever enough hope? Young children can give us hope. But then they grow up and join the merry band of us who have found that life can deal out a lot of disappointment.
I used to play soccer. Coed mostly. It was great while the score was pretty even. But once things got lopsided, then people started to get desperate to get even, and then to get ahead. Would do anything to make that happen. And then people stated getting hurt. Always works that way.
Problem is, a lack of hope breaks us down. So we strike out. But didn’t Jesus say that what looks like strength is really weakness? We forget to pray. We begin to think that if we don’t make things happen in our lives nothing will happen. We fear we may even fall completely apart.
A world without hope works that way too. And when we over-function, God pretty much becomes invisible to us. Then because we are afraid we’re on our own, we go to very ugly places: unfriending, intolerance, acts of spite and malice, resource hoarding, wars. All with plausible deniability. As if God doesn’t know what’s going on in our minds.
Jesus came to help us. To de-escalate us. To help us see God again. To teach us to pray again. We don’t even need words really. There no prayer that works as well as hope when we are speechless, as the Spirit knows. Let’s just remember that, okay?
The third word is truth.
There are many truths. Pilate said that very thing to Jesus. What is truth? One thing is for sure: no single human or human institution owns the truth. It’s not some philosophy or wisdom you can learn either.
You want to know the truth? It will never be anything that someone says to you or teaches you. It is not what you think or believe over and against what someone else thinks or believes.
Pilate got it wrong. Truth is not a what. Truth is a who. (Or should it be whom?) The truth is and always was this: God. God is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Jesus knew his followers would still forget this in times of stress. Believe in all manner of falsehoods. Go bad places in our minds and hearts. But thankfully, as Jesus said, the Holy Spirit is the best legal counsel we could ever have. There will be mercy. God is that kind of truth.
The Day of Pentecost is a lot to take in. We start here, children of God. Spirit, hope, truth. It’s just the beginning of a lifelong education. For our own good, naturally.