1st Reading Acts 2:1-11
Psalm 104:1ab and 24ac, 29bc-30, 31 & 34 (R. cf. 30)
R:// "Lord, send forth your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth"
2nd Reading 1 Corinthians 12: 3b-7, 12-13
Gospel John 20:19-23
CARRY THE FIRE OF THE SPIRIT
Dear friends, Peace and Goodness!
Today is 50 days after Easter. This day is called Pentecost, as it is derived from the Greek word "Pentecote", which means "fiftieth". Today also marks the official end of the Season of Easter. Let us look at the readings for today. We shall dwell on two details each from the first reading, Acts 2:1-11, and the Gospel from John 20:19-23.
The first reading from Acts 2:1-11 is the popular event of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of PENTECOST. The first detail follows from this and the opening of the reading, thus, "When the day of PENTECOST had come..." (Acts 11:1). The mention of Pentecost sounds strange to a Christian reader. However, for a Jewish audience or reader, it is very clear. Pentecost was not a Christian invention. It is a Jewish festival. Pentecost is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word "Shavuot" (Feast of Weeks). Shavuot was one of the three (3) great pilgrimage feasts (shalosh regalim) on which every male Israelite, even in the diaspora (outside home) was required to present himself before the Lord in Jerusalem (Deut. 16:16). This added to the festive nature of Shavuot (or Pentecost) and accounted for the great population in Jerusalem in Acts 2:1-11, thus, "now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven" (Acts 2: 5).
Traditionally, what happens on Shavuot (or Pentecost)? The celebration commemorates two events in the life of Israel. We note the first from Leviticus 23:15-16. There we get to know that Shavuot was to be celebrated 50 days after offering the 1st barley sheaf at Passover. It was the feast of firstfruits at which two loaves of leavened bread, baked from the new wheat, were offered to God (Lev. 23:17). The second event Shavuot commemorates, in later history, is the giving of the Law. How? In using Exodus 19 and Leviticus 23, the Jewish Rabbis teach that the arrival at Sinai in the third month was in the 3rd month after the offering of the Passover omer in Egypt. Therefore, from offering the omer during the Passover in Egypt (on 16th Nisan) to the reception of the Law or Torah on Sinai (on 6th Sivan) is 50 days. The law was received on the 50th day. The principal event at Sinai is the reception of the Law. On this basis, Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Law.
Let's add an interesting detail. According to the Jewish commentary and interpretation of the Law, called the Talmud (Shabbat 88b), at Sinai, God spoke in 70 languages simultaneously so that all the nations of the world could hear and choose whether to receive the Law (or Torah). The implication was that the world was summoned to hear the Word of God. Now, pay attention to the 1st Reading and you would begin to realise that the author, Luke, lists 15 nations. The author even adds that there were "men from every nation under Heaven" (Acts 2: 5) in Jerusalem during the feast of Pentecost. The Jewish Rabbis also teach that at the time of the giving of the Law, there were 70 languages in the world (Gen. 10-11; Deut. 32:8; Exod. 19:19). There is a natural connection between "...from every nation under Heaven" and "70 languages" as the languages spoken at the time of the Sinai, suggesting 70 nations. What happened at Sinai is happening again. Pentecost is the new Sinai. At the 1st Sinai, God gave the Law written on stone tablets by his own finger (Exod. 31:8). At Pentecost in Jerusalem, the Law is being written on hearts (Jer. 31:33; Ezek. 36:27).
God's choice of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, commemorating Shavuot, shows that God's timing is always exact for whatever happens in our lives. Every occurrence, even in our lives, has a reason, commemorates something and looks forward to another.
The second detail is that the arrival of the Spirit is shown by two signs. The first is a violent rushing WIND filling the entire house, and the second is the tongues as of FIRE resting on each person. In Scripture, wind and fire are two most consistent signs of God's own presence and the author of Acts, Luke, uses them deliberately. The WIND is "Pneuma" in Greek and is "rūaḥ" in Hebrew. The same, word "rūaḥ", appears in Genesis 1:2 when the Spirit of God hovered over the formless waters at creation. It is also the same word used when the Spirit split the Red Sea at the Exodus (Exod. 14:21), what carries Elijah to Horeb (1 Kings 19:11) and bringing life to dry bones (Ezek. 37:9). If that image is used in Acts, then it strongly suggests the sense of Newness, of a new Creation, through the work of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Responsorial Psalm prays, "Lord, send forth your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth" (Psalm 104:30). The second image, FIRE, is seen in the burning bush (Exod. 3:2), the pillar of fire that descended on Mount Sinai (Exod. 19:18), and the fire that consumed Elijah's altar at the contest on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:38). However, in Acts, that fire does something new. Previously, the fire fell on a single place like a bush, a mountain, an altar, or a building. In Acts, the fire divides and comes to rest on each of them. The divine fire which was associated with the Temple or single places, now has multiple places, falling on different people. Each person in that room becomes a Temple, carries the Shekinah (the divine dwelling presence) written within them.
The Gospel, from John 20:19-23, is also not a new passage. It is part of the pericope for the Gospel for Divine Mercy Sunday. Therefore, it is a familiar text. What two points should we take from it?
The first is that we need only stop at verse 22 and look at the phrase "He breathed on them". In Greek, it is "enephysēsen". It is a compound of 'en' (into) and 'psysaō' (to blow or breathe), thus, "to blow into". In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, called the Septuagint, the Greek phrase is the same in only one other place in the Septuagint, that is in Genesis 2:7: "The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and BREATHED INTO into his nostrils the breath of life [enephysēsen] and man became a living being. What is happening in the locked room on Easter evening is a second creation. This is where John's account (the Gospel) of the Pentecost and the tradition of Shavuot converge at their deepest point. Shavuot is the feast of the giving of the Torah, the day God breathed his Word into the life of a people and constituted them as his covenant community. John, in saying "breathed into them", is the moment of putting the Lord within them.
Let us end by looking at what the Spirit gave. The spirit gave Peace (Shalom). This word appears two times in the Gospel passage. Jesus said "Peace be with you". The concept of Shalom in Hebrew is the state of completeness, wholeness, right ordering of relationships with God, others, oneself, and creation. It is a state of restoration. This is spoken to people who have lost. The presence of the Spirit is restorative. It is what the Messianic age was promised to bring (Isa 9:6). It is what the Aaronic blessing invoked over the whole people of Israel: "The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you shalom" (Num 6:26). When Jesus says shalom, he is not offering a pleasant greeting. He is pronouncing a blessing that covers and restores everything that has been broken, including, very specifically, the failures and denials and flights of the disciples themselves. Before anything else happens, grace arrives. Before the commission, the healing.
Notice that between the first and second shalom, John inserts a single action: "he showed them his hands and his side." The wounds are presented. And the disciples rejoice not despite the wounds, but because of them. The wounds are the credentials of the peace. They establish that this peace is not cheap, not an easy forgetting of what happened. This is a peace that has been purchased at the full price of the Cross, and the price is still visible, written permanently in the Risen Body. He carries the history of the Passion with him into the Resurrection.
These are a few points from the readings of the day to aid our reflections.
Pax et Bonum
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