May 19, 2024
Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2024 – Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3B-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23
Our major newspapers always used to cover a big event from several points of view. For example, let’s say a presidential inauguration. The news story would simply describe the event. And then, the society column might talk about the First Lady’s dress. And the food column might talk about the food served at the various inauguration balls. And the foreign correspondent would talk about who was invited from foreign countries to attend the inauguration and who was not, and what it might portend for the future. And then the editorial page would talk about the Editor’s view of the incoming President. If they were in favor, the editorial would be very favorable; if they were not, then the editorial would be critical. But then the op-ed page would provide space for several knowledgeable commentators to offer an opposing view. And so, this one event could be looked upon in many different ways, yet it was just one event.
Did you notice the contradiction between our First Reading and our Gospel reading? The Book of Acts says that the Holy Spirit came fifty days after the Resurrection. The Gospel says that Jesus bestowed the Holy Spirit personally on Easter night. It couldn’t be both. It’s either one or the other. So, is somebody wrong? Was Luke, the writer of The Book of Acts, wrong? Or is John, the writer of the Gospel of John, wrong?
In the Second Reading, St. Paul talks about the many ways in which the Spirit is active in his community. He talks about charisms, gifts of grace. And, even though it’s one community, some people experience the power of the Spirit in one way, some in another way.
Our Scriptures are not eyewitness news. They are not simply the memories of, or the recounting of, what happened, but also an interpretation of what happened. St. Luke wrote his Acts of the Apostles around the year 85, when there were one set of concerns troubling the Church. John, the Gospel writer, wrote his gospel around the year 100, when there were another set of concerns troubling the Church. And so, they tell the story of the gift of the Spirit from different points of view.
The point of view in Acts has to do with the mission of the Church. Just before this episode, Luke had described Jesus’ Ascension. There’s a second description of the Ascension; he had one in his gospel. In his gospel, Jesus ascends to heaven on Easter night. In the Book of Acts, Jesus ascends forty days later, after giving instructions to the disciples to remain in Jerusalem until you receive the Holy Spirit and then, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, and yes, even to the ends of the Earth. So, Luke is very concerned about the worldwide mission of the Church. An insane thing to say in the year 85. They had hardly left the Mediterranean basin. The worldwide mission of the Church and what might hinder it. And so, the story of the giving of the Holy Spirit is all about that mission.
Notice that he says it’s as if there were tongues of fire. It’s as if they heard a loud wind blowing. Because those two images come from the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament. The very first time God makes his presence known to the escaping Jewish community is on Mount Sinai in what? Wind and fire. That’s how they know this is really real, through wind and fire. This is a new beginning, a new spreading out, so there must be wind and fire again. And, right after that, all the apostles begin to speak in different languages, even though they’re all Galileans. They speak in all sorts of different tongues because that is necessary for the mission.
John, in his gospel, portrays a very different story. What is the significance of Jesus breathing on the apostles before he says, “Receive the Holy Spirit?” I mean, that’s a bizarre gesture. Aaah! It’s because, in the very first line in the very first book of the Old Testament it says, “In the beginning, the earth was waste and void, and darkness brooded over the abyss. And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” A simple breath of the voice of God, and everything begins. A simple breath of the risen Lord Jesus, God the Son, and the world begins again. A chance for a new beginning. A very different story, isn’t it? They’re all sorts of different perspectives that focus our gospel stories and our Acts in different ways.
I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up, I wasn’t taught much about the Holy Spirit. We were taught about three persons in one God. We were taught about the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit, and that was pretty much it. No one ever taught us to pray to the Holy Spirit. I have a friend who prays to the Holy Spirit all the time. But most of us, we don’t pray to the Holy Spirit. So, I am inviting you to do that sometime soon. You know?
He’s called different things. The Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Righteousness, the Spirit of Consolation, the Spirit of Wisdom. So, if you’ve got a situation, instead of praying a really fast Our Father and a really fast Hail Mary, just say, “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” and then lay out before the Spirit your situation. This is what’s going on. I need what? I need clarity. I need guidance. I need comfort. All those things the Spirit can afford. And then you either sit quietly for a while or, alternatively, end your prayer right away and go about your business. And three or four days later, check back and see how you feel about that issue now. And, almost certainly, the needle will have moved a little bit. You might not yet have a complete answer to the question you asked the Spirit, but the Spirit will have moved the needle some way for you because, as St. Paul says in another place, “We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit, from within us, calls out to God the Father with unutterable groanings, speaking the words we dare not say.”