PENTECOST

Finally - after all the waiting - it is here!
May 23, 2010; our time
May 24 in 33 A D

Jeremiah 31:33
Luke 24:45-53
Acts 1:1-5
Acts 2:1-41
Hebrews 12:1-3


In Jesus day, Shavu’ot – the Festival of Weeks – was the next major festival following Passover. It honored the giving of the Torah at Mt Sinai. It was also known as the the Festival of the First Fruits, a celebration of when the first fruits were harvested and brought as offerings to the Temple. It’s name of Pentecost came from the original instruction that it was to be fifty days after Passover. I’m sure there is a lot more research I could do to learn about the entire history – but those tidbits provide me enough information to thrill my soul.

Pentecost, as a celebration of the giving of the Torah – God’s words written on tablets of stone – is a significant precursor to Pentecost in 33 A D when God’s Word became written on men’s hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit, the promised Comforter who was to come.

Jesus made that possible by his death on the cross. He endured the cross, despising its shame, for the joy set before him. What was that joy? Us. We are his inheritance. Everything he suffered was for our redemption – and he finished the work he came to accomplish: to give us access to God Almighty.

When Jesus lived on earth, he was both fully God and fully human, but his humanity limited his mobility. He could only be one place at one time. Now, through the power of the Holy Spirit, he could be everywhere, with everyone at one time.

That day – +-May 24, 33 A D, was just 10 days after Jesus’ ascension. The disciples had obeyed his command to go back and wait – which included lots of time dedicated to prayer. They were obedient and expectant. They weren’t told what day the promise would come – but the fulfillment of the promise on the date it was fulfilled is significant.

That Pentecost was different than all others before it. It was fulfillment. God was no longer distant and available only once a year to one high priest and a few chosen prophets, he became available to every one who seeks him. And – it was the date that marked the beginning of the Christ-ones’ church – literally, the beginning of Christianity.

In my years in the Presbyterian Church, that beginning was honored. Now, in the Pentecostal church I am in, it isn’t even mentioned. Go figure. But I wore red today! Red, which is symbolic of the tongues of fire that came down on those in the upper room. Then they carried their message to the streets – and 3,000 were added to the church that day! Wow!

It’s odd to me that we celebrate Christmas on a day and season Jesus wasn’t born – and then do not celebrate the coming of the promised Holy Spirit…. For some reason it has become more apparent to me in the past couple of years. The Holy Spirit is the loving, gentle comforter – the One who leads us into all truth, if we only ask.

Lord, I’m asking….