PENTECOST SUNDAY
1Corintiahns 12:3-7, 12-13
John 20:19-23
“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me,
so I am sending you…Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Last two Sundays ago, our gospel’s theme was centered on the promise of the Holy Spirit. Last Sunday, we celebrated the solemnity of the Lord’s ascension. Today is Pentecost Sunday. Even at a glance, we see that our liturgy sets our celebration with certain harmonious continuity. This we understand because Pentecost holds so large a place in our liturgical calendar. Thus, we are prepared liturgically to celebrate it in a most appropriate way. And in the light of our reading’s thematic continuity, we meditate today on a two-fold theological significance of Pentecost: first, Pentecost is the fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Spirit; second, Pentecost marks the birth of the church.
1. First and foremost, Pentecost is the feast of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This is typically a New Testament understanding. It teaches us that the promise of the Holy Spirit is fulfilled on this day. Of course, the spirit has been our constant companion as a pilgrim people, but his abiding presence is well manifest since Pentecost. In the economy of our salvation, we understand that with Pentecost the epoch of the Holy Spirit begins. Te coming of the spirit on Pentecost is made manifest in two great images: the Wind and the fire.
a. Today’s first reading opens, thus: “When Pentecost day came round, they had all
met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind
from heaven…” Surely, we must understand that this powerful wind is the
spirit, which Christ himself breathed on the apostles as narrated to us in the
gospel: “And when he said this, he
breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit…” But what is
more interesting in this Pentecostal experience is that Christ connects the
giving of the spirit with the forgiveness of sins: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are
retained.’”
The
personification of the Spirit as Wind is
as early as the Old Testament. However, the coming of the Holy Spirit as a
fulfillment of the promise certainly gives us a more profound insight. Of
course, we must understand that in both contexts, wind means spirit of life. But in the New Testament, this Spirit of
life not only animates the physical aspect of creation, but more importantly,
the spirit fosters the spiritual aspect of it. If remaining in the spirit life,
detaching from him means death. Here we must recall what Christ himself once
admonished. The person who sins against the Son may be forgiven, but not the
one who sins against the Spirit (Mt
Only the spirit can bring us back to the bosom of the divine, to the real life of grace. This means, therefore, that life in the spirit is reconciliatory. The spirit cannot enter and move a person enslaved by sin. But neither can a person be freed from sin without the spirit. Hence the presence of the spirit is determinant. He is not only the principle of life, but he is also the fountain of that life, which brings reconciliation and the source of that reconciliation, which brings life.
b. The second personification of the
spirit on Pentecost is Fire or Tongues of Fire. The same reading
continues: “…and something appeared to
them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the
head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit…”
The fire on Pentecost is complimentary to the wind that brings life. This fire gives courage and unity to the apostles and the first Christians. This fire is the spirit. And the spirit now sets the hearts of the apostles on fire so that they who hid in their rooms will now come out to the world. Gone are their fears. What animates and moves them is the spirit of courage that strengthens them before kings and governors and gives wisdom before the courts. With the spirit of courage, the apostles are filled with that burning desire to proclaim the boldest message of the resurrection.
But not only
that. The spirit of courage is also the spirit of unity. On Pentecost, it was
not an ordinary fire but Tongues of fire.
The symbolism of “tongue” reminds us of the Old Testament
2. With the fulfillment of the promise, Pentecost marks the birth of the church. This is what we understand even as Jesus would say to his apostles: “I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” This power that clothes them with is the Holy Spirit who accompanies them, directs them and blesses them in their world mission. So, once the spirit has clothed them with power from on high the apostles’ life is never the same again. The spirit himself now leads their very lives. It is not surprising, then, that day by day a great number of believers are added to their flock. With this, the church is born.
Every believer becomes a member of the church, and every member shares the mission of the church. That is why the spirit always stays with the church and continuously works in the church. It was no surprising, then, that even amidst intellectual poverty, the apostle stood up as eloquent speakers and courageous preachers. He kyregmatic discourses of Peter and Paul are strong evidences of such wisdom that could come only from the fountain of truth. The spirit of wisdom guides these poor fishermen. And the same spirit guides the leaders of the early church especially in crucial moments when they have to make important and delicate decisions.
The Pentecostal
experience undoubtedly provides the apostles and the early Christians the
eagerness and enthusiasm to live and uphold a communitarian life. As we know,
it is the Spirit of unity that drives them to surrender everything they have
and live in common. These, then, are the real and genuine early basic Christian
communities who “remained faithful
teaching of the Apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of the bread and
to the prayers” (Acts