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Empowered to speak with the tongue of God

Pentecost Sunday (ABC), Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11 (Lectionary 063, May 15, 2005)

This Sunday’s reading is like the reading for Ascension Day: it is a "constitutive" reading which gives the scriptural foundation for the feast that is being celebrated, and so it is read for this liturgical celebration in each of the three years of the Lectionary cycle.

Luke begins his narrative by giving us its religious context. It was the Jewish feast of Pentecost — the Feast of Weeks — when the Jews offered thanks for the wheat harvest but also celebrated the gift of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai (and thus the formal religious establishment of God’s people).

The apostles were all together when a great noise filled the house where they were, just as a great sound had accompanied God’s arrival on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:16). There was fire, too, just as God had come down onto Mt. Sinai in fire to give the law to Moses (Exodus 19:18). This time the fire was in the form of tongues, because the gift that God was now giving would be a gift of speech. The apostles were being empowered to speak with the tongue of God. And speak they did, in all sorts of different languages.

Now Luke turns our attention from the apostles to the people of Jerusalem. A large crowd gathered — Jews from all over the world, some of whom may have been permanent residents of Jerusalem, some pilgrims come to celebrate the Feast of Weeks. They didn’t know what to make of it all. The apostles were speaking in everybody’s native language! Now comes a list of all the places they were from. It reads like a survey of the geography of the ancient world. Practically any place you could think of was represented there. But although the languages were different and the homelands were many, they all heard the same thing: the apostles speaking of "the mighty acts of God."

In this second chapter of Acts, our reading leads into an extended speech of Peter about what God’s mighty acts were (vv. 14- 40). In that Pentecost sermon, Peter sets forth how Jesus constituted the fulfillment of what the prophets had preached, how He was the Messiah that had been promised, how He had been rejected by the Jews, how it was necessary to be baptized in His name in order to be saved. These were the saving achievements of God that opened up vast new horizons of faith.

The Lectionary does not give us this first apostolic sermon as part of our reading. But in the introduction to the speech that we do hear on Pentecost, there is still a wealth of teaching, of teaching about the church.

First of all, what we hear about the events of that day teach us that what the apostles were proclaiming was something new. It was a new law, the law of Jesus; a new people, the people of Jesus. Yet the giving of this law and the founding of this people was a sort of remembrance, indeed a repetition of the giving of the law and the establishment of the people that their ancestors had experienced on Sinai. The church remains rooted in the experience of the Jewish people and still looks to the story of God’s care for them as the story of God’s care for us.

What happened on that first Christian Pentecost was clearly under the direction of the Holy Spirit. So is the church today.

That first public proclamation was an exercise of the ministry of the word. Notice how often words like "speak," "proclaim," "hear" appear in our reading, not to mention the fiery tongues! The church today is a community of preaching, of speaking out the mighty acts of God in all the languages of the world.

This initial proclamation was carried out by the apostles. Their successors, the bishops of the church, are still responsible for what the church proclaims today.

What the apostles had to say was addressed to people from all over the world. From day one, the church was universal. It is still universal, i.e., catholic, today.

Finally, the events of that first Christian Pentecost took place in an exclusive context of Judaism. The people were from all over the world, but they were all Jews, Jews by birth or by conversion. This would change. There would be development in the apostles’ awareness of the church. In fact, the whole rest of Acts is the story of how the church grew and changed from being a Jewish sect to becoming an all-embracing community. The church of today is the same church that had its beginning on that Pentecost day in Jerusalem, but it is a church that is still growing and developing.

For reflection and discussion

How have I experienced the Holy Spirit working in the church?

Where do I see growth and development in the church?



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	*Overtures* Reflection on the first readings of the Sunday liturgy By Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk Empowered to speak with the tongue of God Pentecost Sunday (ABC), Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11 (Lectionary 063, May 15, 2005) This Sunday’s reading is like the reading for Ascension Day: it is a "constitutive" reading which gives the scriptural foundation for the feast that is being celebrated, and so it is read for this liturgical celebration in each of the three years of the Lectionary cycle. Luke begins his narrative by giving us its religious context. It was the Jewish feast of Pentecost — the Feast of Weeks — when the Jews offered thanks for the wheat harvest but also celebrated the gift of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai (and thus the formal religious establishment of God’s people). The apostles were all together when a great noise filled the house where they were, just as a great sound had accompanied God’s arrival on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:16). There was fire, too, just as God had come down onto Mt. Sinai in fire to give the law to Moses (Exodus 19:18). This time the fire was in the form of tongues, because the gift that God was now giving would be a gift of speech. The apostles were being empowered to speak with the tongue of God. And speak they did, in all sorts of different languages. Now Luke turns our attention from the apostles to the people of Jerusalem. A large crowd gathered — Jews from all over the world, some of whom may have been permanent residents of Jerusalem, some pilgrims come to celebrate the Feast of Weeks. They didn’t know what to make of it all. The apostles were speaking in everybody’s native language! Now comes a list of all the places they were from. It reads like a survey of the geography of the ancient world. Practically any place you could think of was represented there. But although the languages were different and the homelands were many, they all heard the same thing: the apostles speaking of "the mighty acts of God." In this second chapter of Acts, our reading leads into an extended speech of Peter about what God’s mighty acts were (vv. 14- 40). In that Pentecost sermon, Peter sets forth how Jesus constituted the fulfillment of what the prophets had preached, how He was the Messiah that had been promised, how He had been rejected by the Jews, how it was necessary to be baptized in His name in order to be saved. These were the saving achievements of God that opened up vast new horizons of faith. The Lectionary does not give us this first apostolic sermon as part of our reading. But in the introduction to the speech that we do hear on Pentecost, there is still a wealth of teaching, of teaching about the church. First of all, what we hear about the events of that day teach us that what the apostles were proclaiming was something new. It was a new law, the law of Jesus; a new people, the people of Jesus. Yet the giving of this law and the founding of this people was a sort of remembrance, indeed a repetition of the giving of the law and the establishment of the people that their ancestors had experienced on Sinai. The church remains rooted in the experience of the Jewish people and still looks to the story of God’s care for them as the story of God’s care for us. What happened on that first Christian Pentecost was clearly under the direction of the Holy Spirit. So is the church today. That first public proclamation was an exercise of the ministry of the word. Notice how often words like "speak," "proclaim," "hear" appear in our reading, not to mention the fiery tongues! The church today is a community of preaching, of speaking out the mighty acts of God in all the languages of the world. This initial proclamation was carried out by the apostles. Their successors, the bishops of the church, are still responsible for what the church proclaims today. What the apostles had to say was addressed to people from all over the world. From day one, the church was universal. It is still universal, i.e., catholic, today. Finally, the events of that first Christian Pentecost took place in an exclusive context of Judaism. The people were from all over the world, but they were all Jews, Jews by birth or by conversion. This would change. There would be development in the apostles’ awareness of the church. In fact, the whole rest of Acts is the story of how the church grew and changed from being a Jewish sect to becoming an all-embracing community. The church of today is the same church that had its beginning on that Pentecost day in Jerusalem, but it is a church that is still growing and developing. For reflection and discussion** How have I experienced the Holy Spirit working in the church? Where do I see growth and development in the church?

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