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57. The Outpouring of
the Holy Spirit.
On the Jewish feast
of Pentecost, fifty days after the resurrection, the disciples were all
together with one accord. Suddenly a great sound came from heaven and
filled the whole house where they were sitting, and small flames
appeared. It was then that the disciples received the Holy Spirit that
Jesus had promised them. A strange and rapid change took place in their
inner being, which no one can describe, what it was and how it happened.
For no one knows what is in a person without the spirit of the person
who is in him. They were now suddenly completely different people than
they had been before. All the powers of their spirit and mind were
elevated and sanctified. They spoke with other tongues after the Spirit
gave them utterance. In particular, their hearts were enlivened with joy
and courage to proclaim the gospel of the Risen Lord to all people. All
the fear that had previously held their hearts captive had now
disappeared.
When the roar was heard, the people ran together into the house where
the disciples were, as curiosity tends to do. Among them were also many
foreign Jews from all parts of the world who had come to Jerusalem to
celebrate the feast. They had heard about the disciples before. They
thought they would meet simple-minded people who could not even speak
tolerably to other people in their Galilean way of speaking. Oh, how
they marvelled when they saw these highly enlightened and eloquent men
and heard them speak of the great deeds of God. They said to one another,
"Are not all these who are speaking from Galilee? How then do we each
hear the language in which we were born? What will this become?" But
some even mocked, claiming that the disciples were drunk, even though it
was only the third hour of the day. Recklessness seeks opportunities for
mockery everywhere. A prudent mind finds opportunity for reflection
everywhere.
Peter stood up and spoke to them about how God had already promised the
Holy Spirit in the days of the prophets, and now this promise was being
fulfilled. ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ he said, "the man of God, whom you
crucified and killed; him God raised up, of whom we are all witnesses.
And now that he has been lifted up by the right hand of God, he has
given us the Holy Spirit, and God has made him Lord and Christian."
‘Repent,’ he said, "and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of sin. For this promise is for you and your children, and
for all who are afar off, whom God will call." About three thousand
people were baptised that same day, and their number grew daily.
This was the first Christian Pentecost, which is also still celebrated
in all churches today, fifty days after Easter, when God's living breath
blows through the blossoming spring and fertilises the year. Every
Sunday is a memorial feast, firstly for God's bodily benefits in
creation, secondly for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, thirdly
for the sending of the Holy Spirit, a holy and joyful day, a holy
Trinity Day.
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