The Day of Pentecost, Cycle B
Acts 2:1-21, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
By Young Kim
Grace to you and peace from Jesus Christ who holds us and gives us life and remains in us. Amen.
Today is the day of Pentecost. Pentecost is one of the great festivals of the Church. It marks the coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples and their transformation. Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. It marks the beginning of Christianity. In Acts, immediately after Peter preached, around 3,000 people believed and were baptized.
Pentecost is also a very significant holiday in Judaism. There were 3 major holidays in Judaism which are Sukkot, Shavuot and Passover. In these holidays, all the Jewish men should travel to Jerusalem and visit the Temple. One of these holidays, Shavuot is called as Pentecost in the New Testament. The word, Pentecost, comes from Greek word and it means fifty. So Pentecost means the 50th day after the Sabbath of Passover week. Originally, this festival marked the beginning of the fruit harvest. A major feature of the celebration was the ceremony of bringing the "first fruits" to the Temple as an offering of thanks.
The reason why I explained about Pentecost in the beginning, it is because there are very important and interesting facts about this holiday. Firstly, Pentecost occurs on the 50th day after Passover. As you know, Jesus died on the day of Passover and he remained in the earth with his disciples for 40 days after his resurrection. When he ascended to heaven, he commended his disciples not to leave Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit came down from heaven on the day of Pentecost. Then, here is a question. How many days the disciples waited for the Holy Spirit? If you are good at Math, you will be able to calculate it. They only waited 7days after Jesus’ ascension.
Secondly, on the day of Pentecost, all the Jewish men must come to Jerusalem and worship God in the Temple. So there were so many people in the Jerusalem from all over the world. God chose the place and time that could reveal God’s work and wonder the most efficiently so that people as many as possible could witness, experience, and be amazed by the work of the Holy Spirit. How wonderful it is the way God works!
Thirdly, as I mentioned before, Pentecost is the holiday to celebrate the first fruit of the harvest and bring it to God as an offering of thanksgiving. It is amazing to find out how this day was chosen to symbolize the harvest of the over 3,000 first fruits of the church after the redemption ministry of Jesus Christ in this world. Isn’t it amazing?
Today’s reading tells us that they gathered in one place as usual. But suddenly, there was a sound like the blowing of a violent wind filling the whole house where they were sitting. They heard a sound like tornado or typhoon or hurricane. And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire and came to rest on each of them. Then, all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. And in verse 6, a crowd heard them speaking in tongues and they were amazed since they could understand what they were saying in their own languages.
However, there is a part with a missing detail in this text. If you see on verse 2, they were in a house but the crowd was able to listen to them speaking in tongues in verse 6. How could the crowd listen to them if they were inside the house? Probably there was a missing explanation between those verses. We can guess that they came out to the public with no fear after they experienced the Holy Spirit and prayed in tongues with loud voice. The Holy Spirit enabled them to overcome all the fear that they had after the crucifixion of Jesus.
Then, let’s think more deeply about the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? We know about God the Father in the Old Testaments and we know very well about Jesus Christ from the New Testament. But there are so many misconceptions about the Holy Spirit. People often think that the Holy Spirit is simply a moving power around us that is subordinate or secondary to God. In fact, the Holy Spirit is God Godself and here is how Jesus describes the Holy Spirit in the Gospels: First, advocate—someone who takes our side; second, truth-teller—someone whose words we can always count on; third, testifier—someone who speaks up for us; fourth, prover or judge—someone who can see what is right and make it plainly known; fifth, guide—someone who knows the way and is willing to show it to you; sixth, speaker—speaker of the words of God; last but not least, glorifier—glorifier of Christ. With these thorough descriptions of the Holy Spirit, we can learn that Holy Spirit is everything—everything that allows us to know God, love God, and be in God’s presence.
Now that we got to know better about the Holy Spirit, what does this knowledge about the Holy Spirit have to do with us?
I have two images to share with you about my understanding of the Holy Spirit. * When I read Exodus chapter 3 which is about God called Moses to be the leader of the Israelites to bring them out of Egypt. “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.” I read this text so many times, but at the moment, the word, “burning bush” captured my attention. I saw myself as the bush which bears no fruit itself, has no green leafs, has nothing special to catch others’ attention. The bush is all over the place in the desert. I am too. I am a normal person with no special knowledge or power to change the world. I have no eternal life in me but only heading towards death. But there comes a touch of God, the fire of anointing, burning me with the fire of God’s Spirit. The lifeless and powerless I am no more and only God, full of life and full of power, dwells in me. Then, I become a torch that God uses to shine the world for those in darkness. And I become the fuel to speak God’s word.
Another image I have is from my early twenties. Whenever something happened in my life, I tried hard to fix things by myself, but I always felt that I was rowing the boat in a wide, wide ocean without moving a bit. I was exhausted and was about to give up striving to go further in the course of my life. But when I met Jesus and accepted Him as my personal Savior, my life changed. It was as if the wind of the Holy Spirit was gently but firmly pushing and driving my boat so smoothly unlike it ever did before.
You may have your unique experiences about how the Holy Spirit changed you and worked for you in your life. So I ask you to recall the memories and pray to God to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Our life in this world is so uncertain, insecure and unreliable. So people are easily afraid, discouraged and perplexed when they face various life-challenging moments. We, Christians, too do the same thing. But if the Holy Spirit dwells in us and fills in us, we no longer have fear but have full of joy and enjoyment of God’s presence just like the disciples went out to the public and spread the good news of salvation with no fear and doubt. IN SEVEN DAYS, they changed into whole different persons. No one can do such things but the Holy Spirit. If you see today’s Old Testament reading in Ezekiel, the dry bones were just bones and flesh until breath entered them and gave them life. What great evidence we have that shows that the breeze of the Holy Spirit has a life-giving, a life-saving power!
I want you to look more into the story of Ezekiel. The prophet Ezekiel saw a vision that there were so many dry bones in a valley. God asked Ezekiel if the very dry bones can live. Ezekiel replied by saying that he has no idea but only God knows. Then God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones to come to life again by the word of the Lord. The only thing Ezekiel did was to obey and say the words that the Lord gave him. Ezekiel, as one of many human beings, was used by God as a tool in the life-giving work of the Lord. Why did God ask the prophet to prophesy for God? Was God incapable of bringing the dry bones to life by Godself? We can learn from here that this is how God works. This is how God works by inviting people to take part in God’s work and glorify God. And God invites people and enables them to serve God through the Holy Spirit. God works through and with the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit strengthens and opens up our spiritual eyes. God is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in us. God dwells in us. We are living our daily life with God the Holy Spirit. How much are we aware of it? Are we keeping our body, soul, and mind as a place where God can dwell? Is there anything inside us that blocks the gentle breeze of the Holy Spirit from guiding us? Is there anything that we constantly do that prevents the life-giving fire of the Holy Spirit from burning us? Are we not letting the world consume us? I would like you to take time at home to reflect on these questions.
Acts 2:1-21, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
By Young Kim
Grace to you and peace from Jesus Christ who holds us and gives us life and remains in us. Amen.
Today is the day of Pentecost. Pentecost is one of the great festivals of the Church. It marks the coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples and their transformation. Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. It marks the beginning of Christianity. In Acts, immediately after Peter preached, around 3,000 people believed and were baptized.
Pentecost is also a very significant holiday in Judaism. There were 3 major holidays in Judaism which are Sukkot, Shavuot and Passover. In these holidays, all the Jewish men should travel to Jerusalem and visit the Temple. One of these holidays, Shavuot is called as Pentecost in the New Testament. The word, Pentecost, comes from Greek word and it means fifty. So Pentecost means the 50th day after the Sabbath of Passover week. Originally, this festival marked the beginning of the fruit harvest. A major feature of the celebration was the ceremony of bringing the "first fruits" to the Temple as an offering of thanks.
The reason why I explained about Pentecost in the beginning, it is because there are very important and interesting facts about this holiday. Firstly, Pentecost occurs on the 50th day after Passover. As you know, Jesus died on the day of Passover and he remained in the earth with his disciples for 40 days after his resurrection. When he ascended to heaven, he commended his disciples not to leave Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit came down from heaven on the day of Pentecost. Then, here is a question. How many days the disciples waited for the Holy Spirit? If you are good at Math, you will be able to calculate it. They only waited 7days after Jesus’ ascension.
Secondly, on the day of Pentecost, all the Jewish men must come to Jerusalem and worship God in the Temple. So there were so many people in the Jerusalem from all over the world. God chose the place and time that could reveal God’s work and wonder the most efficiently so that people as many as possible could witness, experience, and be amazed by the work of the Holy Spirit. How wonderful it is the way God works!
Thirdly, as I mentioned before, Pentecost is the holiday to celebrate the first fruit of the harvest and bring it to God as an offering of thanksgiving. It is amazing to find out how this day was chosen to symbolize the harvest of the over 3,000 first fruits of the church after the redemption ministry of Jesus Christ in this world. Isn’t it amazing?
Today’s reading tells us that they gathered in one place as usual. But suddenly, there was a sound like the blowing of a violent wind filling the whole house where they were sitting. They heard a sound like tornado or typhoon or hurricane. And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire and came to rest on each of them. Then, all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. And in verse 6, a crowd heard them speaking in tongues and they were amazed since they could understand what they were saying in their own languages.
However, there is a part with a missing detail in this text. If you see on verse 2, they were in a house but the crowd was able to listen to them speaking in tongues in verse 6. How could the crowd listen to them if they were inside the house? Probably there was a missing explanation between those verses. We can guess that they came out to the public with no fear after they experienced the Holy Spirit and prayed in tongues with loud voice. The Holy Spirit enabled them to overcome all the fear that they had after the crucifixion of Jesus.
Then, let’s think more deeply about the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? We know about God the Father in the Old Testaments and we know very well about Jesus Christ from the New Testament. But there are so many misconceptions about the Holy Spirit. People often think that the Holy Spirit is simply a moving power around us that is subordinate or secondary to God. In fact, the Holy Spirit is God Godself and here is how Jesus describes the Holy Spirit in the Gospels: First, advocate—someone who takes our side; second, truth-teller—someone whose words we can always count on; third, testifier—someone who speaks up for us; fourth, prover or judge—someone who can see what is right and make it plainly known; fifth, guide—someone who knows the way and is willing to show it to you; sixth, speaker—speaker of the words of God; last but not least, glorifier—glorifier of Christ. With these thorough descriptions of the Holy Spirit, we can learn that Holy Spirit is everything—everything that allows us to know God, love God, and be in God’s presence.
Now that we got to know better about the Holy Spirit, what does this knowledge about the Holy Spirit have to do with us?
I have two images to share with you about my understanding of the Holy Spirit. * When I read Exodus chapter 3 which is about God called Moses to be the leader of the Israelites to bring them out of Egypt. “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.” I read this text so many times, but at the moment, the word, “burning bush” captured my attention. I saw myself as the bush which bears no fruit itself, has no green leafs, has nothing special to catch others’ attention. The bush is all over the place in the desert. I am too. I am a normal person with no special knowledge or power to change the world. I have no eternal life in me but only heading towards death. But there comes a touch of God, the fire of anointing, burning me with the fire of God’s Spirit. The lifeless and powerless I am no more and only God, full of life and full of power, dwells in me. Then, I become a torch that God uses to shine the world for those in darkness. And I become the fuel to speak God’s word.
Another image I have is from my early twenties. Whenever something happened in my life, I tried hard to fix things by myself, but I always felt that I was rowing the boat in a wide, wide ocean without moving a bit. I was exhausted and was about to give up striving to go further in the course of my life. But when I met Jesus and accepted Him as my personal Savior, my life changed. It was as if the wind of the Holy Spirit was gently but firmly pushing and driving my boat so smoothly unlike it ever did before.
You may have your unique experiences about how the Holy Spirit changed you and worked for you in your life. So I ask you to recall the memories and pray to God to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Our life in this world is so uncertain, insecure and unreliable. So people are easily afraid, discouraged and perplexed when they face various life-challenging moments. We, Christians, too do the same thing. But if the Holy Spirit dwells in us and fills in us, we no longer have fear but have full of joy and enjoyment of God’s presence just like the disciples went out to the public and spread the good news of salvation with no fear and doubt. IN SEVEN DAYS, they changed into whole different persons. No one can do such things but the Holy Spirit. If you see today’s Old Testament reading in Ezekiel, the dry bones were just bones and flesh until breath entered them and gave them life. What great evidence we have that shows that the breeze of the Holy Spirit has a life-giving, a life-saving power!
I want you to look more into the story of Ezekiel. The prophet Ezekiel saw a vision that there were so many dry bones in a valley. God asked Ezekiel if the very dry bones can live. Ezekiel replied by saying that he has no idea but only God knows. Then God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones to come to life again by the word of the Lord. The only thing Ezekiel did was to obey and say the words that the Lord gave him. Ezekiel, as one of many human beings, was used by God as a tool in the life-giving work of the Lord. Why did God ask the prophet to prophesy for God? Was God incapable of bringing the dry bones to life by Godself? We can learn from here that this is how God works. This is how God works by inviting people to take part in God’s work and glorify God. And God invites people and enables them to serve God through the Holy Spirit. God works through and with the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit strengthens and opens up our spiritual eyes. God is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in us. God dwells in us. We are living our daily life with God the Holy Spirit. How much are we aware of it? Are we keeping our body, soul, and mind as a place where God can dwell? Is there anything inside us that blocks the gentle breeze of the Holy Spirit from guiding us? Is there anything that we constantly do that prevents the life-giving fire of the Holy Spirit from burning us? Are we not letting the world consume us? I would like you to take time at home to reflect on these questions.