Pentecost May 11th 2008.
Some times I don’t remember things properly – sometimes because I don’t do them often enough, like remembering a password for a rarely used website, or sometimes because I have done them so often I forget their significance. Pentecost is one of those latter things – it’s something I have known about for so long, I’ve forgotten that it had Jewish significance before Christian significance.
I would like to start with a very quick trip through the Old Testament and Jewish festivals. If you would like to read about them, you can find them all together in Lev 23:3-44, as well as in lots of other places.
There were three annual festivals that the people of Israel were commanded to keep together at the Temple – the feast of Passover, the feast of Firstfruits or feast of Weeks, which culminated in Pentecost, and the feast of Ingathering or feast of Tabernacles. The feast of Passover was held at the beginning of the barley harvest. The feast of Weeks celebrates the end of the grain harvest (barley and wheat), and was calculated as being seven weeks and one day from Passover (Pentecost meaning fifty days). The final feast was Ingathering or Tabernacles, when the people made huts or booths from branches and celebrated the end of the fruit harvest and prayed for continued rain throughout the coming year.
Each feast had a significance for the people outside of the agricultural harvest thanksgivings – ‘Passover’ was a solemn festival that celebrated the birth of the nation of Israel when the people were rescued from Egypt; ‘Weeks’ became a time of celebration of the giving of the Law traditionally seen as happening 50 days after the exodus (Ex19:1); and ‘Tabernacles’ was to remind them how they had lived in the desert during the forty years of wandering and God’s gracious provision for them during that time.
The reason for looking at these festivals is to see their significance to us as Christians. Jesus often said “you have heard that it was said…... but I tell you...…” he gave new insight into the teachings of the time. So we can look at the previously understood meaning to the festivals, and ask what they mean to us. We are accustomed to giving Christian significance to Passover – Easter when we recognise the work of Jesus on the cross to bring forgiveness and redemption, when the work of salvation was done.
The reading from John’s gospel, chapter 7, shows how Jesus linked his own ministry to the festival of Tabernacles.
The celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles included a daily procession of priests from the temple to the Pool of Siloam, from which they drew water that was poured out as an offering at the altar, accompanied by a recitation of Isa 12:3: "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." This offering of water reminded them of God's provision for the thirsty people in the wilderness. Now Jesus appeals to the individual, “If anyone is thirsty...” (it’s almost as if he were saying – ‘still feeling thirsty? You need to do more than just remember: come to me’) and "Whoever believes in me.. streams of living water will flow from him" pointing to his ability to satisfy that thirst, not a physical thirst any more, but a spiritual one. He was requiring an individual response of faith rather than a collective observance of a ritual.
Jn 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
Jn 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
Jn 7:39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
So if there was further significance in those festivals, what can we learn about the significance of God sending the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost? What was it about this festival of Pentecost that God wanted to give new, spiritual meaning to?
The festival had become known as a time to remember and celebrate the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.
The Law was evidence of God’s gracious and enabling presence, God calling this new nation of Israel to develop a unique identity, one that would make them different from the nations through and into which they would move. Read again the 10 Commandments with this in mind (Ex 20).
Ex 20:2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Ex 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
Ex 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
Ex 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God......,
Ex 20:7 “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God......,
Ex 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Ex 20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
Ex 20:10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.
And so on.
So that is what was being celebrated at Pentecost. But just as in the other examples we have looked at; it was to be more than just a remembrance. It is interesting that the tongues of fire touched each disciple individually, just as Jesus had called for individual response of faith as well as collective observance during the Feast of Tabernacles, so the tongues of fire split up and touched each of the disciples individually. It wasn’t enough to have been part of the group; each person needed the touch of the Holy Spirit on them as individuals. With the Holy Spirit’s coming they were to find an energy, an enthusiasm and an excitement for the gospel which they had not experienced before. It was to become a life changing experience for the disciples.
The dramatic and distinctive difference the Holy Spirit made to those 120 disciples gathered together was that they rushed into the street and start praising God at the top of their voices in languages they had not learned themselves. That is some difference! There has been much said and written about speaking in tongues, which I am not going to go into – it would take too long!! But one of the points made in one of the commentaries I have read, suggests that the speaking in other languages on this occasion was in order for the gospel to be communicated clearly, so that all those people from other nations would be able to understand what was being said.
So what has all this to do with us on this Pentecost Sunday?
Let’s celebrate a harvest – as Jesus said in Matthew’s gospel, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Mt 9:38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Could you do with a bit of help to witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ in your life? Then ask the Holy Spirit to come and fill you again. That is what I hope for this Pentecost, for God to give me the energy, enthusiasm and excitement for communicating the gospel, as he did for those first disciples so long ago. As Jesus said, if we believe in Him, then streams of living water will flow from us. This is part of our unique identity as Christians – it is not an optional extra!
(Autism example if time)
In September we will have a new Alpha course beginning. The challenge of Pentecost is to be witnesses, so here is a perfect opportunity. As we finish, listen to the music play ‘Here I am, wholly available’. If you’re not sure of the words, they can be found on the notice sheet. Ask the Lord of the harvest to fill you anew, to be part of the workforce that He can send out to the places around us.
If you feel that you would like to begin to pray with others on a regular basis for a harvest during Alpha, please speak to Gifty or Margaret or myself during coffee.
As always there will be people to pray with in the Lady Chapel after communion, or just grab a friend and find a quiet corner somewhere.
Let’s listen to the music.