Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:21-22
If there was any day I would wish to see included on the calendar as an observed holiday, it would be the day of Pentecost. Occurring fifty days after Easter Sunday and ten days after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, Pentecost marks the arrival of the Holy Spirit. The Worship Sourcebook explains Pentecost in this way: “Pentecost symbolizes a new beginning. It celebrates the unleashing of the Holy Spirit on the world and the empowering of the church to reach the world with the gospel.”[1]
This insight strengthens my reasons for wishing Pentecost was an official holiday. Jesus himself came at Christmas. His death and resurrection brought us salvation and eternal life at Easter. Now his Holy Spirit is available to us at Pentecost. It is a gift that we don’t know how to access or what to do with. By looking at the lives of others in the New Testament, we gain clues about how the Holy Spirit works and what that means for us.
The best theology of the Holy Spirit actually begins with the Christmas story. Luke repeatedly mentions the phrase, “filled with the Holy Spirit.” This applies to John the Baptist, who was prophesied to be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he was born. Men and women both are filled. People like Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon in the temple who had the Holy Spirit upon him, and Mary whom the Holy Spirit overshadowed. Later, Jesus himself is filled with the Holy Spirit at the time of his baptism. During the start of the early church, Stephen and Peter are both said to be full of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit accomplishes a variety of works among God’s people. He is comforter, counselor, and teacher. He is the fresh wind of power equipping people for witness to the acts of God and giving them the words to say to proclaim truth and spread the good news of the gospel.
As I look around at the needs and tensions in our world today, I see a ripe time for us as the people of God to be asking for his Holy Spirit to come. Cultures and societies look in every direction for comfort and restoration, but human governments and religious structures can’t provide this. A higher authority must step in and deliver healing and peace.
As the account in Acts 2 shows, God’s Holy Spirit is for all people from all races and all nations. Here is the story of what happened on the day the Holy Spirit blew into town:
When the day of Pentecost came, they (the disciples, Jesus’ mother Mary, and Jesus’ brothers, as stated in Acts 1:14) were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues (languages) as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all of these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
The countries listed in this passage bordered the Mediterranean Sea and represented the civilized world as it was known at that time. Romans from what is now Italy, Africans, Asians, and Jews. Everyone had a chance to hear the gospel. That was the reason for the Holy Spirit coming to that location on that day. Visitors were in Jerusalem from all of these countries, heard the gospel in their own language, and then took it home to tell their communities.
The only place to find answers to our world’s sufferings is in the power of the Holy Spirit. Ask him to fill your life today. Ask him to breathe on your neighborhood, your town, your world. The time has come to welcome him into our realities and let him have room to bring about change and redemption so that we can look together to the horizon of new beginnings.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).
Prayer[2]
Spirit of God, we gather together to pray. Give us faith, that when you come like the wind, though we do not see you, yet may we hear what you are saying to us and discern your movement.
Give us courage, that we may not fear the tongues of flame. Let all that is unworthy, impure, and sinful be burned from our lives. May we know that it is love that burns so brightly and love that strips away our sin.
Give us an open mind, Lord, that the truth you bring may make its home with us. Truth to set us free, truth to guide us and inform us, and truth to lead us in the way of your will.
Give us an open heart, Lord, that we may seek all people for your realm, and set no limits to the proclaiming of your Word.
Holy Spirit, with the whole church we wait for you in every place and in every generation.
Come, wind.
Come, fire.
Come, truth.
Come, love.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
[1] The Worship Sourcebook, Co-published by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Faith Alive Christian Resources, and Baker Books. Copyright 2004, p. 687.
[2] The Worship Sourcebook, Co-published by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Faith Alive Christian Resources, and Baker Books. Copyright 2004, p. 692.
