THE FEAST OF PENTECOST
Fr. Nelson Lobo OFM Cap
When we celebrate the birth of Jesus most of the world pauses to celebrate Christmas with us. When we commemorate Good Friday, the whole world knows that Jesus died on good Friday. When we celebrate His resurrection, much of the world recognizes Easter as a special feast of Christians. But when we celebrate Pentecost the birthday of the church, hardly anyone notices it except may be the Jews. It’s time that we Christians start giving importance to Pentecost.
On the Pentecost Sunday the liturgical color is red. The color represents the Holy Spirit. Pentecost (Greek-pentekoste) designates the 50th day after the Passover. It is a Jewish Feast Day also, known as the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Harvest. It was on this day, that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Followers of Christ who were gathered in Jerusalem. (Acts 2:1-31) It was on this day that the Church was born. Born in a Blaze of Glory, in a blaze of Fire.
STORY: There is a story told about the 3 prospectors who found a rich vein of gold in California during the gold rush days. They realized what a great discovery they had, & decided, “We have a really good thing going here as long as no one else finds out about it.” So, they each took a vow to keep it secret. Then they headed for town to file their claim & get the equipment necessary to mine the gold. True to their vows, they didn’t say a word to anybody. They filed their claim, bought the equipment, & headed back to their mine. But when they did, a crowd followed them. And the reason was because the expression on their faces had given them away. Their faces were aglow in anticipation of the wealth that soon would be theirs. People knew that they must have found something very special. So, a crowd followed them out of town. Pentecost was such an experience for the disciples. They couldn’t hide their joy and excitement.
What does the feast of Pentecost Teach us?
I. The first thing we learn about Pentecost is that the Church was founded by God not the Apostles. From the beginning of time, When God decided to send His only son to the world God had in His mind the Church. And He promised that even the gates of Hades would not prevail against it. It begins on the Day of Pentecost. Sometimes the world thinks and may be even Christians that the Church was founded by the apostles.
II. The second thing we learn from Pentecost is that the duty of the church is to communicate the love of God-the mission of the Church is to communicate the love of God to a lost world. The theme of Pentecost actually could be communication. The first Christians had a language problem because people were there from many different nations. Because God wanted each of them to hear the message in his/her own language, He performed a miracle, & gave the apostles the gift of tongues so they could communicate His message to everyone present. The mission of the Church is to communicate His message. Today this mission of communication is fulfilled in a very powerful way (Thanks to Vatican II) in the numerous translations of the Bible into many different languages & dialects.
III. The Third thing we learn from Pentecost is that the church is called to build a strong fellowship among its members. On the Day of Pentecost there are 3,000 new converts, & they suddenly share something that has never been shared before. All of them know they are guilty -guilty of crucifying Christ. But now they have repented of their sins. They’ve been baptized and redeemed. They’ve been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. Suddenly, they are part of a new society. Now they’re part of a new fellowship where they can share things about themselves with others. Suddenly a whole different atmosphere prevailed. An atmosphere of forgiveness and acceptance in spite of different backgrounds, traditions and languages. This led to unity and brotherhood in diversity. They were “born again.” No wonder their number quickly grew to 5,000 as the Church grew more and more. Nothing like this was ever seen before in all the world.
How do we respond to the feast of the Pentecost today?
Story: A story is told of a certain guide who lived in the Arabian Desert who never lost his way. He carried with him a homing pigeon with a very fine cord attached .to one of its legs. When in doubt as to which path to take he threw the bird in to the air. The pigeon quickly strained at the cord to fly in the direction of home and thus led the guide accurately to his goal. Because of this unique practice he was known as “The dove man.”
The Holy Spirit, the Heavenly Dove is willing and able to direct us in the narrow way that leads to an abundant life. The outpouring of the Spirit on the Pentecost day is not a special blessing for a special few in a special age. It is for all. All who have truly repented and believe in the Gospel. Someone made a statement. He said that “the average Christian and the average Church are somewhere bogged down between Calvary and Pentecost. They have been to Calvary for pardon, but they Have Not been to Pentecost for Power”.
J. B. Phillips, wrote “churches today are Fat and out of breath through prosperity. They are muscle-bound through over-organization. What we need today is again the wind and the flame of Pentecost”. Someone else said, this is the day of “Pentecost Substitutes.” Lacking the real power and fire from God we try to produce our own fireworks. We are like auxiliary power supplies. We are living in the day of programs, propaganda and publicity. All of these things trying to duplicate what God, the Holy Spirit did on the day of Pentecost when the fire fell. These are the days of Pentecostal substitutes. We create a storm of our own wind. We whip our own flames and our own fire, but we lack the reality and the warmth of the real Pentecost. A.W. Tozer once said: “The Holy Spirit could be absent from 90% of what the Church today does and nobody would know the difference.”
The Church is called to be a different people, a different culture, a different organization. But this is not easy because we are weak and limited. D L Moody was once asked why he urged Christians to be filled constantly with the Holy Spirit. Well, he said “I need a continual infilling because I leak”. Yes! You and me the church needs the continual infilling of the Holy Spirit because we leak, because we are weak and limited. May God help us. Amen.