It was fifty days after the feast of Passover and the Jews of the diaspora, Jews scattered throughout the world, are gathering together in Jerusalem for the celebration of Passover.
The Jewish feast of Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks -Shavu’ot – occurs fifty days after Passover on the first day of the week. It celebrates the first fruits of the harvest being dedicated to God, and the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai.
It is on this day, fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus, that the apostles and a number of the disciples gathered together in one place: The Upper Room.
A very few days ago I was sitting, and praying with a number of other men, in that very room in Jerusalem; we were there during that space of time between Jesus’ Resurrection and his Ascension. What were the disciples feeling?
They had probably found great comfort in the togetherness of their own company since the events of the past weeks. It was only a couple of days before, on Passover in this room that Jesus had washed their feet when he changed the nature of the Passover meal to the Eucharist. Later, when Jesus had been arrested by the mob and they all had to scatter for fear of being arrested too.
Then he was driven by soldiers’ whips through taunting crowds to the top of the hill outside town and crucified, dying after a few hours. He was later taken down and buried in a tomb of one of his followers.
And it was fifty days ago, this very day, that he rose from the dead. From the time of The Resurrection he appeared to many of the disciples, opening their eyes to the Scriptures, teaching them the significance of his death, and giving them a command to carry this news about him to the ends of the earth. Then he left them, commanding them to wait for the Holy Spirit.
So they are there again in that same room, waiting, together, for the Holy Spirit. They are convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, that he rose in accordance with the scripture to bring salvation to the world, but there are still some questions.
Are they afraid? Maybe. The Christ followers were not the most popular group in Jerusalem after all the ruckus they had caused. And being arrested was probably not out of the question.
Were they anxious? Probably. Jesus rose and that was awesome but then he left; ascended into heaven.
He told them to carry the news about him everywhere but he didn’t give them a plan or program. And he told them to wait for the Holy Spirit. When would he come? What would he look like? How would they know?
And sitting there, they hear a wind, a mighty wind, like a hurricane or a tornado blowing, an overwhelming noise, and something like tongues of fire alight on their heads.
And from there they went out and turned the world upside down for the lord Jesus Christ.
From that point on, cowards die like heroes, fishermen preach the truth with the effect of the greatest orators or teachers, and all who come to know Jesus are willing to risk everything for the sake of the Gospel, all because of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit; the third person of the Trinity. The most mysterious and, at the same time, the most intimate.
He is referred to as the breath of God, being the essence of life itself. And he appears as tongues of fire, representing the holy presence of God, holy fire that consumes the unholy things. Represented by the image of a dove, the most gentle and simple of creatures, yet he is the very power and mind of God himself.
The Holy Spirit was sent for one purpose: to empower the church to make known in the world the salvation available through Jesus Christ. To accomplish this mission, to empower the church, the body of Christ; he lives within each of its members.
He comes to the individual by simply inviting him into our lives. When we become Christians and accept Jesus as
Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes, too. They are an inseparable team.
We pray in our rite of baptism that the baptized persons be “filled with God’s holy and life-giving spirit” and that God would teach them to love one another in the power of the spirit. We state that “through the water of baptism, we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.”
In Confirmation the bishop prays about the Holy Spirit binding us to God’s service, and sending us out in the power of the Holy Spirit to perform that service. He then lays hands on the confirmand and prays: strengthen your servant with your Holy Spirit.
He does come in when invited. But we must yield to him. We only grow as Christians to the extent that we allow him control of our lives. He is a gentleman, and will not force himself upon us.
But the more we yield to him, the more fire we will have;
the fire of holiness that consumes our sinful desires and purifies us.
The fire of God’s love, agape fire. Desire to grow in our relation to Jesus; an insatiable hunger for more of his abundant life in prayer, worship, in his word, in fellowship.
And the fire to share his love with others.
It is this fire of the Holy Spirit that transforms us into holy vessels for his purposes, that makes us new creations.
And it is these individuals that the Holy Spirit binds together in a community, an assembly called the church. he creates an organism, not an organization.
Like tendons and nerves, he weaves individuals together making them of one mind and heart, to accomplish his will.
He gives each one special gifts, talents and abilities, and fits them together like the parts of an engine, interlocking them to become a synergistic whole.
Like a barbecue, one charcoal briquette does nothing to a hot dog or hamburger, but pile a bunch of charcoal together, and they make more heat than each individually, and we have a cook-out!
The Holy Spirit comes to live within us to make us together the church, that by our individual life, and our corporate life as a body, we will be a living witness in word and example to our father’s amazing grace, and Jesus’ saving blood.
The Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary to the life of the church; he is not an option. There can be no church without the corporate indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and
There can be no true Christian without the Holy Spirit individually and personally dwelling in us.
Today on this Pentecost, do you know the Holy Spirit is in you? Do you seek him to guide you like the column of fire that led the Hebrews in the wilderness? Do you know his voice, does he speak to you like Moses heard from the burning bush?
If you are not sure about your relationship to the Holy Spirit, or you want to yield more to his leading and guidance, then as you receive the Lord’s body and blood at the altar rail, invite him in, invite him to come in more and more into your life.
Ultimately it is not so much of the Holy Spirit that we have. He is already there if we have been baptized or confirmed. It is how much of us the Holy Spirit has because he can only use what we give him.
This day marked the transformation of those first disciples into convinced, empowered, enthused ministers of the good news of Jesus Christ. They lived it, they proclaimed it, they gave their lives to it, and they changed their world.
I pray it might be the same for each of us today that seeking to be obedient to Jesus, we might be empowered and renewed, like those in Jerusalem, be
filled with the Holy Ghost and carry the good news about Jesus Christ into this city, county, and to the ends of the world in joy, with conviction, and in power.