Acts 2:1-11 1^st Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 John 20:19-23

Today’s festival marks the anniversary of the Church as a publically proclaimed fellowship. Whether one calls it the Church’s birthday or IPO (modern capitalist-speak for “Initial Public Offering”), it is the narrative point at which the Gospel, while still fairly simple, began to be proclaimed powerfully and boldly with tremendous success. The Jewish festival of Pentecost was the occasion for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Diaspora Jews. It commemorated Moses receiving the Torah (the Law) at Mount Sinai nearly two months after the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt. Recall that according to the Exodus narrative, Moses never saw God visually, but rather either witnessed theophanic imagery (the burning bush, a pillar of fire, or a pillar of cloud) or he went into God’s presence by entering the clouds that shrouded Mount Sinai and, later, the Tabernacle Tent. God’s Spirit was the dynamic force, the palpable sense of power and might, which Moses engaged in these settings. That divine dynamism enabled Moses, and, by extension, those others whom he designated as his assistants, to be sufficiently wise and capable of leading God’s Chosen People. Pentecost (the word means “50 days” after Passover) focused on the Spirit of God as provider of the Torah and the divine covenant it described. The apostolic Pentecost’s audio-visual imagery of tongues of fire and the sound of a strong, driving wind parallel the audio-visuals in Exodus 19, a text possibly used at the Pentecost Vigil Mass last evening. After his first encounter with God at the burning bush theophany, Moses had been sufficiently emboldened to confront and challenge Pharaoh. The apostles and disciples in the post-Resurrection Pentecost Event likewise became genuinely brave and “enthusiastic,” i.e., filled with God. They were sufficiently inspired and emboldened to engage the whole world! They began in terms simple enough, i.e., by preaching first to the “devout Jews (i.e., their own people) from every nation.”

If that apostolic Pentecost marked the first day of enthusiastic evangelization, then we might ask, What happened to the dynamism, the insight, the wisdom, the exuberance and the witness-giving which typified life in the Spirit in that first generation according to Acts 2? According to Acts, “some 3,000 were baptized” on the occasion of that first Gospel proclamation. What effective preachers that “first string” of Christian evangelists, both men and women, must have been! Within a few decades, that preaching and the example of Gospel fellowship had begun to appeal to Gentiles even more effectively that to Jews. By the era of the Jewish Wars (66-70 AD), the Church was decreasingly Jewish and increasingly Gentile. By the end of the 1^st Christian Century, the Church had no preponderant ethno-cultural basis, but rather had become ethnically pluralistic. Particular Churches in various locations evolved over time. In 313 AD a tremendous milestone was passed when Christianity became officially tolerated in the Roman Empire by decree of the Emperor Constantine who himself had become a catechumen. Because he had a personal preference for the faith (at least in his perception of it as a powerful tool by which to govern his empire) Christianity effectively became the official Roman state religion. Merely a dozen years later, in 325 AD, the emperor himself presided over the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea. Today, liturgical vestments and other imperial trappings are still visible in Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican liturgical and in some ecclesiastical governance practices. Freedom to legally embrace the Gospel was a blessing, but also a burden. With the Church’s rapid growth and increased numbers, the intimacy and personal relationships of Gospel life changed, as is the nature of large corporations. The rise of that corporate ecclesiastical nature and the huge scale of the Church institution trumped the close familiarity of parochial, domestic, dynamic fellowship. The institutional Church evolved into what we have today. However, our faith claims that the very same Holy Spirit of God who was at Mount Sinai and at the Apostolic Pentecost is still with and among us. It is to most believers most clearly active in the parish setting. The question is, How do we receive and live in that Spirit today? How do we avoid mere corporate loyalty, control, manipulation, and foster, encourage, and live in the power of God’s dynamic Spirit? Indeed, this is hard work, not magic.

That question arose even among the earliest of Christians as today’s possible second readings demonstrate. “To each individual” the Spirit has been given, wrote Paul in the first option for today’s second reading. But, sadly, one could ignore the Spirit and continue without making a difference in one’s life. Or happily, one could instead allow the divine Spirit to inspire, engage, and make her or him enthusiastic for life in daily social terms! In Paul’s text from Romans we must remember that there was an ancient presumption that all which was physical or material was prone to corruption and decay, while whatever was spiritual was considered eternal and heavenly. In that bias, which we have toned down greatly in modern theological reflections, Paul was emphasized the necessity of actively paying attention to the spiritual and the holy, to those insights which came with a conscious awareness that God is indeed with us! In fact, it is often through one’s fragilities that she or he engages in holiness because of the real indwelling presence of God’s Holy Spirit. After all, by means of one’s body that each is able to act out the faith and the intimacy we claim to have with God through Baptism. Fear is a sign of no faith, or weak or immature or unhealthy faith. Hope, wisdom, and confidence are signs of actively engaging one’s faith responsibly and in healthy, adult fashion. There is life in hope and there is profound hope in life!

The Gospel text for Pentecost Sunday recounts the Resurrection appearance to the disciples on that first Easter night. The focus of that encounter is not merely the miraculous apparition of the Risen Jesus, but rather the conferral of God’s Holy Spirit on Christ’s disciples both individually and collectively. The Risen Christ asserted some great revelations. First, he bestowed onto them (and by extension onto us!) his peace, even after having been made to suffer abuse and death unjustly. Secondly, he bestowed upon them (and by extension onto us!) “the Holy Spirit.” This pneumatic gift came with an implied task, i.e., that we must each and all be fully engaged in forgiving sin. From the perspective of this Gospel narrative, the entire Easter season has been a continuous Pentecostal Event of bestowing God’s peace-filled and forgiving Spirit. From Easter Sunday night to Pentecost itself, the Divine Advocate, the Parakletos (Greek for “Advocate”) was being poured out onto those who believed in and embraced the Gospel message. Active faith in the Gospel (i.e., the “good news” of the nearness of God’s kingdom) opens the believer to the power, workings, and peace of God’s Holy Spirit. Being “in the Spirit” was not merely a status. It was an enthusiastic and committed way of life, active in God’s power. The Spirit’s presence bears fruit (see Galatians 5:21-22); it was not merely a title, name, or passive association.

Christian believers have sometimes divided up human history into three eras. The first was the era Before Moses, and it was called the Age of Lawlessness, i.e., the Age before (i.e., without) the Torah or Law of Moses. The second era was the Age of the Law, the Torah. The Law was God’s gift through Moses which guided the Israelites’ behavior towards holiness. It grew to try to sanctify every aspect of Jewish daily life. The third era began with the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and since his coming we live in the Age of the Spirit. Today is the memorial of the bestowal of God’s Holy Spirit upon believers who embraced the Gospel. The Gospel replaced the Torah. It is the age of inspiration, of hope, of witnessing to the goodness, love, life, and wisdom of the Gospel. It is our age! Receive the Holy Spirit!!

Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen! Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in us the fire of your divine love! Alleluia! Alleluia!!