Pentecost Sunday (Year C)

Commentary on Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13 or Romans 8:8-17; John 20:19-23

Today’s great and joyful feast of Pentecost rounds off the tremendous mysteries that we have been commemorating since Holy Week—the Passion, the Death, the Resurrection, and the Ascension of Jesus culminates in the sending of the Spirit of the Father and the Son on his disciples. As has been said previously, we are not dealing here merely with separate historical incidents, but with one reality—the extraordinary intervention of God into our lives by what we can only call the ‘mystery’ of Christ. And today’s feast indicates that it is an ongoing reality, which still touches our lives every single day.

Two models, one reality
What we said, too, of the Ascension last week applies with equal force to the meaning of Pentecost. In other words, we would be making a mistake to read the Scripture texts too literally; otherwise we will run into unnecessary conflicts. As with the Ascension, our traditional catechisms tends to identify Pentecost only with the version in the Acts (the First Reading of today’s Mass). But in today’s Gospel, which takes place on Easter Sunday, Jesus, before his Ascension, gives his Spirit to his disciples and the mission which follows from that. The two accounts are two different ways of describing the same reality. Actual time and place are not important.

A new creation
Let us go to the Gospel first. It is “the first day of the week”—that is, the Sunday after Good Friday, the day of the Resurrection—or Easter Sunday. Jesus’ disciples are cowering in fear behind locked doors. As colleagues of Jesus they are afraid they may have to face arrest or even worse. Suddenly, there is Jesus among them. He gives them the usual Jewish greeting ‘Shalom’, but here it is filled with meaning. “Peace with you” can be taken as a wish (‘Peace be with you’) or more truly (‘Peace is with you’). In the presence of Jesus we experience a kind of peace which only he can give.

It is no wonder that the disciples, who just now were terrified, are filled with joy. There are two qualities that always accompany the presence of Jesus in our lives—peace and joy.

Passing the baton
Now comes the mission:

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

The baton is being passed. They have a job to do and it is exactly what Jesus himself came to do—to establish the Kingdom on earth.

Jesus now breathes on them. In Greek, the word (pneuma) for ‘breath’ and ‘spirit’ are the same. The breathing recalls God breathing life into the dust and bringing the first human being into existence. Here too there is a kind of creation, as the disciples are re-created into the ‘new person’ that Paul will speak about in his letters, a person filled with the Spirit of Jesus and mandated to continue his work.

Agents of unity and peace
And how is that work expressed?

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

This is their job—to be agents of reconciliation—reconciliation of people everywhere with their God, and reconciliation with each other as brothers and sisters, children of one common Father. Reconciliation means the healing of wounds, of all forms of division. This is the work of the Kingdom. It is what we are called to do. We use this text for the institution of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but while the meaning of the words includes this, it goes much further than just referring to a Sacrament.

A mind-blowing experience
Let us now turn to the second Spirit-experience as it is described in Luke’s account in Acts (today’s First Reading). This is sometimes called the Exodus account, for it reminds us of the great event commemorating the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. Here, too, there are significant elements:

• There is the powerful wind, which, of course, is the Spirit and which, in John’s Gospel, is translated as ‘breath’.
• There is the fire—the “tongues as of fire” that came to rest over each one in the place. This, as in the Exodus narrative, indicates God’s power and presence. We think of the burning bush from which God spoke to Moses and gave him his mission to his people. It reminds us of the pillar of fire, which, by night, accompanied and guided the Jews on their wanderings through the desert. They knew they were not alone.

Extraordinary change
And what an extraordinary result this experience had on the disciples! These men, huddled fearfully behind locked doors are almost blown from the room. No longer afraid, they have an almost uncontrollable urge to share what they have experienced, to share their knowledge, but even more, their experience of Jesus. Threats of prison or torture in no way intimidate them.

A message for all
Together with this, they are given a power to communicate. Their message is heard and understood by all—the linguistic barriers of Babel have collapsed. This is less a miracle of instantaneous language-learning than a way of saying that the message of Jesus is for all and can be understood by all. And this is so because, deep down, the message of God through Jesus speaks to the deepest desires of each one’s heart. As St Augustine phrased so beautifully:

Our hearts can find no rest until they rest in you.

There is no longer a Chosen People. Or to put it another way, now all are God’s people and all are called. The responses, of course, will be uneven because we are invited, not conscripted, into the Kingdom.

Effects of the Spirit
What are the effects of the Spirit in our lives? That is expressed very well in one of the Second Reading choices from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians.

First, Paul says we cannot even call Jesus “Lord” unless we have his Spirit.

…no one speaking by the Spirit of God…can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

To call Jesus “Lord” is not just uttering a pious phrase; it implies a real faith in who Jesus is and the proof of that will be in the way we live our lives.

Special gifts for each one
Second, the Spirit is the source of the special gifts (or ‘charisms’) which each member of the community receives. The Source of the gifts is one—the Spirit of God—and that is what unites together all those who receive them into one community. But there is a huge variety of gifts. It is important to note that the gifts are not given as a personal grace for oneself. They are rather special abilities by which each one serves the needs of the community. We have all to work together—using our gifts—to build up the community to which we belong.

We are many in number, but through the working of the Spirit, we become like one body, in fact, we are the Body of Christ. Just as one body has many limbs and organs working together as a harmonious unit, so we as the Body of Christ each make our distinct contribution to the life and work of the community:

For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

The way to freedom
The Spirit is a way of true freedom and liberation; his is not a way of slavery, compulsion, addiction, greed or fear. Through the Spirit there is a close, warm, confident relationship with God. In the alternate First Reading from the Letter to the Romans, Saint Paul says:

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba![Papa] Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ…

We are in the fullest sense children of God—living images of our Father. The Spirit makes us co-heirs with Christ to:

…suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

The suffering does not arise from restrictions on our freedom, but because, in our total commitment to truth, love, genuine freedom and human dignity, we are prepared to pay any price, even, if necessary, the surrender of life itself. We could not be truly happy otherwise.

Gifts to be shared
We radiate that Spirit and by our word and example invite others to share it. The gifts of the Spirit are not for ourselves, they are to be shared. After the coming of the Holy Spirit, as we have seen, the disciples did not stay in that room luxuriating in what they had been given. They burst out to tell the world how much God loves everyone and how he wants everyone to experience that love. How he wants people liberated from the destructive constraints of the flesh to an unlimited blossoming in the Spirit.

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Pentecost Sunday (Year A)

Commentary on Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13; John 20:19-23

Today we round off more than seven weeks of celebrating the Paschal Mystery: Passion and Death—Resurrection—Ascension, Exaltation—Coming of the Holy Spirit. Although in the liturgy it is spread over seven weeks, all the elements are actually there on the cross on Good Friday. At the moment of death, Jesus passes to life, is exalted to the Father and breathes forth his Spirit.

Today is also the birthday of the Church. What is the Church? The Church is basically that community and complex of communities spread all over the world which is continuing the visible presence of God and his work by living openly in the Spirit of Jesus and offering its experience of knowing Christ to the world.

…the Word became flesh and lived among us… (John 1:14)

These words apply not only to Jesus, but to all those who are now the visible Body of the Risen Jesus. It is for each of us, individually and in community, to incarnate the Word of God in our world.

Pentecost day
Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles gives us one account, perhaps the most familiar one, of how the mission of Christ was transferred to his followers. The scene is full of biblical imagery. There was “a sound like the rush of a violent wind”. In Greek the words used here for “wind” and “Spirit” are very similar. The whole house was filled with the very Spirit of God.

Then “divided tongues, as of fire” were seen resting on each person present. Fire, again, speaks of the presence of God himself. God spoke to Moses from out of a burning bush. As the Israelites wandered through the desert on their way to the Promised Land, a pillar of cloud accompanied them by day, and a pillar of fire by night. God was with his people.

The fire here was in the form of tongues, as if to say that each one present was being given the gift and power to speak in the name of God. And in fact:

…all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Amazement
Because it was the Jewish feast of Pentecost, the city of Jerusalem was filled with pilgrim Jews from all over the Mediterranean area. They were amazed to hear the disciples speaking to them in their own languages:

And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.

In the Book of Genesis, men tried to build a tower to reach right up to heaven. For such arrogance, they were punished by being made to speak in different languages. No longer able to communicate, they could not finish their project.

Now the time of the Tower of Babel is reversed. The disciples have a message which is offered to and can be understood by people everywhere. People are being called to be united again as brothers and sisters under one common Father, revealed to them by his Son Jesus Christ.

A different account
The Gospel from John presents us with a different account of the coming of the Spirit. It is Easter Sunday. The disciples are locked into the house, terrified of the authorities coming to take them away as collaborators with the recently executed Jesus.

Suddenly the same Jesus is there among them and greets them:

Peace with you.

It is both a wish and a statement. Where Jesus is, there is peace. The presence of Jesus in our lives always brings peace and removes our anxieties and fears.

He shows them his hands and side to prove it is himself: the one who died on the cross and the one who is now alive. Then he gives them their mission:

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

Their mission and his are exactly the same. Our mission and his are exactly the same.

He then breathes on them, just as God breathed on the earth and created the first human being. In Christ, we become a new creation. The breathing also symbolises the Spirit of God and of Jesus.

So he says,

Receive the Holy Spirit.

With the giving of the Spirit comes also the authority to speak and act in the name of Jesus.

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

This is not just a reference to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the power to forgive sin. Forgiving sin and reconciling people with God is the very core of the work of Christ and the Christian mission. The disciples are now the Body of Christ, the ongoing visible presence of Christ in the world.

This Body will experience injuries and wounds and disease. It will wander at times far from God. It will need healing and forgiveness and reconciliation. It will also try to bring the same healing and reconciliation to a broken world.

A body with many parts
Finally, the Second Reading speaks of the effect of the Spirit on the Christian community. The Church and each community within it reflects unity and diversity. We are not called to uniformity. We are not clones of Christ or each other. Unity presumes diversity and a variety of gifts and talents and responsibilities.

So, on the one hand, we are called to be deeply united in our faith in Christ and in our love for each other. At the same time, each one of us has a unique gift. It is through this gift or gifts that we serve and build up the community. They are not just for ourselves, or for our families and friends.

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

We are like a body. Each body has many members, each with its own particular function, yet they all are ordered to one purpose—the good functioning of the body as a whole. So it is with the Christian community, which is the Body of Christ. Each member is to be aware of his or her particular gift. This gift indicates the role the member has to play in building up the whole Body, the whole community.

Today let us ask God to send his Spirit into our hearts. Filled with that Spirit, may we each individually make our contribution to the community to which we belong. And, as a community, may we give clear and unmistakable witness to the Truth and Love of God, revealed to us in Jesus our Lord.

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Pentecost Sunday (Year B)

Commentary on Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13; John 20:19-23

Today we celebrate what is often called the birthday of the Church. Happy birthday to all! We also bring to completion our celebration of the Paschal Mystery – Jesus’ suffering, death, resurrection and ascension, as well as the coming of the Holy Spirit on Jesus’ disciples.

Although this ‘mystery’ is really one great reality, we have stretched its celebration over a period of more than seven weeks. That such a time frame is not to be too excessively emphasised as historical fact is indicated by the two very different accounts of the giving of the Spirit we have in the readings of today’s Mass.

Full of symbols
Most of us are more familiar with the account given in Acts of the Apostles which is the First Reading of today’s Mass. In this account, the Apostles are all gathered in one room at the time of the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which in the Jewish calendar traditionally falls 50 days after the Passover (or Easter in our Christian calendar).

What follows is a scene filled with scriptural symbols. First, there is the sound of a mighty wind from heaven filling the whole house. The word in Greek for ‘spirit’ and ‘wind’ is the same (pneuma), so the wind clearly indicates the Spirit of God.

Then there appeared tongues of fire which rested on the head of each one present. Again we have a symbol of God’s presence. We remember God speaking to Moses from the bush which was on fire. We remember that, as the Israelites wandered through the desert, they were accompanied during the night by a pillar of fire – God was with them. All present are then filled with the Spirit. The sign of this presence is their ability to speak in different languages.

A message for all
Immediately, the Apostles go out and begin to speak to the crowds of people. Jerusalem is filled with Jewish and convert visitors from all over the Mediterranean, from Asia Minor, Egypt and North Africa, even Rome, to celebrate the feast. These people are amazed to hear men, who are clearly relatively unlettered people from the province of Galilee, speaking to them in so many languages.

The meaning is clear. What the Apostles are preaching is a message destined for the whole world and not just for one people. A long time ago, as described in the book of Genesis (11:1-9), men tried to build a tower right up to heaven. For such arrogance they were punished by having to speak in a myriad of languages unintelligible to others. Humanity became deeply divided.

Today, Babel is reversed. All are speaking and hearing the message with full understanding; people are being brought together in unity under God.

Full of fear
The Gospel today has a quite different account of the coming of the Spirit on the disciples. It is the evening of Easter Sunday and the disciples are in a room, with the doors firmly locked. As accomplices in the work of the executed criminal, Jesus, they are afraid they are the next to be arrested. The authorities would surely want to nip this subversive group in the bud before it gets out of control. Fear and anxiety is the prevailing mood among them.

All of a sudden, Jesus is there in their midst and greets them saying:

Peace be with you.

In Hebrew, this is normal the Jewish greeting shalom, but it has a fuller significance here. Earlier, at the Last Supper, Jesus had promised that he would bring peace, a very special kind of peace, to his disciples. A peace they could not get anywhere else and a peace that no one and nothing could take away from them.

Now, he brings that peace to this highly fearful group. In Greek, “Peace with you” has no verb. It can be read either as a wish or a statement of fact; it is something of both.

Jesus then shows them the wounds in his hands and side. There can be no doubt: it is the crucified Jesus himself, risen from the dead. As their fear changes to an unspeakable joy, Jesus again wishes them peace.

Receiving a mission
And then he gives them their mission:

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

Their mission is the same as his; they are to continue doing what he did. Then he breathes on them. Breath symbolises life. In the creation story, God breathed over the waters. He also breathed on the clay of the ground and formed the first human being. Today he breathes on his disciples and gives them a new life, making them a new creation, giving them the life of his Spirit, saying:

Receive the Holy Spirit.

Then he goes on to say:

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

This is no mere juridical authority in which people are declared free of guilt. It is much more than that. The disciples are being given the authority to bring people back to God, to reconcile those who have become separated from their God, to renew their unity with the beginning and the end of their lives. They are also given the authority to decide which people are not yet ready to be forgiven.

Ultimate mission
This is ultimately the mission of the Church, to bring people to God. It is not primarily to make converts to Christianity or to build up the Church, but to work with God in building the Kingdom. The Kingdom realised is the whole world acknowledging the lordship of God our Creator and people directing their lives to be one with him.

This was the mission given by Jesus to his disciples and the same mission has been given to each one of us. So, as soon as a person becomes reconciled with God as Lord and Jesus as Saviour, that person in turn accepts the obligation to become in turn a reconciler of others.

Special gifts
Today’s Second Reading speaks of the gifts that the Spirit of God and Jesus gives to each one for this work. We are not all called to the same thing in the same way:

Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

We all have exactly the same ultimate goal, energised from the same Source, but with our different qualities of character and ability, and depending on the environmental situation in which we find ourselves, we aim at that goal in different ways.

Working together in different ways towards a common aim, Paul compares us to a human body:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

Each part is ordered to the well-being of the whole. That should be a picture of the Christian community, of our diocese and of each parish and of each community within a parish. We are all equal in dignity — Jew or Greek, slave or citizen, man or woman, cleric or lay – but different in calling and manner of service.

On this feast of Pentecost, as we celebrate the formation and the mission of the whole Christian community, we also need to reflect on the particular role that God has for me, to reflect on the particular contribution that I can make to the corporate mission of the Church and of the particular group with which I am involved.

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Pentecost Sunday Alternate Commentary (Year A)

Commentary on Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13; John 20:19-23

Today we celebrate what is often called the birthday of the Church.  Happy birthday to all!  We also bring to completion our celebration of the Paschal Mystery—the suffering, death, resurrection, ascension and coming of the Spirit on Jesus’ disciples.

Although this ‘mystery’ is really one great reality, we have stretched its celebration over a period of more than seven weeks.  That such a time frame is not to be too excessively emphasised as historical fact is indicated by the two very different accounts of the giving of the Spirit we have in the readings of today’s Mass.

Full of symbols
Most of us are more familiar with the account given in the Acts of the Apostles, which is the First Reading of today’s Mass.  In this account, the Apostles are all gathered in one room at the time of the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which in the Jewish calendar traditionally falls 50 days after the Passover (or Easter in our Christian calendar).

What follows is a scene filled with scriptural symbols.  First, there is the sound of a mighty wind from heaven filling the whole house.  The word in Greek (pneuma) for ‘spirit’ and ‘wind’ is the same, so the wind clearly indicates the Spirit of God.

Then there appeared tongues of fire which rested on the head of each one present.  Again we have a symbol of God’s presence.  We remember Moses speaking to God out of the bush which was on fire.  We remember that, as the Israelites wandered through the desert, they were accompanied during the night by a pillar of fire—God was with them.  All present are then filled with the Spirit. The sign of this presence is their ability to speak in different languages.

A message for all
Immediately, the Apostles go out and begin to speak to the crowds of people.  Jerusalem is filled with Jewish and convert visitors from all over the Mediterranean, from Asia Minor, Egypt and North Africa, even Rome, to celebrate the feast.  These people are amazed to hear men, who are clearly relatively unlettered people from the province of Galilee, speaking to them in so many languages.

The meaning is clear.  What the Apostles are preaching is a message destined for the whole world and not just for one people.  A long time ago, as described in the book of Genesis, men tried to build a tower right up to heaven.  For such arrogance they were punished by having to speak in a myriad of languages unintelligible to others.  Humanity became deeply divided.

Today, Babel is reversed.  All are speaking and hearing the message with full understanding; people are being brought together in unity under God.

Full of fear
The Gospel today has a quite different account of the coming of the Spirit on the disciples.  It is the evening of Easter Sunday and the disciples are in a room, with the doors firmly locked.  As accomplices in the work of the executed criminal, Jesus, they are afraid they are the next to be arrested.  The authorities would surely want to nip this subversive group in the bud before it gets out of control.  Fear and anxiety are the prevailing moods among them.

All of a sudden, Jesus is there in their midst and greets them with “Shalom”:

Peace be with you.

It is the normal Jewish greeting, but it has a fuller significance here.  Earlier, at the Last Supper, Jesus had promised that he would bring peace, a very special kind of peace, to his disciples.  A peace they could not get anywhere else and a peace that no one and nothing could take away from them.

Now, he brings that peace to this highly fearful group. In the Greek text, “Peace with you” has no verb.  It can be read either as a wish or a statement of fact.  It is something of both.

Jesus then shows them the wounds in his hands and side.  There can be no doubt: it is the crucified Jesus himself, risen from the dead.  As their fear changes to an unspeakable joy, Jesus again wishes them peace.

Receiving a mission
And then he gives their mission:

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

Their mission is the same as his; they are to continue doing what he did.

Then he breathes on them.  Breath symbolises life.  In the creation story, God breathed over the waters.  He also breathed on to the clay of the ground and formed the first human being.  Today he breathes on his disciples and gives them a new life, making them a new creation, giving them the life of his Spirit, saying:

Receive the Holy Spirit.

Then he goes on to say:

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

This is no mere juridical authority in which people are declared free of guilt.  It is much more than that. The disciples are being given the authority to bring people back to God, to reconcile those who have become separated from their God to renew their unity with the Beginning and the End of their lives.  They also have the authority to decide which people are not yet ready for reconciliation.

Ultimate mission
This is ultimately the mission of the Church—to bring people to God.  It is not primarily to make converts to Christianity or to build up the Church, but to work with God in building the Kingdom.  The Kingdom realised is the whole world acknowledging the Lordship of God our Creator and people directing their lives to be one with him.

This was the mission given by Jesus to his disciples and the same mission has been given to each one of us.  So, as soon as a person becomes reconciled with God as Lord and Jesus as Saviour, that person in turn accepts the obligation to become a reconciler of others.

Special gifts
So, today’s Second Reading speaks of the gifts that the Spirit of God and Jesus gives to each one for this work.  We are not all called to the same thing in the same way: 

…there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

We all have exactly the same ultimate goal, energised from the same Source, but with our different qualities of character and ability, and depending on the environmental situation in which we find ourselves, we aim at that goal in different ways.

Working together in different ways towards a common aim, Paul compares us to a human body.  It consists of many parts, but each part is ordered to the well-being of the whole.  That should be a picture of the Christian community, of our diocese and of each parish and of each community within a parish.  We are all equal in dignity—Jew or Greek, slave or citizen, man or woman, cleric or lay—but different in calling and manner of service.

On this feast of Pentecost, as we celebrate the formation and the mission of the whole Christian community, we also need to reflect on the particular role that God has for me and the particular contribution that I can make to the corporate mission of the Church and of the particular group with which I am involved.

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