That was God's Plan All Along

Pentecost

Acts 2:1-11

John 7:37-52;8:12

Today we celebrate Pentecost.  There are several layers to this feast.

The first thing we notice is the filling with the Holy Spirit.  The Jewish tradition is that Pentecost is the celebration of the giving of the Law.  To understand the contrast, we have to look at words God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah. “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people”. 

I want you to think of this way.  The making of the New Covenant wasn’t just a single act at Calvary.  In fact, it was a process which God began long ago.  The Book of Revelation refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world. The giving of the Law, which the Jews celebrate on Pentecost, was God giving what the book of Hebrews calls “a shadow of the good things to come” - the New Covenant.

The mind of the New Covenant, its Ethic, was always present in the preaching of Jesus.  Remember how often He would introduce a practice by saying, “You have heard it said”, and then follow it with, “But I say to you”.

And then, at the Last Supper, Luke records Him saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in My Blood”. From that time until the Ascension, He was teaching them the details of the New Covenant, things like the Sacraments.  

And then, ten days after the Ascension, it was time.  The Holy Spirit, which Jesus promised would guide them into all truth, came upon them.  The Law of the Old Covenant was fulfilled in the Holy Spirit writing the Law of Love on their hearts. 

The Church, the New Covenant, was born!

That was God’s plan all along.

The second thing we notice is that they were speaking in other tongues.  Whether, as some suggest, the miracle was a miracle of hearing - the Apostles, though speaking in Aramaic, were heard in the languages of the hears, or whether they actually were speaking those languages - that doesn’t concern us today.  What DOES matter is the fact that the Curse of Babel was reversed. 

At Babel, the people were working together to defy God, to build a tower to reach him.  God confused their tongues, so they would disperse and go their own way, so they could not, as a group, defy Him.  But now, his disciples were to go out, into all the world, to the descendants of those who rebelled, and bring them home, spiritually.  And the confusion of tongues that had driven them apart was now answered by the gift of tongues, to allow the preaching.

That was God’s plan all along.

Besides being the celebration of receiving the Law, the Jewish festival was the feast of Firstfruits, because it was at this time that the Israelite would bring the first fruits of their planting.  And, immediately after our reading from Acts, we can see Peter’s sermon on that first Pentecost after Christ’s Resurrection.  So powerful and timely was that sermon that Three Thousand souls were added to the church on that day.

Our Gospel reading, though, occurs at the end of Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Ingathering. All male Israelites were commanded to come to Jerusalem, bringing their tithes and offerings. It was at Tabernacles that Solomon’s Temple was dedicated. After the Babylonian Exile, it was at the Tabernacles that the Israelites celebrated their God-given leadership.  It was at Tabernacles that, for the first time in many years after the Babylonian Exile, they heard Scripture read to them. As Solomon’s Temple was dedicated at Tabernacles, the New Temple, the Body of Christ, the Church, is made manifest at Pentecost.

Peter tells us that we - the Christians - are a Royal Priesthood.  But it was God’s plan from the beginning.  At the foot of Mount Sinai, before even giving the Ten Commandments, He said to Moses, “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests”. God’s plan was that the Jews were to be a kingdom of priests to carry His love, His grace to all mankind.  As Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “Salvation is from the Jews”. 

It was in the Law that He gave a shadow of the Sacraments. He told Nicodemus of the necessity of Baptism. On Holy Thursday, He instituted the Eucharist. On the Evening of the Resurrection, He instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  And then on Pentecost, he sent the Holy Spirit, starting the sacrament of Confirmation, or Chrismation.

Then, there’s our Kontakion. “When the Most High descended and confused tongues, He scattered the people; but when He distributed the tongues of fire, He called all men to unity.”

Summing it all up

• Pentecost is the Commemoration of the Law being given in the Old Covenant, the Law that was written on tablets. And it is the day when the Holy Spirit was given in the New Covenant, with the Law written on our hearts.

• Pentecost is the completion of Christ’s giving us the Sacraments that we can be partakers of the divine nature.

• Pentecost is the reversal of Babel. The confusion of tongues has now become the gift of tongues.

Pentecost is the birthday of the Church.  As He told the Samaritan woman, those who worship must worship in Spirit and Truth. 

And that has been God’s plan all along.