…in the outer…

Most Christians relate Pentecost to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church. Often Pentecost is associated to spiritual gifts, spirituality, faith, inner and intra-personal development, personal holiness and the theological controversies about the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. Or about the “t” word.

In this post, I would like to take another look at Pentecost from the perspective of a couple of my recent posts, which tied the Day of Pentecost with Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree and clearing of the Temple of the moneychangers and traders.

That God chose the Day of Pentecost to pour out His Spirit upon His church and that He did it in the manner as recorded in Acts 2 is significant. The celebration of the Feast of Pentecost drew many travelers from all over to Jerusalem, just as the Feast of the Passover had done when Jesus cleared the Temple of the moneychangers and traders.

The Feast of Pentecost was one of the central Feasts of Old Testament religion - that of the celebration of the giving of the Mosaic Law on Mount Sinai. Many Jews, both Diaspora Jews as well as foreigners who were converted to Judaism would make that pilgrimage to attend the festivities in Jerusalem.

In my previous posts about the clearing of the temple of the moneychangers and traders, I highlighted the fact that this was because Jesus was against the institutionalized oppression that was associated with the practices of these moneychangers and traders. By forcing the travelers and foreigners to only buy approved sacrificial animals from these traders at exorbitant prices, they were reinforcing the fact that these foreigners were far off from the holy covenant. As we saw, Jesus angrily reminded the Temple officials and their associates that it is God’s intention that all nations would gain free access to the Throne of Grace: (”my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:7), overturning their tables and generally, disrupting the entire Temple operations itself.

So the clearing of the temple is significantly tied to the tearing apart of the Temple curtain when Jesus died on the cross. And these two events are tied together to the Day of Pentecost when once again Jerusalem was filled with pilgrims from all over the world. The Temple clearing and the temple curtain tearing apart marked the close of the Old Covenant, while the sign of Pentecost, when the good news of God’s wonder was announced in local languages of those present in Jerusalem marked the introduction of the New Covenant.
Pentecost was not only the birth of the church by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, it is also the signal that showed the world that God’s heart is directed to the entire world. He wants everyone to have open access to His presence. His temple (the church) is to be the community of people through which the world would be reconciled to Him and to each other. That is the critical meaning for those who were present in Jerusalem, who had traveled from all parts of the then known world, every one of them who spoke in diverse languages, whether they were Diaspora Jews or they were foreigners converted to Judaism. Note that these foreigners were not there primarily because of international trade or tourism. They were there for one purpose: joining the Jews in worshipping God. Every person present could hear the disciples telling the wonders of God in their own languages.

What is significant is that they need no longer use the language that was used in the worship services and the Temple rites and rituals - which presumably were all conducted in Hebrew. They were no longer second class citizens because they were not orthodox Jews. In fact, another indication that they were accepted in the new covenant community that God has set up was that the disciples themselves were not of orthodox blood. These were Galileans, who were typically looked down upon by the much “purer-blooded” Judeans.

The events surrounding the Pentecost emphasized that the new community that God has set up - the church, the people of God - is to be an inclusive reconciling community. It was not based on right religion, or right rituals, or right practices or right behavior, or even on right lineage, but solely based on right relationship. This relationship was further based solely on the heart - the grace and mercy - of God. For He, in His sovereign wisdom and discretion - poured out His Spirit upon everyone present on that day to unite the entire church together to magnify His glory.

What it means for us today is that when we respond to the ministry of the Holy Spirit then as a community of faith, we must also embrace a ministry of reconciliation among and between ourselves. It is also significant that Jesus’ promise to the disciples about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is similar to the Isaiah 56 promise that His temple shall be a “house of prayer for all the nations”: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Other scriptures talks about “going to the ends of the world.” We need to take this command in the wider context of the events surrounding the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem, His death and resurrection and the establishment of the Church on the Day of Pentecost. When we do, we might then glean the main emphasis here as not just about the traditional idea of missions (traveling to foreign lands to establish churches within foreign cultures), but also, perhaps more so, about enlarging the community of koinonia love that is characterized by diversity, inclusiveness, racial, cultural and societal reconciliation, advocacy, justice and compassion within every strata of society in the world. The gospel of peace takes on a whole new meaning.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Technorati Tags: Pentecost, Old Covenant, New Covenant, languages, reconciliation, advocacy, justice, compassion, gospel of peace

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 5th, 2006 at 11:58 pm and is filed under Church, Culture, Meditations, Theology. Subscribe to RSS: RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Email This Article Or Print This Article