Our Real Pentecost

Our Real Pentecost

Leonard Akehurst a former Deputy Head-teacher from London and now a writer and part time language teacher living in Brazil writes here about how the events leading up to
Pentecost are often misconstrued.

Leonard I wonder how widespread is the belief that the apostles were huddled together in fear before the descent of the Holy Spirit in tongues of fire? Is it true that, as many seem to think, “with the doors closed for fear of the Jews”, the frightened apostles suddenly receive the Holy Spirit, who transforms their abject fear into fearlessness and daring?
The answer is “No”. The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles at Pentecost was not like that. The apostles were not afraid. They were joyfully awaiting the fulfilment of the Lord’s promise, in complete confidence that he would not leave them orphans, but send them the Paraclete [Jn 14 16-18, 26; 15,26; 16,7]. They were prepared. This provides us with an important, but too often missed lesson on how we should regard the Spirit’s coming into our own lives. There were of course two comings of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles separated by the seven weeks between the Jewish feasts of the Passover and Pentecost.

The Resurrection Day

The first coming was on the day of the Resurrection [John 20, 19-23], on the evening of which, St. John tells us, the apostles were indeed behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. This is hardly surprising. They were traumatized. Their leader had been executed just two days before. Between the trial and his death, he had been cruelly scourged and humiliated. He had died nailed hand and foot to a cross. How long would it be before they came for them too? Suddenly Jesus comes and stands among them. He bestows peace upon them, shows them his hands and his side, tells them he is sending them as the Father sent him, and breathing the Holy Spirit upon them, gives them the power and authority to forgive sin. We are told that they are filled with joy at seeing the Lord. Jesus, victorious after suffering his Passion and Death, has returned in triumph to his beloved apostles and friends with the first fruits of his suffering, the forgiveness of sin, the beginning of the fulfilment of Jesus’ plan, as told in St John’s gospel.

Preparing for Pentecost

Now we turn to the events of Pentecost. We find no mention of fear in our reading about the time leading to Pentecost. We read rather of the apostles’ joy as they returned to Jerusalem from Bethania after the ascension of Jesus [Luke 24,52] and then later, that the apostles were all joined constantly in prayer with Mary, other women and members of Jesus’ family [Acts 1,14]. They were filled with expectancy waiting for the fulfillment of the renewed promise that Jesus had made before his ascension, to send them “the power from on high” [Luke 24,49]. This promise is repeated twice in Acts, [ch.1,vv. 5 and 8]. Also, both at his Resurrection [Jn.20,21] and at his Ascension [Acts ch1, v.8] Jesus had spoken of a far-reaching mission.

They were of course Jews, and so we can presume that in their time of prayer they would have scrutinized the scriptures, as Jews did, to try to understand what was about to happen to them. And Mary was with them. Luke tells us that she treasured all the things that had happened to her, storing them up and pondering them in her heart [Luke 2 ,19 and 51]. Her influence during the waiting must have been profound. This scrutinizing of the scriptures corresponds to what Jesus did for the two disciples on the road to Emmaus on the day of the Resurrection [Luke 24,27], and for all the apostles just before the Ascension “when he opened their minds to understand the scriptures”[Luke 24,45].

The Fire of Sinaí

The symbolic meaning of the fire descending on the heads of the apostles is very powerful in the context of the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which celebrates God as fire on Sinai with Moses. There is a Jewish story of scholars studying scripture together when an oil lamp tips over. The hut catches fire and the scholars are overjoyed. For them, the fire meant that God was present as at Sina?. When the firefighters came, they were all crying, not, “Help! Help!” but “Sina?! Sina?.” The occasion described in Acts II is an entirely Jewish affair too, though of course, with an unexpected twist. Everybody in Jerusalem was there to celebrate the coming, with fire, of the Law. The apostles’ own sense of expectation would have been mounting as they explored the scriptures in prayer while the day of Pentecost approached, and fire could well have been in their thoughts.

Pentecost

God had been present in the fire on Mount Sina? when He gave Moses the Law, the old covenant. For many in Jerusalem, the coming of the fire on the heads of the apostles signified a New Covenant. The apostles are not given a new Law though, but are filled with the presence of God. Every apostle became a walking Sina?, a flesh and blood Decalogue, whom all could hear preaching in their “own language about the marvels of God” [Ac 2,11].

They are now ready to continue the mission of Jesus himself, which he had confided to them on the day of his Resurrection, “As the Father sent me so am I sending you.” [Jn 20,21]. The mission of the apostles, as Church, is to proclaim Jesus, Son of God, Lord and Saviour, to the whole world. “You will receive the power of the Holy Spirit which will come to you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to earth’s remotest end” [Ac.1, 8]. Together with fire, the word “listen” also has a special thematic value linking the Jewish Pentecost with the Christian Pentecost. For some Jewish exegetes, God’s words, “Listen Israel”, before he gives Moses the Ten Commandments on Sina?, constitute His first commandment. Now, instead of Moses, it is Peter with the Eleven who stands up to make the first kerygmatic proclamation in the power of the Holy Spirit. The first thing he says is “Listen” [Ac.2, 14]. Next, he announces the coming of the Spirit. Then, he repeats the word, “Listen” before proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus [Acts 2:22 ff].

The Mosaic Law, which began with “Listen Israel”, is giving way to Peter’s “Listen” and his twofold proclamation: the Spirit “poured out on all humanity” [cf Jl 3,1], and the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. He continues by announcing the heart of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Spirit given by the Father to the Son, “now raised to the heights at God’s right hand.” Finally he tells the people that repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ are the conditions for receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit and in response, about 3000 were baptised. Thus the old Pentecost gives way to the new, at which a religion is born, not of the book, but of the person, Jesus Christ.So the Church was born not in fear but in joy. The Holy Spirit did not descend on the apostles huddled together in fear. They were joyful, expectant, in profound prayer and meditation on the scriptures, with Mary, or rather, led by her.

Jewish thought and belief

How important it is to understand that Jesus, Mary and the apostles thought, understood, felt and believed as Jews. It would be helpful if courses on Jewish culture could form part of priests’ formation in the seminaries and so enable them to help the faithful to deepen and enrich their understanding of the Gospel, and the whole Word Of God.

Why the popular version of Pentecost exists

So why is the apostles’ state of mind at the time before the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost so often identified with the fear they experienced in their post-crucifixion trauma? The first event was private, charged with intense personal emotion, as the apostles, in hiding and in deep shock, suddenly find themselves in the presence of him whose terrible death they are mourning. The second event was public. How different it was, with the sudden sound of the violent wind filling the house, the tongues of fire, the speaking in different languages, the “devout men” all assembling at the house on hearing so much noise, the loud behaviour of apparent drunkenness, and all this only the beginning of the very public occasion on which the Church itself was born [Acts 2 1-13]. In the seven weeks between the two events, fear is never mentioned, only praise, joy and prayer. So why, then, does the belief exist that the Holy Spirit descended upon frightened men? .

The most obvious explanation is that, each year, the first mention of the Holy Spirit after Good Friday is at the Easter Mass, when the apostles were indeed behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. Possibly it is also because people want to believe it. The story of the Holy Spirit who descends upon frightened, unprepared apostles and turns them into heroes and martyrs in the twinkling of an eye is one that tends to please. Sudden transformations occur in many well-loved stories in folk tradition. They give us hope that buoys us up and helps us to keep going.

The apostles and us

Yet, as we have seen, the apostles were not afraid on the day of Pentecost. Neither could their transformation by the Holy Spirit be called unexpected. They had been hand-picked. They had lived with Jesus night and day. They had witnessed his many miracles. They had suffered the nightmare of Jesus’ suffering and death and then seen him conquer death. And they had been living through several days of intense prayer with Mary.

Pentecost is the culmination of an experience in order to be the beginning of another. It was for the apostles; it should be so for us. We should celebrate, on this day, the coming of the Holy Spirit in our lives, his definitive presence within us from our baptism, and his constant coming upon us, time after time, as we call on him and open ourselves in faith to receive him. The apostles’ mission is also our mission. The Spirit brings us to know Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour, so that, transformed, we can proclaim him and so help others to know him. Our responsibility is to collaborate with the Spirit to prepare us for this mission every day of our lives. We must walk with him faithfully and, in his power, seek to bring Jesus to all humanity. This is what we really have to celebrate at every Pentecost.

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Pentecost - from a painting by Chris Higham

I wonder how widespread is the belief that the apostles were huddled together in fear before the descent of the Holy Spirit in tongues of fire? Is it true that, as many seem to think, “with the doors closed for fear of the Jews”, the frightened apostles suddenly receive the Holy Spirit, who transforms their abject fear into fearlessness and daring? The answer is “No”. The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles at Pentecost was not like that. The apostles were not afraid. They were joyfully awaiting the fulfilment of the Lord’s promise, in complete confidence that he would not leave them orphans, but send them the Paraclete [Jn 14 16-18, 26; 15,26; 16,7]. They were prepared. This provides us with an important, but too often missed lesson on how we should regard the Spirit’s coming into our own lives. There were of course two comings of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles separated by the seven weeks between the Jewish feasts of the Passover and Pentecost. The Resurrection Day The first coming was on the day of the Resurrection [John 20, 19-23], on the evening of which, St. John tells us, the apostles were indeed behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. This is hardly surprising. They were traumatized. Their leader had been executed just two days before. Between the trial and his death, he had been cruelly scourged and humiliated. He had died nailed hand and foot to a cross. How long would it be before they came for them too? Suddenly Jesus comes and stands among them. He bestows peace upon them, shows them his hands and his side, tells them he is sending them as the Father sent him, and breathing the Holy Spirit upon them, gives them the power and authority to forgive sin. We are told that they are filled with joy at seeing the Lord. Jesus, victorious after suffering his Passion and Death, has returned in triumph to his beloved apostles and friends with the first fruits of his suffering, the forgiveness of sin, the beginning of the fulfilment of Jesus’ plan, as told in St John’s gospel. Preparing for Pentecost Now we turn to the events of Pentecost. We find no mention of fear in our reading about the time leading to Pentecost. We read rather of the apostles’ joy as they returned to Jerusalem from Bethania after the ascension of Jesus [Luke 24,52] and then later, that the apostles were all joined constantly in prayer with Mary, other women and members of Jesus’ family [Acts 1,14]. They were filled with expectancy waiting for the fulfillment of the renewed promise that Jesus had made before his ascension, to send them “the power from on high” [Luke 24,49]. This promise is repeated twice in Acts, [ch.1,vv. 5 and 8]. Also, both at his Resurrection [Jn.20,21] and at his Ascension [Acts ch1, v.8] Jesus had spoken of a far-reaching mission. They were of course Jews, and so we can presume that in their time of prayer they would have scrutinized the scriptures, as Jews did, to try to understand what was about to happen to them. And Mary was with them. Luke tells us that she treasured all the things that had happened to her, storing them up and pondering them in her heart [Luke 2 ,19 and 51]. Her influence during the waiting must have been profound. This scrutinizing of the scriptures corresponds to what Jesus did for the two disciples on the road to Emmaus on the day of the Resurrection [Luke 24,27], and for all the apostles just before the Ascension “when he opened their minds to understand the scriptures”[Luke 24,45]. The Fire of Sinaí The symbolic meaning of the fire descending on the heads of the apostles is very powerful in the context of the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which celebrates God as fire on Sinai with Moses. There is a Jewish story of scholars studying scripture together when an oil lamp tips over. The hut catches fire and the scholars are overjoyed. For them, the fire meant that God was present as at Sina?. When the firefighters came, they were all crying, not, “Help! Help!” but “Sina?! Sina?.” The occasion described in Acts II is an entirely Jewish affair too, though of course, with an unexpected twist. Everybody in Jerusalem was there to celebrate the coming, with fire, of the Law. The apostles’ own sense of expectation would have been mounting as they explored the scriptures in prayer while the day of Pentecost approached, and fire could well have been in their thoughts. Pentecost God had been present in the fire on Mount Sina? when He gave Moses the Law, the old covenant. For many in Jerusalem, the coming of the fire on the heads of the apostles signified a New Covenant. The apostles are not given a new Law though, but are filled with the presence of God. Every apostle became a walking Sina?, a flesh and blood Decalogue, whom all could hear preaching in their “own language about the marvels of God” [Ac 2,11]. They are now ready to continue the mission of Jesus himself, which he had confided to them on the day of his Resurrection, “As the Father sent me so am I sending you.” [Jn 20,21]. The mission of the apostles, as Church, is to proclaim Jesus, Son of God, Lord and Saviour, to the whole world. “You will receive the power of the Holy Spirit which will come to you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to earth’s remotest end” [Ac.1, 8]. Together with fire, the word “listen” also has a special thematic value linking the Jewish Pentecost with the Christian Pentecost. For some Jewish exegetes, God’s words, “Listen Israel”, before he gives Moses the Ten Commandments on Sina?, constitute His first commandment. Now, instead of Moses, it is Peter with the Eleven who stands up to make the first kerygmatic proclamation in the power of the Holy Spirit. The first thing he says is “Listen” [Ac.2, 14]. Next, he announces the coming of the Spirit. Then, he repeats the word, “Listen” before proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus [Acts 2:22 ff]. The Mosaic Law, which began with “Listen Israel”, is giving way to Peter’s “Listen” and his twofold proclamation: the Spirit “poured out on all humanity” [cf Jl 3,1], and the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. He continues by announcing the heart of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Spirit given by the Father to the Son, “now raised to the heights at God’s right hand.” Finally he tells the people that repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ are the conditions for receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit and in response, about 3000 were baptised. Thus the old Pentecost gives way to the new, at which a religion is born, not of the book, but of the person, Jesus Christ.So the Church was born not in fear but in joy. The Holy Spirit did not descend on the apostles huddled together in fear. They were joyful, expectant, in profound prayer and meditation on the scriptures, with Mary, or rather, led by her. Jewish thought and belief How important it is to understand that Jesus, Mary and the apostles thought, understood, felt and believed as Jews. It would be helpful if courses on Jewish culture could form part of priests’ formation in the seminaries and so enable them to help the faithful to deepen and enrich their understanding of the Gospel, and the whole Word Of God. Why the popular version of Pentecost exists So why is the apostles’ state of mind at the time before the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost so often identified with the fear they experienced in their post-crucifixion trauma? The first event was private, charged with intense personal emotion, as the apostles, in hiding and in deep shock, suddenly find themselves in the presence of him whose terrible death they are mourning. The second event was public. How different it was, with the sudden sound of the violent wind filling the house, the tongues of fire, the speaking in different languages, the “devout men” all assembling at the house on hearing so much noise, the loud behaviour of apparent drunkenness, and all this only the beginning of the very public occasion on which the Church itself was born [Acts 2 1-13]. In the seven weeks between the two events, fear is never mentioned, only praise, joy and prayer. So why, then, does the belief exist that the Holy Spirit descended upon frightened men? . The most obvious explanation is that, each year, the first mention of the Holy Spirit after Good Friday is at the Easter Mass, when the apostles were indeed behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. Possibly it is also because people want to believe it. The story of the Holy Spirit who descends upon frightened, unprepared apostles and turns them into heroes and martyrs in the twinkling of an eye is one that tends to please. Sudden transformations occur in many well-loved stories in folk tradition. They give us hope that buoys us up and helps us to keep going. The apostles and us Yet, as we have seen, the apostles were not afraid on the day of Pentecost. Neither could their transformation by the Holy Spirit be called unexpected. They had been hand-picked. They had lived with Jesus night and day. They had witnessed his many miracles. They had suffered the nightmare of Jesus’ suffering and death and then seen him conquer death. And they had been living through several days of intense prayer with Mary. Pentecost is the culmination of an experience in order to be the beginning of another. It was for the apostles; it should be so for us. We should celebrate, on this day, the coming of the Holy Spirit in our lives, his definitive presence within us from our baptism, and his constant coming upon us, time after time, as we call on him and open ourselves in faith to receive him. The apostles’ mission is also our mission. The Spirit brings us to know Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour, so that, transformed, we can proclaim him and so help others to know him. Our responsibility is to collaborate with the Spirit to prepare us for this mission every day of our lives. We must walk with him faithfully and, in his power, seek to bring Jesus to all humanity. This is what we really have to celebrate at every Pentecost. << Top Home >>