Today’s readings began, “When the time for Pentecost had been fulfilled, they were all in one place together.” Pentecost was a major Jewish feast, back then, a thanksgiving celebration that combined gratitude for the year’s harvest with a gratitude for the Sinai covenant. This feast occurred fifty days after Passover, hence the name, Pentecost.
Jews from all over gathered for this great Jewish feast in Jerusalem. As we heard, they were speaking many different languages. That reminds me of the tower of Babel in the book of Genesis. Prior to building the tower, with the intent of reaching to the heavens, all peoples spoke the same language. As a punishment for the pride of those who tried to build such a tower, God confused their speech so that they no longer understood one another. Thus, humanity became fragmented, divided, split into groups different from one another, and out of touch with each other.
The coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost aimed to reverse that situation. The people of different languages gathered in Jerusalem were astounded. They understood what they were hearing. They were transformed by the message they heard from the apostles, who themselves had been transformed by the Holy Spirit from a confused group of human beings into a courageous body of Christian believers.
This disorganized band of believers was quickly transformed into a single body of witnesses, which we now call the Church. Hence, we think of this feast as the birthday of the Church, the risen body of Christ made visible. The Christian movement that began that day spread so quickly that within three decades its influence was felt in faraway Rome.
What the Holy Spirit began on Pentecost 2000 years ago was left for us to complete now. Due to the pandemic, we are not assembled in a building designated as a church, but we are church wherever we are for we make up the Body of Christ. This means that we all take on an active role, each in our own way, of preaching and living the Gospel message. This mission is more critical today than ever.
In the gospel, Jesus is speaking to us just as readily as he spoke to the disciples in the upper room. “Peace be with you. Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Those are reassuring words many people are desperate to hear on the streets of Seattle, Minneapolis and numerous other cities where anger toward police brutality has erupted into scenes of violence and destruction, a sad reminder that Jesus’ words ring hollow for many people, who are reluctant to forgive and find ways to reconcile with one another.
Peace is the message we are to announce to our wounded world. Peace is the promise that Pentecost proclaims. But what is this peace? Certainly, it is not the absence of conflict. There is not true peace in the home just because members of the family are not fighting. There isn’t true peace in any city where no riots have broken out. True peace means more than the absence of war between nations or the absence of bullying in schools and workplaces.
Rather, peace is a unity of mind, heart and will to live in the manner that God urges us to live. True peace is what Jesus came to establish on earth but we are so slow to put into practice his lessons of love, compassion, and humility. His peace is a peace that nothing in this world can give. His peace emerges when people come together in love with mutual understanding and respect for one another. This is a peace that cannot be fostered unless we die to sin and all the divides us.
We are challenged to effectively communicate the Gospel to others by what we say and do and the values we hold. We were given the power to boldly proclaim our faith yet how many of us are able to stand up for religious values in the face of social or political opposition? The power of the Spirit is what has enabled countless Christians to do just that.
Elsewhere in his letters, Paul notes, “God has not given us the Spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.” This is the Spirit that came upon the disciples on Pentecost and this is the Spirit we are personally blessed with through our baptism and confirmation.
The ongoing riots happening across the country in reaction to the death of George Floyd or the quarantine caused by the coronavirus pandemic demonstrate vividly that many are hesitant or reluctant to live out the Gospel, becoming angry and hostile instead of forgiving. As the Gospel repeatedly affirms, it is through acts of forgiveness that we can harness for God the energies of love, setting a contagious fire to heal our divided world. Forgiveness requires us to embrace our feelings with compassion and understanding, though it does not mean condoning any behaviors that have harmed us.
The Church is you and I, called to live decent moral lives and bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are called to do that here and now in the trenches of everyday living, loving, hurting, struggling, and dying. The Spirit has been manifested to each of us for the common good of all, living a common language of love that transcends divisions, always making us mindful that we are all created in the image of God who loves us unconditionally.