Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, May 19, 2013.
The Holy Spirit descends upon the believers.
We find the Holy Spirit blowing through our lives in all four readings for Pentecost Sunday. Near the beginning of the Bible, we read about the Tower of Babel, where God came down and caused a prideful people to speak different languages that others could not understand, scattering them over the earth. Today God the Holy Spirit comes down again, bringing the gift of many tongues, and sending the apostles out to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all the earth. We’re all apostles now, in the original meaning of the Greek word, those sent out to tell the story of Jesus.
Psalm: Psalm 104:25-35
This lovely psalm of praise begins with images that surely bring pleasure in anyone who loves ships, the sea and the whales who do seem to “sport” in it as they leap and spout under God’s blue skies and brilliant sunlight. And then, over the waters, we see the Holy Spirit, literally the breath of God, who brings us life, just as in the first moments of creation when God’s spirit-breath blew over the waters like a mighty wind separating land from sea, night from day.
Second Reading: Romans 8:14-17
In this short reading from his letter to the early church in Rome, Paul quickly sketches an idea that the early church would work out as Trinity over the centuries that followed. God the Creator inspires us – literally, breathes belief into us – through the Holy Spirit, showing us our shared heritage with Jesus, the son of God, with whom we suffer and through whom we are glorified. Paul wrote in the verses leading up to this passage that, by having the Holy Spirit dwell in us, we can overcome sin and death.
Gospel: John 14:8-17,25-27
Today’s reading is part of an extended passage from John’s story of the Last Supper, in which Jesus speaks of God in Trinitarian themes, too. Jesus has just told the apostles that he will be leaving them soon, but assures them that Jesus remains in God and God in Jesus, and that God’s Holy Spirit will be with them forever – and with us – as an eternal Advocate, sent in Jesus’s name to teach us, to lead us and to comfort us with that great peace of God that surpasses all understanding.