Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, June 8, 2014

Pentecost – Duccio di Buoninsegna (1308) Tempera on wood. Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena.

Pentecost has come, the apostles are gathered to celebrate Shavuot, the Jewish spring harvest festival, and God’s Holy Spirit comes in a rush of wind and tongues of fire! Suddenly the Apostles are shouting out the Good News in many languages, and we recall the resurrected Christ’s promise that they would soon be “baptized in the Holy Spirit,” receiving power to be his witnesses, not only in Jerusalem but to the ends of the earth. Recalling the words of the Prophet Joel, Peter assures the crowd that the Spirit will be poured out for us all.

First Reading (alternate): Numbers 11:24-30

Seven weeks after Easter we celebrate Pentecost, the third major church holiday of the year. On Christmas we remembered the birth of Jesus. On Easter we recall Jesus’ death and resurrection. Pentecost completes the circle with God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, inspiring us to take the Gospel out to the world in Jesus’ name. Today’s first reading tells of God’s spirit empowering Moses and his followers. But the spirit came to Eldad and Medad, too, even though they weren’t there! We don’t control where the Holy Spirit goes, but wherever God’s spirit comes and moves through us, good things can happen.

Psalm: Psalm 104:25-35

Hold up these prophetic words from the middle of today’s Psalm: “You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; and so you renew the face of the earth..” Since the first words of Scripture when God’s spirit breath blew over the face of the waters like a mighty wind and all creation came to be, God’s mighty work of creative world-building continues all around us. Sing! Sing praise to God! Rejoice!

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13

Through the Spirit we all are all as one in baptism. Nationality, economic status, gender: None of that matters. Just as the body is made up of different parts that serve different functions, we bring individual gifts as we work together, guided by the Spirit, for the common good. Through it all, Paul assures us, we are all moved by the Spirit as members of the body of Christ.

Gospel: John 20:19-23

Think about how it must have been for the disciples on the first Easter day. Grieving the loss of their leader, they surely felt both wild hope and fearful uncertainty when Mary Magdalene came running in to tell them that the tomb is empty and she met a man in white. “I have seen the Lord!” But how? Why? What does it all mean? Now darkness falls and Jesus is suddenly with them in the locked room. He wishes them peace, shows them his wounds. Then he breathes on them, signaling the presence of the Holy Spirit that will take them … and the church … out into the world.

Gospel (alternate): John 7:37-39

Pentecost is one of the feast days designated as especially appropriate for baptism. Indeed, its alternative name, “Whitsunday,” or “White Sunday,” alludes to the white garments worn by those being baptized. As we gather in Christian community and welcome new members into Christ’s Body in the church, we remember that through Baptism we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever. Through the living water of baptism our hearts join in pouring out the good news of the Gospel to all the world’s nations.