Homily for 8 June 2014: Holy and Glorious Pentecost Sunday
(Acts 2:1-11) (John 7:37-8:12)
Today is the great feast of Pentecost—the
50th day after the Resurrection of Christ and the 10th
day after His Ascension to the Father.
Imagine how the disciples must have been
feeling. When the Lord was crucified,
died, and was buried, they were devastated.
When He rose from the dead on the third day, they couldn’t believe it at
first, then they were overjoyed to have Him with them again. But when He ascended, once again they were
left alone, although He told them to wait for the Holy Spirit, whom He would
ask the Father to send.
So, ten days after that, they were
probably confused and scared, maybe even angry.
They must have been full of questions:
What’s going to happen to us?
What is this “Holy Spirit” that’s supposed to be coming? What will we have to do when it comes? How can we do anything without Jesus, our
Master and Teacher? Why did He have to
leave us?
Maybe—probably—we often feel the same way
and have the same kinds of questions?
What do we really know about the working of the Holy Spirit in our
lives? What are we supposed to do with
the gift of the Holy Spirit that we received in Baptism and that was sealed in
Chrismation?
We get a clue from what Jesus told His
disciples at the time of His Ascension:
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you
will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of
the earth.”
So the power of the Holy Spirit enables
us to become witnesses for Jesus Christ “to the ends of the earth”—that is, in
the whole world. But how can we do that?
In his First Letter to the Corinthians (1
Cor. 12:3-13), St Paul writes that there are many different varieties of gifts
of the Spirit, and that different ones are given to different people to be used
for the good of all. These are the gifts
of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, knowledge,
faith, healing, miracles or mighty deeds, prophecy (calling people to follow
God’s will), discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of
tongues.
And on Pentecost, as we read today, the
disciples received these gifts and used them to preach the Gospel in many
languages. All those hard names in
today’s reading from the Book of Acts—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Phrygia,
Pamphylia—represent “the whole world” known in the Roman Empire at the
time. All those people from all those
places, gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast of Shavuot (the
giving of the Law on Mt Sinai), understood the disciples’ message as if it was
spoken in their own languages, which is a sign of unity in God, just as the
disciples were unified. That’s why Acts
says, “they were all together in one place.”
What happened at Pentecost shows the Holy
Trinity at work: the Father, at the
Son’s request, sends the Holy Spirit.
And it shows that the way to accomplish God’s will is to seek the unity
of Christians—all languages, nations, cultures, people. The Father creates us all, the Son saves us
all, and the Holy Spirit gives life to all and guides all.
So we can be Christ’s witnesses to the
ends of the earth by using whatever gifts we have for the good of all. Some use wisdom to raise their families,
teach their children, show good example.
Others show their faith, and share their faith, in everyday life. Some use God’s healing power as doctors,
nurses, and other medical professionals; others use it in words and actions
that heal anxiety, confusion, and depression.
Still others are called to preaching and public actions.
We just have to certain, when we use our
gifts, that we’re doing it for God, not for personal glory or profit. And we have to remember that it’s not our
power, but the working of the Holy Spirit.
Then we can truly be witnesses for the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, One God, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
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