A Reality Check: Has each of us received the Spirit?

May 28, 2023 

    We all probably  know the dramatic story of Pentecost Sunday and the tongues of fire that came down upon the disciples.  And also how after that the disciples went and preached in their own language, and yet everybody understood in their own respective languages what they were saying, Right?  Then how is it that the Church includes in today’s reading from John’s Gospel quite a different story about how the disciples received the Holy Spirit.  In this latter story, which the Church itself chooses to place before us today, we have Jesus who appears  in front of the frightened disciples, and then breathes on them and bestows on them the Holy Spirit, bringing peace to their hearts.  Which one is true?  Or, How can  both be true?  But perhaps the more important question is: What did the coming of the Holy Spirit accomplish?  Or perhaps both questions need to be answered.  

Let me take the second question first.  To answer that second question, let us examine what is  common in both the stories, because that probably is the essence that both writers or evangelists wanted to convey to the Christian community.  

And what is common in both stories is the fact that despite all their years of being with Jesus, the disciples were still lost - and this was their state even after the Resurrection and all the ‘proofs’ that were given to them.  Neither did it seem that they had fully understood the message of Jesus (e.g. as I mentioned in the Ascension Sunday reflection) as they were still quarreling among themselves about who among them would be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Moreover they lived in extreme fear, and certainly did not have the courage to speak up and proclaim Jesus.  Their fear was clear in their behaviour.  When Jesus was arrested, they all ran away.  When Peter tried to follow, he was so frightened that he denied Jesus three times.  And at the cross, apparently only one male disciple turned up, though there were many women who did turn up. And they  continued to be extremely fearful and anxious and worried about their own lives.  Two of them ran away to Emmaus.  None of the male disciples came to the tomb on the third day though Mary had the courage to do so, and it was only AFTER that, that two of the apostles ran to the tomb.  But even after that they were still huddled in the upper room, trembling with fear and shattered beyond all repair - apparently.  

And then wonder of wonders, and history confirms, they suddenly seem to have found the courage to stand up and speak the message of Jesus in public, not fearing the consequences.  It is like a deeply frightened person suddenly standing up and speaking truth to power today, before a fascist or vengeful or oppressive Government, not worried about the consequences.  Something must have happened to such a person if s/he suddenly gets this courage.

So the dramatic change in their lives is true, as the history of the early Church testifies.  And both the writers of the first reading and the Gospel articulated this radical change through different stories to share the reality of the disciples receiving the Spirit of God that gave them the courage to stand up for Jesus and speak his message to all, irrespective of the consequences. Whatever happened, it appears that something extraordinary did happen, and the disciples were changed for ever by what happened.  And it is THAT power of the Spirit of God to bring about that change in the disciples of Jesus, that we celebrate today on Pentecost Sunday.

But is there any reason why the two authors narrate the story of the receiving of the Holy Spirit in different ways? Here is one possible explanation.  Most of us would know that throughout history, and in most religions, ‘fire’ is seen as a purifying force and therefore is always a symbol of purification.  And the imagery of ‘tongues’ is often connected with the ability to communicate or to speak.  So the ‘tongues of fire’ is an image that speaks of purification and of empowerment to speak up without fear. And so we must remember what happens after they receive the tongues of fire.  The narrative goes on to tell us that suddenly the disciples were fearless and went out and spoke the message of Jesus in their own language, - and that they could be understood by others who spoke other languages.

This is a narrative that parallels another story from the Old Testament that is in direct contrast to this narration - namely the story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). In the Genesis story, the people of the world from all different religions, tried to build a Tower to the heavens, and then suddenly there was complete Babel, or confusion,  symbolised by each speaking a different language, and everyone being unable to understand every other person. Symbolically, this recounted a complete break down of all forms of mutual communication, which led to complete chaos - something that still often happens in our political world today, with a lack of trust and communication across nations and even within nations. It would seem then that the author of today’s reading in the Acts of the Apostles, who was writing for Theophilus, a non-Jew,  wanted to teach his readers that these divisions in the world had been healed with the coming of Jesus and the Spirit he sent, because both Jesus and the Spirit had come not just for the Israelites but for all human  beings.

In effect then, Babel has been reversed, the world was once again unified in Jesus. There were no more any ‘chosen people’. All were God’s people.   Now the entire world had the possibility of coming together and experiencing God, for now the means of communication for all had been restored and all could understand the message in their own tongues - for the ultimate message was simple, namely that we would find God if we served the weakest of us, if we loved even our enemies, and if we learnt to forgive the way Christ did.

On the other hand the writer of the Gospel of John, who wrote that Gospel many decades later, had a different purpose. This Gospel was written at the time when the Apostles were dying, but the message of Jesus was already being proclaimed all over the Roman Empire. But now the situation was that the persecution of the Christians was gathering steam, and the Christians were deeply afraid.  The writer of this Gospel, who also seems to have written the Book of Revelation, wanted to use both books to assure the entire Christian community, that though they were frightened and felt they were being killed off and did not know what the future held for them, they were not to fear, as eventually victory would be theirs. In the meantime, the Gospel writer wanted to assure his readers, that Jesus’ Spirit of courage would be with them. And so the author reminds them that Jesus had breathed on them the Holy Spirit to give them peace and courage. So they could live in peace, despite all the suffering they faced, and they should not restrain themselves in fear from spreading the ‘Gospel’ message.  

Consequently, the stories of these two writers differ.  It doesn’t matter then whether we hold on to the dramatic description of tongues of fire descending, or prefer the quieter articulation of the receiving of the Holy Spirit that we find in today’s Gospel. And by placing both stories before us today, perhaps the Church is telling us not to focus at all on the description of what happened, but rather on the reality of what happened.  

Furthermore, in the second reading of today, Paul, who is usually not into fanciful imagery, tells us in quite a matter of-fact manner, that the receiving of the Holy Spirit is manifested in each of our lives in different ways, primarily so that we can serve all.  And Paul does not speak of any miraculous narrative of how the Holy Spirit is received.  Perhaps, like us, the early Christians preferred looking for miraculous manifestations of the Spirit. Paul, however, is reminding them that such miraculous manifestations are not the only proof of the Spirit. And so he offers a list of some of the gifts of the Spirit - the ability to speak words of wisdom, or the gift of insight that comes from great knowledge, or the gift of deep faith, or the ability to discern, - all these he lists out in addition to miraculous gifts like the ability to heal, or the ability to speak in tongues.  So Paul, in the second reading, is telling us that no one gift is ‘higher’ than another, for they all come from the same God.   

So how can we know whether we have been baptised with the Spirit?  Perhaps, rather than looking for sudden miraculous manifestations of God in our lives,  we can check by asking ourselves, if we are ensuring that we are using our own God-given innate gifts not only for ourselves and our loved ones, but  to bring the good news to the ends of the world. And the Catholic Church in its Synod on Justice in 1970, re-articulated what this good news means for us today when it taught that ACTION FOR JUSTICE is an essential dimension of the preaching of the Gospel to our world today.

If this is what spreading the Good News means for us today,  we can ask ourselves whether, like the Apostles, we too do not fully understand the message of justice that we are asked to proclaim to the ends of the earth.  We can ask ourselves whether we are too fearful to speak up for justice, too afraid to speak truth to power, in our polarising and hate-fostering world.  So, like the Apostles, we too need the Spirit to enlighten and empower us.  We too need a Pentecost.

First Reading: Acts 2: 1-11
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power.”

 

Second Reading  First Corinthians 12: 3b-7, 12-13

^3bNo one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. ⁴Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; ⁵and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; ⁶and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. ⁷To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ¹²For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  ¹³ For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

 

Gospel :  John 20: 19-23  

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”  After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”.