Christians have long pointed to the Feast of Pentecost as the day that the Church was born. For some time after Jesus had completed his post-Resurrection appearances and returned to Abba-God, his followers, along with Jesus’ mother, continued to gather to pray and to wait for what would come next. Jesus had promised that they would know through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost is another of the celebrations borrowed, and reinterpreted, from their Jewish roots. It came 50 days after Passover, and was also known as The Feast of Weeks – originally to give thanks for the wheat that was ready to harvest. For Christians it marks the launch of their mission as Church – a different kind of harvest.
Luke’s account in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-13) is filled with symbolism. For Luke, the mission needs to begin from Jerusalem – the capital of the People of God (as they referred to themselves). The city is overflowing with pilgrims who came to commemorate the Feast together. Suddenly, where Jesus’ little community is gathered, there comes the sound of a strong wind. Then something like flames of fire appears over the heads of those in the room. These are signs from the Hebrew Scriptures of God coming down with power on the people at Mount Sinai.
These people are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Love. And this Spirit impels them to begin to speak to the pilgrims about God and Jesus and the need to change their way of seeing reality, and their way of life. The pilgrims, from so many nations, hear and understand the Galilean speakers’ message. How can this be? God must be at work! Of course, there are some who attribute this charismatic event to the speakers having indulged in too much strong drink – and so early in the day!
This gift of hearing and understanding would call to mind the mythic story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). In the story, people all shared a common language, and they decided, one day, to build a tower to heaven. Because of the shared language, this enterprise was doable. They didn’t need any divine assistance to achieve heavenly bliss. They could bypass the god or gods and do whatever they pleased. So, God, looking down at the construction project, decides that humanity’s arrogance has gone too far and proceeds to confuse the languages. The people start babbling and are no longer able to understand and cooperate. They separate and scatter into smaller groups around the world.
This is another example of an origin story. Imagine a child asking an elder, “Why are there other peoples, and why do they speak strange words?” It makes for a wonderful nomadic campfire tale. And the Israelites, having seen the high, stepped towers, like the ziggurats, during their exile in Mesopotamia, attribute this gross and sinful attempt to their enemies in Babylonia. Only pagans would try such a stunt!
The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost creates the possibility for humanity to come together, to hear and to understand one another, no matter the nationality. It undos the fiasco of the Tower of Babel. We now have the opportunity to unite in building up God’s Kingdom, as God desires. We can join forces to end all the divisions that weaken our efforts to make this world better for all. Meanwhile, our broken and divided world continues to babble.