Come, Holy Spirit, Come!: May 31, 2020
Pentecost
John 20:19-23
There are two mistakes we make about the Holy Spirit: two aberrant tendencies. There are those who wax eloquent about the “spirit” and who vaguely imagine that they can somehow know life “in the spirit” without the cross. Others tend to imagine that some orderly structure or rite—or some other real or imagined religious observance—can bring life to them automatically.
Today’s story from the Gospel of John may jolt the first group into realizing that the Spirit is always and only the one sent by the Son who went to the Father via the cross. . . There is no other way “in the spirit.” The reading from Acts, on the other hand, can remind the overly staid people of the second group that there may be edification in something that at least looks like the result of several early-morning cocktails. –– Hilary Hayden, OSB
From John’s perspective, Jesus’ Easter gift of the Holy Spirit marks a new creation. For as YHWH the Creator breathed into the human person the gift of life (Genesis 2:7), the risen Jesus breathed on his disciples a gift of new life. . . –– Judy Shepps Battle
Acts 2:1-21
The story of the Pentecost event is told in Acts 2. The disciples are gathered in one place, as they seem to have been regularly since Jesus’ ascension (see Acts 1:13–14). A sudden theophany of fire and wind occurs, both of which are common elements of a theophany. The wind is present at creation (Genesis 1:2) and at the exodus event (Exodus 14:21). God appears as fire to make covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15:17). At Sinai the Lord comes down as fire to make covenant with all Israel (Exodus 19:18).
The Jewish feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, is attached to the Sinai event and was originally a celebration of the wheat harvest, the second grain harvest. (Passover is the first, the harvest of barley.) The feast is named Weeks, or Pentecost, because it occurs seven weeks, or fifty days, after Passover. As the agricultural feast of Passover becomes the celebration of the historical event of the exodus, so Pentecost becomes the celebration of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai.
The effect of the theophany on the disciples is the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. “Spirit” and “wind” are the same word in both Hebrew and Greek. Thus throughout the Hebrew Bible, the appearance of wind also suggests the appearance of the Spirit of God. –– Judy Shepps Battle
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians gathers several truths about the Spirit: The Spirit is a gift of life. Jesus was empowered by and worked through the Spirit. Now he continues to work through the
believing community, his body. The life of the body of Christ is the Spirit of God, given to all in baptism. In that Spirit the face of the earth will be renewed.
The gifts (charisma) given by the Holy Spirit (see a list in vv 8–10) are given not for the individual’s self-aggrandizement but for the common good. Each member, each gift, is important and needed (see 1 Corinthians 12: 14–27). –– Judy Shepps Battle
Hilary Hayden, O.S.B. (1929-2016), was a monk of St. Anselm’s Abbey, Washington, D.C., a student of classical languages, teacher of Latin and Greek, chaplain to Benedictine sisters in Bristow, associate editor of Homily Service of the Liturgical Conference, and a spiritual advisor.
Judy Shepps Battle is a long-time mental health and addiction counselor, sociologist, author, and retired college professor who lives in New Jersey.
Homily Service 38, no. 6 (2005): 29-36.