Acts 2:1-12 (The Message Bible)
1-4 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.
5-11 There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were blown away. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?
Parthians, Medes, and Elamites;
Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene;
Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes;
Even Cretans and Arabs!
“They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!”
12 Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: “What’s going on here?”
1-4 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.
5-11 There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were blown away. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?
Parthians, Medes, and Elamites;
Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene;
Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes;
Even Cretans and Arabs!
“They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!”
12 Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: “What’s going on here?”
What exactly were Jesus’ followers doing when we have this momentous event we call Pentecost? It’s seven weeks after Passover, fifty days after Easter and the Resurrection, 10 days of waiting in Jerusalem. And there’s a celebration going on , it’s Shavuot; a harvest festival. It’s a joyous celebration, with the people bringing the first fruits of their harvest to the Temple with thanksgiving to God for His provision.
With great pomp and ceremony, the people would travel to Jerusalem with their first fruits in baskets carried on their shoulders. An ox with gilded horns and a crown of olive tree branches would lead the way for crowds of people singing and celebrating. When they arrived at the Temple, the first fruits would be given to the priests and passages from the Bible, specifically from Deuteronomy 26:5-11, would be read, recounting the difficulties the Israelites encountered before settling in the land of Israel. The ceremony would end with giving thanks to God for bringing the people to “a land flowing with milk and honey,” concluding with these words, “and now I bring the first fruits of the soil that you, LORD, have given me” (vv. 9-10). The people would then present their baskets to God, after which there was much rejoicing and feasting.
The two holidays, Passover and Shavuot, are linked. The Exodus from Egypt, which Passover celebrates, marked the beginning of physical freedom for the Jewish people. But Shavuot is a reminder for the Jews that physical liberation was incomplete without the spiritual redemption represented by receiving God’s Law.
After leaving Egypt on the night of Passover, the Jews traveled to the Sinai desert. There, they experienced divine revelation as God gives Moses His law in Deuteronomy 4:10-13 Moses reminded the people of that experience:
“Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb [Sinai]…
You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire
to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Then the LORD spoke…
He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded
you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets.”
What begins at Passover is completed in Shavuot.
So this Shavuot, we have the disciples and about 120 followers of the Jesus gathered in Jerusalem, waiting just as he instructed them to do 10 days earlier. Happy, sad, anxious, determined; still grieving, still afraid, still faithful men, women, Jesus’ mother and his brothers wait; praying, talking, and…there’s a change, there’s something happening, it’s wind, it’s wild, it’s chaos, WOW, it’s amazing!!!
And people, crowds of people take notice_ all these people from everywhere in the ancient world gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate; all of a sudden they are hearing what the disciples and others are saying in their own native language. They can understand what is being said.
Here the disciples are talking about God in Aramaic, most likely, and everyone can understand what they are saying. It’s like a United Nations conference with a 50 translators all translating at once. And what are the disciples talking about? About God working in the world, about God’s saving power, about Jesus: his life and death and relationship with God. They are talking about the prophet Joel, because what Joel prophesized, was happening right then. This rushing in of the Holy Spirit was a sign, an event of God breaking into history.
And maybe this was the moment when the disciples begin to understand God’s will for their lives. And the followers of Jesus begin to see a way forward from their despair.
Jesus is gone but in the prophet Joel’s words the Spirit will be poured out on God’s faithful people. Poured out – you get that sense of abundance, this is an over the top party, this is exuberance and joy and excitement – it’s not a little bit for you, a little bit for you, and maybe a little bit more for you because you deserve it.
No; this is more like gifts for everyone, it’s poured out, it’s deafening, it’s exciting, it’s amazing! It’s for everyone, sons and daughters will prophecy, the young will have visions, the old will dream dreams.
This Pentecost thing is new and old. It is a continuation of the prophets and John the Baptist, and Jesus, It is God’s saving power at work in the world and now the disciples are gifted that mission, empowered in their understanding and wisdom to carry the Good News forward.
What begins with the Resurrection on Easter is linked to the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus, the new Moses, brings the new Law which is written on people’s hearts, it is the telling of a new relationship with God. Love the Lord God, Abba, with all your heart and mind and soul and love your neighbour as yourself.
It begins with 120 followers of Jesus gathered that morning to talk and pray, to discuss their lives and God’s word in the Hebrew scriptures and all Jesus had told them, to eat a meal and rejoice the Shavuot, to remember Jesus and wait for a sign.
Then, Holy Spirit sweeps in and falls upon crowds in the midst of Jerusalem but they are not in the Temple; God is not confined to the innermost sanctuary of the Temple. God’s Spirit is free and falls upon everyone with ears to hear and eyes to see. The Holy Spirit speaks to people’s hearts and people understand and respond to this message of Good News that the disciples are sharing.
They got sign, you couldn’t miss it and many didn’t; they were wondering what was going on and upon hearing the message of the disciples, many repented, many were baptized and by the end of Acts chapter 2:
“ They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe
at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. Every day
they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread
in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God
and enjoying the favour of all the people.
God’s Holy Spirit was at work just as Jesus had promised. The Holy Spirit continues to work in the world and is at work here, today, among us. We are really no different from that small group of Jesus followers that Pentecost morning. Our hopes, our visions, our dreams are just as important to the Kingdom of God. And I tend to think it wasn’t the big event that made all the difference, for that was soon over, but the community that formed around those committed followers of Jesus.
They took Jesus’ teachings to heart. They cared about and for each other, they welcomed each other and each other’s gifts, they shared their lives and their wisdom. They loved God, Jesus’ Abba, with all their hearts and all their souls and all their minds. And the Holy Spirit was with them. The same Holy Spirit is with us in all that we do and say as followers of Jesus, loving God with all our hearts and souls and minds.
May it be so. Amen
With great pomp and ceremony, the people would travel to Jerusalem with their first fruits in baskets carried on their shoulders. An ox with gilded horns and a crown of olive tree branches would lead the way for crowds of people singing and celebrating. When they arrived at the Temple, the first fruits would be given to the priests and passages from the Bible, specifically from Deuteronomy 26:5-11, would be read, recounting the difficulties the Israelites encountered before settling in the land of Israel. The ceremony would end with giving thanks to God for bringing the people to “a land flowing with milk and honey,” concluding with these words, “and now I bring the first fruits of the soil that you, LORD, have given me” (vv. 9-10). The people would then present their baskets to God, after which there was much rejoicing and feasting.
The two holidays, Passover and Shavuot, are linked. The Exodus from Egypt, which Passover celebrates, marked the beginning of physical freedom for the Jewish people. But Shavuot is a reminder for the Jews that physical liberation was incomplete without the spiritual redemption represented by receiving God’s Law.
After leaving Egypt on the night of Passover, the Jews traveled to the Sinai desert. There, they experienced divine revelation as God gives Moses His law in Deuteronomy 4:10-13 Moses reminded the people of that experience:
“Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb [Sinai]…
You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire
to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Then the LORD spoke…
He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded
you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets.”
What begins at Passover is completed in Shavuot.
So this Shavuot, we have the disciples and about 120 followers of the Jesus gathered in Jerusalem, waiting just as he instructed them to do 10 days earlier. Happy, sad, anxious, determined; still grieving, still afraid, still faithful men, women, Jesus’ mother and his brothers wait; praying, talking, and…there’s a change, there’s something happening, it’s wind, it’s wild, it’s chaos, WOW, it’s amazing!!!
And people, crowds of people take notice_ all these people from everywhere in the ancient world gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate; all of a sudden they are hearing what the disciples and others are saying in their own native language. They can understand what is being said.
Here the disciples are talking about God in Aramaic, most likely, and everyone can understand what they are saying. It’s like a United Nations conference with a 50 translators all translating at once. And what are the disciples talking about? About God working in the world, about God’s saving power, about Jesus: his life and death and relationship with God. They are talking about the prophet Joel, because what Joel prophesized, was happening right then. This rushing in of the Holy Spirit was a sign, an event of God breaking into history.
And maybe this was the moment when the disciples begin to understand God’s will for their lives. And the followers of Jesus begin to see a way forward from their despair.
Jesus is gone but in the prophet Joel’s words the Spirit will be poured out on God’s faithful people. Poured out – you get that sense of abundance, this is an over the top party, this is exuberance and joy and excitement – it’s not a little bit for you, a little bit for you, and maybe a little bit more for you because you deserve it.
No; this is more like gifts for everyone, it’s poured out, it’s deafening, it’s exciting, it’s amazing! It’s for everyone, sons and daughters will prophecy, the young will have visions, the old will dream dreams.
This Pentecost thing is new and old. It is a continuation of the prophets and John the Baptist, and Jesus, It is God’s saving power at work in the world and now the disciples are gifted that mission, empowered in their understanding and wisdom to carry the Good News forward.
What begins with the Resurrection on Easter is linked to the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus, the new Moses, brings the new Law which is written on people’s hearts, it is the telling of a new relationship with God. Love the Lord God, Abba, with all your heart and mind and soul and love your neighbour as yourself.
It begins with 120 followers of Jesus gathered that morning to talk and pray, to discuss their lives and God’s word in the Hebrew scriptures and all Jesus had told them, to eat a meal and rejoice the Shavuot, to remember Jesus and wait for a sign.
Then, Holy Spirit sweeps in and falls upon crowds in the midst of Jerusalem but they are not in the Temple; God is not confined to the innermost sanctuary of the Temple. God’s Spirit is free and falls upon everyone with ears to hear and eyes to see. The Holy Spirit speaks to people’s hearts and people understand and respond to this message of Good News that the disciples are sharing.
They got sign, you couldn’t miss it and many didn’t; they were wondering what was going on and upon hearing the message of the disciples, many repented, many were baptized and by the end of Acts chapter 2:
“ They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe
at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. Every day
they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread
in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God
and enjoying the favour of all the people.
God’s Holy Spirit was at work just as Jesus had promised. The Holy Spirit continues to work in the world and is at work here, today, among us. We are really no different from that small group of Jesus followers that Pentecost morning. Our hopes, our visions, our dreams are just as important to the Kingdom of God. And I tend to think it wasn’t the big event that made all the difference, for that was soon over, but the community that formed around those committed followers of Jesus.
They took Jesus’ teachings to heart. They cared about and for each other, they welcomed each other and each other’s gifts, they shared their lives and their wisdom. They loved God, Jesus’ Abba, with all their hearts and all their souls and all their minds. And the Holy Spirit was with them. The same Holy Spirit is with us in all that we do and say as followers of Jesus, loving God with all our hearts and souls and minds.
May it be so. Amen
