Acts 2: 1-11
Pentecost was a Jewish feast that celebrated the beginning of the harvest. It took place 50 days after the feast of Passover. Jewish pilgrims came to Jerusalem from all over the ancient world to celebrate the feast. Today we hear how Pentecost became a Christian feast.
1 Cor. 12: 3-7,12-13
Corinth was a busy cosmopolitan seaport located in the central part of modern-day Greece. In this passage Paul addresses problems his converts are experiencing in trying to have a unified community in such a diversified atmosphere.
John 20: 19-23
Bishop Untener’s Homily
A Contradiction?
There are some things Jesus said just before he died that don’t seem to make sense. For instance, at the last supper (in John’s Gospel) he told his disciples that he would be leaving them, and it was better for them because then he could be closer to them. How does that fit together?
We have the same apparent contradiction in one of the Eucharistic prayers when we say to the Father, "Jesus now lives with you in glory, but he is also here on earth among us" How does that fit together?
If this were like an old fashioned Confirmation when the bishop asked questions, I might ask you to explain that to me. If I did, I’m sure you’d say, "It’s because, now that Jesus has gone through death to a new form of human life, he is able to send his Spirit to be with us." And you would be correct.
The Spirit: A Third-Level God?
Now you can decide whether this fits you or not... but I wonder if we take the Spirit seriously enough. In a way – and this is an oversimplification – don’t we sometimes think of the Spirit as an "ambassador" from God who is not quite on the same level as God? There is GOD (the Great God), who sent Jesus Christ to us (one step down), and after his ascension Jesus sent the Spirit to us (one more step down). Don’t you sometimes have that feeling?
That is not our doctrine. We believe that each Person in the Trinity is fully and truly God and, if I can put it this way, you can’t have one Person without the other two Persons. So, when you receive the Spirit, you receive the "Great God," and in a particular way you receive the risen Lord Jesus.
Imagine that. God that close to me. The risen Lord that close to me. It is the "real presence."
An Image
I have an image that can help us appreciate this wonderful truth. You have to guess what image I’m thinking of.
Do you remember the picture that was very popular in homes – a child is walking along the bank of a stream, very close to the edge, and there is a figure there protecting the child? Who was that figure?
[Answer: The child’s guardian angel.]
Now... substitute the Holy Spirit for that angel and, so that you can picture it, have God present in the form of the risen Lord Jesus . Picture that for a moment. That captures what we believe about the Spirit that Jesus has given to us.
We still believe in angels, but I think we tend to assign to angels much of what we believe about the Spirit. Jesus talked of sending the Spirit and John, in his Gospel, uses the Greek word "paraclete" which literally means "called to be at your side." We sometimes translate that "advocate."
The Spirit is the presence of God at our side to help us – at our side to be "on our side." When you think about it, that is how we often picture guardian angels. We would do well to picture the "real presence" of the Risen Lord – the Spirit – in that way. The Lord is at our side, on our side. Because he comes to us in this way, no longer limited by time and space, the Lord is closer to us than he was with the disciples in a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. He is present heart to heart, spirit to spirit . within us, next to us, around us.
"I’ll Go With You"
There is another image we can use to appreciate this gift.
Think of how comforting it is when we have to go into a difficult situation and someone says, "I’ll go with you." It may be to a doctor’s appointment to get the results of a test and we’re afraid of getting some bad news. It may be to a courtroom, or to a difficult confrontation.
It means so much when a friend says, "I’ll go with you." They’re simply going to be there, at our side, on our side. We can all picture that.
That’s what the gift of the Spirit means to us. The Lord says, "I won’t leave you orphans. I’ll be with you. I’ll help you . I will be at your side, on your side."
Pentecost
This is a great feast that celebrates a great truth. We need to let it sink in, because it can seem almost too good to be true.
If we think about the Spirit with us wherever we go, wherever we are, it can make a day brighter. It can make a whole life brighter.
That’s what we celebrate at Pentecost. We simply sit back, enjoy this gift, take it in, experience the comfort it brings, and say to God, "Thank-you."
Originally given on June 11, 2000