Our image of Pentecost is in one sense totally conditioned by the description
familiar to us all in the Book of Acts. The wind from heaven, accompanied by a noise that filled the entire house, and then the coming down onto the apostles of tongues of fire. It is a dramatic moment which grabs our attention and captures our imagination. It is an explosive moment, in that something flashes before the apostles’ eyes and then illuminates their minds with meaning and purpose. The build up to this event has been characterised by their own introspection and
indecision. What were they to do? How were they to respond to what they had experienced? The crucifixion and death of Jesus had left them bereaved and distraught. The resurrection had made them bewildered and confused, and now this, what did it all mean for them and for their future? Certainly, they knew that something utterly unique had happened to Jesus and to them. Their lives had been turned upside down and they had a decision to make. Disregard it all as a misguided mission and head back to Galilee and pick up the threads of their former lives? Or realise and believe the enormity of what God in and through Jesus had done for the world.
The reality of Jesus’ risen presence amongst them during those days between Easter Sunday and the Ascension must have been the reason they stayed together. They knew they weren’t seeing a ghost. They knew they weren’t speaking with a vision. They knew they weren’t listening to voices in their heads. Jesus had already spoken to them about this moment and of the impact it would have on them. At the Last Supper, he told them the Holy Spirit would come and would remind them of
everything that he had spoken to them, and now, in the early morning of the day of Pentecost, the traditional Jewish Feast that celebrated the giving of the Law by God to Moses, the apostles come stumbling out of the room in which they were gathered and begin proclaiming the new Law given by Jesus Christ. The new commandment given by Jesus to them at the Last Supper was to love one another as I have loved you, and now with those thoughts in their minds, and with their hearts emboldened by the Holy Spirit, they realise what it is they must do: teach and bring this message of love to all peoples.
The image of Pentecost must link us with the image of Jesus at the Last Supper, inaugurating the commandment of love through both the gift of himself in the form of bread and wine, and in his foot washing deed of service. It is what he asks us to do, and on this feast of Pentecost filled with the power of the Spirit we are called to copy his example.
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