- Acts 2:1-21 or Ezekiel 37:1-14
- Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
- Romans 8:22-27 or Acts 2:1-21
- John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Thoughts on the Word:
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them.
‘I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Acts 2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
This week’s reflection will be short. I just want you to reflect on the readings for today. I want us to focus especially on the words of Jesus in the Gospel reading.
‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
It is something that we so often forget! The holy spirit is how God speaks to us now that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. We are not alone, and while the Bible is God’s Word and our guide for faith, it is not our sole access to God as is so often taught in some denominations of Christianity. I am not trying to downplay the importance of God’s Word – the whole purpose of this blog is to share the Scriptures and preach on them! The Bible is our supreme authority for establishing and holding to a genuine faith in Jesus, what I am trying to convey though is that we mustn’t allow ourselves to become so focused on the ‘book’ that we forget we have direct access to God through His Holy Spirit indwelling in us. We mustn’t become so focused on reading and obeying the Scriptures that we forget to actually live them out in love through the Holy Spirit. That is the trap that the Pharisees fell into – no one knew the scriptures better than the Pharisees, but knowing the words in the book, is meaningless unless you involve the Spirit.
The Spirit is alive and well in the world, and can revitalise our faith and the Church, all we need do is call upon Him!
Let us this Pentecost, (or Whitsunday in the tradition of my own particular denomination) ask that the Holy Spirit fills us as it did the Apostles and disciples on that first day that Jesus sent Him. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will grant us gifts of the spirit, and teach us in the ways of God as Jesus promised. Let us focus on changing modern Christianity from a ‘religion of the book’ (like the Pharisees had) and return it to its roots as a religion of the Spirit, that happens to be founded on the truth found in that book.