Pentecost And Social Justice

Our subject this week is the often-missed, intrinsic connection between pentecost and social justice. Our reading this week is from the book of Acts:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.

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This is Part 1 of Pentecost and Social Justice

Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

‘In the last days, God says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your young men will see visions,

your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy.

I will show wonders in the heavens above

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

And everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ Acts 2:1-21

This is the narrative of the day of Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the early Jesus movement. Many Western Christians celebrate this day each year this coming weekend. It’s a time to remember this event and all that the gift of the Spirit means.

There has always been a rich diversity of opinions on what the gift of the Spirit actually did for the early church. I choose to focus on the concrete, material differences that this outpouring made. To grasp this, let’s start in Luke. The gospel of Luke is connected to the book of Acts; Acts continues Luke’s initial story. Some believe that these books were written by the same person, but whether they were or not, they were meant to be read together.

In the gospel of Luke, the Spirit being upon Jesus bore a certain, distinct fruit. We’ll begin here in Part 2.

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