Sunday Gospel Comment

 

Alberic Jacovone OSB

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YEAR A

Acts 2,1-11; 1 Cor 12,3-7.12-13; Jn 20,19-23

Pentecost: not one but two 

50 Days: Pentecost is a Greek word meaning ‘Fiftieth’. In the Christian Calendar it’s the Fiftieth and last day of Easter Season, which celebrates -as one day!- the ‘Fifty Alleluia Days’ from Passover to Pentecost. Christianity has not invented Pentecost, it has inherited it from Judaism, from which it derives: as the Jewish Pentecost (50th Day) foretells & foreshadows our Christian Pentecost (50th Day), so ours fulfils and expands the former. At Jesus’ time & still now, the Jews had & have Peshac = Passover, to commemorate -in April- their escape from the slavery of Egypt; they then allocate seven weeks to reflect on this mighty deed of God. Finally they conclude with the Feast of Shavuot, which means "Weeks". (You may ask: why "Weeks"? because it took 7 weeks to travel from Egypt -through the desert- to Mount Sinai, where the people assembled and agreed to be God’s people. Now, if you multiply 7 weeks by the 7 days in a week, you get 49 days and the day after is the "50th Day", which is Pentecost Day. For them it is the Feast of the Covenant, of the 10 Commandments and of God’s Revelation. For us it is the fulfilment of all this and also the downpouring of God’s Spirit and the inauguration of a new, eternal & universal covenant between God and all nations. On the Jewish 50th Day (=Pentecost), the Jews acquired a consciousness of being God’s people: they gathered at Mount Sinai & from there, Moses descended -as go-between, comforter & advocate before God (their ‘paraclete’)-, and brought God’s Ten Commandments; there the people made their commitment to God, and thus the First/Old Covenant was sealed. At our own Christian "50th Day (=Pentecost)" we too acquire our consciousness of being God’s New People: gathered from all nations, we are: the Church (from the Greek Kuriake, which means ‘the Lord’s Beloved’) - the Body of Christ - the community which is sustained and grows under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (our ‘paraclete’). That Spirit which was merited by Jesus on the cross, is now sent to us on Pentecost (50th) Day by the Risen Lord, our eternal mediator with God. By His Spirit the Lord is present among us. Thus a new, greater, more intimate alliance is established between God and us: New Covenant. As God’s Spirit is poured in us, we experience our God alive in our midst - Christ alive in His Church: His Spirit works marvellous deeds: inspiring, convincing, committing us and pouring on all the believers his seven wonderful gifts.

Jewish & Christian overtones As we celebrate Pentecost, we never lose sight of God’s Plan, as it unfolds for us, through 1st & 2nd alliance, Old & New Covenant: one never contradicts or abolishes the other, instead one relates, fulfils and enriches the other. As through Moses, there was a 1st ‘wonderful deal’ between God & humanity, so there is an even more wonderful deal through Christ in the Holy Spirit. As there was a Jewish ‘50th Day - Shavuot’ on Mount Sinai, when God’s awesome presence was ushered with fire, lightning & mighty wind, so there is our Christian ‘50th Day - Pentecost’ in Jerusalem, when God’s Spirit -ushered by the roar of a mighty wind & tongues of fire- came on Mary and the disciples assembled in the ‘upper room’. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church completed God’s loving plan for us all, for all peoples, for all times and all languages. Filled with his Spirit, -as witnesses of his wonderful deeds-, we rejoice and commit our lives, talents and tasks to serve the poor & oppressed, for the good of all.

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