The Sunday News
Rev Paul Damasane Talking Spirituality
WHEN Jesus left his disciples as he was caught up in the clouds he promised them another person. You heard me right that I said he promised them another person in the name of the Holy Spirit. Christendom has taken over the feast that was celebrated in the Old Testament as the feast of tabernacles or the feast of booths also known as the festival of weeks. It was celebrated 50 days after the Passover. We now call that day Pentecost Sunday. We remember the day the Holy Spirit immersed the Apostles and the early believers in Himself. That marked the beginning of the new chapter of the mission of Jesus Christ to build the church, and in this case the universal church, not just the denominations we are seeing.
Pentecost is significant in both the Old and New Testaments. “Pentecost” is actually the Greek name for a festival known in the Old Testament as the Feast of Weeks (Leviticus 23: 15; Deuteronomy 16: 9). The Greek word means “fifty” and refers to the 50 days that have elapsed since the wave offering of the Passover. The Feast of Weeks celebrated the end of the grain harvest. Most interesting, however, is its reference in Joel and Acts. Looking back to Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2: 8–32) and forward to the promise of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s last words on earth before His ascension into heaven (Acts 1: 8), Pentecost signals the beginning of the church age. That is where I find the significance of this year’s Pentecost Sunday.
It comes just a day before the continent celebrates the founding of the Organisation of African Unity and now referred to as African Union. The Apostles were in one accord in the upper room. Africa needs to be one as well. But more significantly is the fact that it is the Pentecostal and Charismatic brand of Christianity that appeals to the African more than the more dignified and conservative mainline churches like the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.
Since the days of Azusa and the Seymour’s experience it has been the African on the continent and in the diaspora that has been the fertile ground for Pentecostal and charismatic expression. That is what will take Christianity to the future in Africa and we need to accept that. The future of Christianity is by texture African but it still remains to many to understand if we are ready to have it that way or else we allow the devil to have his way. God forbid!
Back to understand Pentecost. The only biblical reference to the actual events of Pentecost is in Acts 2: 1–3.
Pentecost is reminiscent of the Last Supper; in both instances the disciples are together in a house for what proves to be an important event. At the Last Supper the disciples witness the end of the Messiah’s earthly ministry as He asks them to remember Him after His death until He returns. At Pentecost, the disciples witness the birth of the New Testament church in the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell all believers. Thus the scene of the disciples in a room at Pentecost links the commencement of the Holy Spirit’s work in the church with the conclusion of Christ’s earthly ministry in the upper room before the crucifixion. This is a mirror image one would like to remember for some time.
It is significant and real. It all starts and ends in the unity of the people of God.
The description of fire and wind mentioned in the Pentecost record is the same throughout the Old and the New Testament. The sound of the wind at Pentecost was “rushing” and “mighty.” Scriptural references to the power of wind (always understood to be under God’s control) abound. Exodus 10: 13; Psalm 18: 42 and Isaiah 11: 15 in the Old Testament and Matthew 14: 23–32 in the New Testament are only a few examples. More significant than wind as power is wind as life in the Old Testament (Job 12: 10) and as spirit in the New (John 3: 8). Just as the first Adam received the breath of physical life (Genesis 2: 7), so the second Adam, Jesus, brings the breath of spiritual life. The idea of spiritual life as generated by the Holy Spirit is certainly implicit in the sound of the wind at Pentecost. It comes as no surprise therefore that many of the mainline churches use this Sunday to hold the confirmations of the faithful who have fulfilled the requirements of knowledge and allegiance as stated in the catechism and creed and doctrine of the church.
Fire is often associated in the Old Testament with the presence of God (Exodus 3: 2; 13: 21-22; 24: 17; Isaiah 10: 17) and with His holiness (Psalm 97: 3; Malachi 3: 2). Likewise, in the New Testament, fire is also associated with the presence of God (Hebrews 12: 29) and the purification He can bring about in human life (Revelation 3: 18). God’s presence and holiness are implied in the Pentecostal tongues of fire. Indeed, fire is identified with Christ Himself (Revelation 1: 14; 19: 12); this association naturally underlies the Pentecost gift of the Holy Spirit, who would teach the disciples the things of Christ (John 16: 14).
The association is the fulfilment of the person of the trinity whose duty and role is the teaching and leadership of the church into the new level of truth, power and spread. He, the Holy Spirit, comes to lead us all into a higher paradigm of spiritual connection with the Father who the Son came to show us to.
Another aspect of the Day of Pentecost is the miraculous speaking in other tongues which enabled people from various language groups to understand the message of the apostles. This is the glossolalia that has come to be symbolic in Pentecostal and charismatic churches to show ukuba ubanjwe ngumoya umzalwane! The power of the prophetic, healing and miracles is also associated and implied in the phenomenon. Kalokhu, He that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not to man but to God!
In addition to the tongues is the bold and incisive preaching of Peter to a Metropolitan audience without the timidity and ruggedness of a fishermen. The effect of the sermon was powerful, as listeners were “cut to the heart” (Acts 2: 37) and instructed by Peter to “repent, and be baptised” (Acts 2: 38). The narrative concludes with 3 000 souls being added to the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers, apostolic signs and wonders, and a community in which everyone’s needs were met. The same goes on to the full narration by Dr Luke of the Acts of the Apostles. The rest is history and today we stand at the same threshold as we see the pilgrimage of Christianity to the African continent. God be blessed and enjoy the depth of the faith in the person of the Holy Spirit!
Till next week Shalom!
