Pentecost. The liturgy concludes the fifty days of Easter with a report of the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles St. Luke paints a very picturesque portrait of the coming of the spirit – strong driving wind, tongues as of fire, speaking different languages, bold proclamation to the nations. We remember the scene vividly. It speaks to us of the divine plan to bring good news to the entire world. The gospel of John also reports about the gift of the Holy Spirit – not fifty days after Easter but on Easter night itself. Since it doesn’t pack the same visual punch, we hardly notice it as a bestowal of the Spirit. No wind, fire or crowds but Jesus is very explicit in the text: He breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
The gospel account from St. John is personal, almost intimate. The disciples are in a locked room, cowering in fear. Jesus is suddenly in their midst bestowing upon them peace. All of the fear, all of the failures of the past days are given their proper place with that assurance. Jesus does show them his wounds, the reality of suffering is not diminished. But the wounds are not the end of the story. They are the prelude to the disciples continuing the story of Jesus – they are sent on mission. They are given the Holy Spirit as the engine or dynamo which will make that mission possible. We are accustomed to speaking of the gifts of the Spirit (wisdom, understand, etc.) but the gift Jesus mentions is forgiveness. Since they are forgiven they need to share forgiveness. The peace that Jesus brought to them as the first fruits of the Resurrection is intended to trickle out to the entire world.
Thinking about those two accounts of the coming of the Holy Spirit together produces a sense that the mission of the Church is to bring forgiveness and to bring it into the entire world. We can all testify that forgiveness is not easy on a personal level. When we have been hurt the instinct is either to hunker down into a protective crouch or to hurt back so that we won’t be hurt again. Taking the call to forgive into the larger world proves even more difficult. So many of the things that hurt us are impersonal and intangible. Racism, economic injustice, deprivation, hatred, political rancor are not aimed specifically at us but they impact us just the same. How do we forgive, who do we forgive in the face of those kinds of hurt? Perhaps the lesson from the Acts of the Apostles shows us a powerful lesson. The presence of the Spirit required that the followers of Jesus learn how to speak to, how to connect with those who were different, who thought differently, who spoke differently. Perhaps the lesson of this Pentecost is to gather into ourselves the peace which the Risen Jesus gives us so that we can, in turn, reconcile the whole of creation, all the children of God, into a community of love and justice.
