“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” (Acts 2:1-6, NRSV).
The disciples shouting and making a scene–a pretty compelling case that the disciples of Christ had gotten into the wine. And, as we read, that is exactly what some of the original bystanders said. It’s easy for those who are unfamiliar with the history of Pentecost to have a good laugh and stop the story there, but this part of our Christian history offers so much more inspiration than fodder for a chuckle. It’s an example of how our amazing God meets each of us, right where we are, and speaks at our level in a language we can understand.
Pentecost was not just something that happened to the disciples. Pentecost existed before this dramatic experience of evangelism. In Greek, Pentekoste literally means “the 50th day.” In the Old Testament, Pentecost refers a seven-week agricultural festival that focused on harvesting the first crops for God. Isn’t it neat the way culture and tradition are all used by God to speak plainly to the people of the time? Now, in the New Testament, describing what was happening in Acts in terms of a first harvest would have made perfect sense!
Today, we honor this tradition by celebrating Pentecost 50 days after Easter; the Book of Common Prayer marks Pentecost as one of the feast days “especially appropriate” for baptism (BCP, p. 312) and we can still get excited about sharing the message of hope and salvation in a way that is relevant for our friends and neighbors, right here in Saginaw. Just like the original disciples, we serve the same amazing God who speaks to us exactly where we are and who equips us to be a witness to others exactly where they are.