Happy Pentecost!

The streets of Jerusalem were bustling with activity on the morning of Pentecost in 33 A.D. An unusually large number of pilgrims had assembled from the four corners of the Jewish world to celebrate the feast. On this fiftieth day after Passover, faithful Hebrews gave thank offerings to God for the gift of Torah, the Law of God revealed on Mount Sinai after the Israelites had escaped from bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt. Observant Jews connect these two events in this line of thinking: Passover was God’s divine deliverance of His chosen people from that age’s most powerful civilization, that of ancient Egypt. When the Israelites were separated by nearly two month’s time, and by all the miles of distance from the banks of the Nile to Mount Sinai, Moses met with God and received the Ten Commandments.


In the fashion of more than a thousand years of observance, those flocking to Jerusalem that year would celebrate with many visits to the temple, for

• singing and dancing in the Court of the Women,

• for the presentation of “first fruits offerings,” brought from the young harvests of their fields back home

• for the offering of sin and thank offerings in the Court of the Israelites

• for all-night Torah readings in the synagogue

• for the eating of seasonal treats made of fruit, milk, flour, and honey in the marketplace

• for connecting with old friends and the making of new friends.

Casting something of a pall over this year’s celebration were reports of some disturbing political and social events in recent weeks. Those visiting from outside of Jerusalem were brought up to date on the news of the upstart Jesus of Nazareth, whose Passover week return to Jerusalem had ended in his crucifixion. The civil disturbances he had caused had troubled some residents about the buying and selling of animals in the outer court of the temple; now the out-of-town visitors noticed a more subdued atmosphere than they has witnessed in previous visits. There was even a disturbing rumor that he had risen from the dead, but up to now, none of his followers had stepped forward to publicly confirm this rumor.

And then it happened.

Those on the periphery of the crowd felt a surge away from the Beautiful Gate of the temple; they felt an unseasonal wind rushing across Temple Mount toward an obscure two story residence on the back side of Mount Zion. Moving with the rest of the crowd in that direction, they found a group of Galileans standing outside the upper room, speaking loudly in the all the languages represented that day in Jerusalem. Everyone pressed closer to hear what they were saying. Hearing that the Galileans might be drunk, some discontinued trying to repss closer and made their way back to the now less crowded temple area. But others swore that they could see tongues of fire over the heads of the Galilean men.

In a few days news of what the Galileans were preaching would be all over Jerusalem – that their Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, had been seen by many witnesses, and as of Pentecost, had sent his Divine Spirit to indwell those who were His followers. Within days those who professed to be His followers had increased by thousands. Within a few years this message would be known all over the Roman Empire. And within the next two thousand years, the message would span the globe in hundreds of languages.

And it all started on Pentecost.