May 27, 2012: Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21
or Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 104: 25-35,37
Romans 8:22-27
or Acts 2:1-21
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Today is the celebration of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit to the small group of the followers of Jesus. The Book of Acts tells us that after Jesus’ death and ascension into heaven, Jesus’ disciples, Mary and other women had gathered in prayer in an upper room in Jerusalem. They were probably mourning Jesus’ departure and worried about what would happen to them.
I think it is significant that the Spirit did not come to Jesus’ disciples until after he had left, when his disciples were probably bereft from his absence. So often in our own lives, when things seem bleakest, God breaks through our desolation with goodness that brings hope to us and consolation to us. This is why our passage from Romans makes a connection between the coming of the Spirit and the ability to hope. For the Holy Spirit to come into our lives means to be infused with new life, new beginnings, for the Spirit is none other than Jesus’ resurrected Spirit, and this same Spirit has power over all darkness and evil.
But because we are human, all too often in difficult times, we forget that in the midst of our despair that we can call upon this Holy Spirit to be with us and lift us up, to be the light that illumines our way. For God does not intend us to travel this journey called life without the benefit of God’s presence along the way. This is why, as Jesus tells us in the gospel of John, he sent us an Advocate, a helper, to encourage and support us, and to lead us into truth. And the truth is that God loves us, deeply, passionately and unconditionally. We who are mere mortals cannot begin to understand the depth of God’s love for us, and this is why, I think, that sometimes we lose our way.
Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk who wrote so much about his search for God, speaks to how the disciples must have felt as they gathered in Jerusalem after his ascension, not fully understanding where Jesus had gone and worried about the future. He also speaks to all of us (and that means everyone) who sometimes feel as if God is absent, as if we are alone though we are not. Merton says,
“We cannot arrive at the perfect possession of God in this life, and that is why we are travelling and in darkness. But we already possess Him by grace, and therefore in that sense we have arrived and are dwelling in the light. But oh! How far have I to go to find You in Whom I have already arrived!”
― Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain
Our Epistle for today reminds us, “Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience (Romans 8:24b, 25).” Jesus, help us to be people of hope, mindful that your Spirit is with us always, and remind us that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness (Romans 8:26a).” In this way we can be signs of hope, beacons of light, to others as we travel together on the path of life.