Bible notes
Acts 2.1-21, Psalm 104.24-34,35b, Romans 8.14-17, John 14.8-17,(25-27)
- Pentecost was originally a Jewish harvest festival, celebrated 50 days after Passover, and came to commemorate Moses receiving the Law from God. As Pentecost approaches, the disciples are feeling very uncertain, suspended between Jesus’ death and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has promised to send an ‘advocate’ or ‘helper’ (John 14.26) and the disciples are nervously waiting. They lack confidence because they have lost their leader. Their senses are intensified and their expectations are high, but they don’t know what to do. It is not a rational earthly experience that resolves their wait, but a heavenly one.
- Wind and fire are often used in the Old Testament as symbols of God’s presence; they are like God’s ‘signature’. The Jewish scholar Philo (c.25 BC – AD 50) talks about God speaking in the fire at Mount Sinai, and Luke draws on this tradition in describing the disciples’ vision as tongues of fire. Their experience of God is a powerful and transformative one.
- In the upper room, the breath of God starts something new. Often used as a sign of life, it breathes new life into the disciples and inspires them with confidence. They are transformed into linguists and bold preachers who are not afraid to share their faith. And as Jesus promised (John 14.27), they have a new sense of peace. How do we experience God? What does the Holy Spirit inspire us to do?