Pentecost

On Sunday we celebrate the birth of the church. John records Jesus giving the Holy Spirit to his disciples on the day of his resurrection (Jn 20:22), while Luke identifies the giving of the Holy Spirit with the event of Pentecost (Acts 1:4-5). How do we resolve this apparent contradiction? We can liken it to human conception and birth. It is as though John is talking about the conception of the church through the Holy Spirit. It is true that the disciples receive the Holy Spirit on the day of Jesus' resurrection. However, there is little external evidence of the Holy Spirit's presence. The same is true when a baby is conceived. The evidence of conception is not immediately apparent, and the baby does not make his or her impact on the world until birth takes place 9 months later. It is as though the Church's period of gestation is the 50 days between the Passover when Jesus was killed and raised, and the subsequent Feast of Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit does come in power, the first events are that of the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the multiplicity of languages (Acts 2:7-8) and the forming of one church made of people from these different language groups (Acts 2:44). These actions show the diversity of the witness of the Apostles and the unity that the Spirit gives across this diversity. That is the miracle of Pentecost.