May 21, 2010
Sunday Scripture
Pentecost
BY FATHER DONALD DILGER
On the evening of the day of resurrection, Jesus suddenly stood in the room where his disciples were secured from the probability that they would be arrested as collaborators with him who had been executed as a would-be King of the Jews. The resurrected body of Jesus, now a “spiritual body,” as St. Paul calls it, needed no open door to enter the room. Jesus greets them with his Shalom alachem! or “Peace be with you.” An appropriate greeting in view of Peter’s denial, Judas’ betrayal, and what must have seemed to them as a hopeless situation after the execution of their Master and Teacher as a criminal. There must be proof that this is the same body that died on the cross. Therefore Jesus showed them the wounds in his hand and in his side.
Shalom is repeated to prepare them for the Gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus presents his credentials from the Father, “As the Father has sent me, so do I send you.” This statement establishes the authenticity of the Christian mission. As the Son himself derives eternally from the Father and the Holy Spirit proceeds from Father and Son, so all Three are involved in the Christian mission. The first story of creation in Genesis 1:2 finds an echo in this scene of resurrection evening. In Genesis 1 all was chaos, without form, void, empty, and dark. Then the Breath (Spirit) of God moved over the waters of chaos, and creation began as “God said . . .” Here in John’s gospel the One of whom John 1:3 said, “All things were made through him,” now breathes the Breath (Spirit) of God once again, and life begins, as God (the Son) says, “Receive the Holy Spirit . . . .”
In Genesis the first creation was light itself. In John’s gospel the first creation is restoration of light, “Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven.” What have we learned so far from John’s catechetical lesson? The words of Jesus, “As the Father has sent me, so do I send you,” are explained by the command to forgive sins. The purpose for which the Father sent Jesus into the world is the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God. Now the Son passes on the mission of forgiveness to the representatives of the Church which had been born with blood and water from the side of Jesus on the cross, and now begins to breathe with the Breath (the Spirit) of God. To what purpose: to bring God’s forgiving love to humankind.
“Whose sins you shall retain, they are retained,” that is, forgiveness is withheld. This presents a difficulty because it seems to limit the infinite quality of God’s forgiveness. The purpose of withholding forgiveness is solely because the would-be recipient of God’s forgiveness is not ready to accept it. This condition is never permanent. When Paul dealt with a notorious sin at Corinth, he explained retention of sin (or excommunication) in this way: “When you are assembled, and my spirit is present with the power of the Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved for the day of the Lord Jesus.” Forgiveness is always at hand, but we have to be ready to receive it. Matthew’s gospel also speaks of retention of sin, “If he refuses to listen even to the Church, let him be to you as a heathen and tax collector.” Then Peter asks Jesus how often he must forgive, seven times? Jesus sets aside any and all limits to forgiveness, “”Not seven times but seventy times seven times.”
In the gospel of today, the giving of the Holy Spirit happens on the same day as the resurrection of Jesus. The Gift comes as a gentle creative Breath from the mouth of Jesus. Luke has a different approach. He too wants to speak of the giving of the Holy Spirit as a creation story. Not the creation story of Genesis 1, but the creation of Israel as God’s people, as described in Exodus 19-24. The Torah which contains the covenant between God and Israel, and which creates Israel as a nation, was given in Exodus with thunder, lightning and fire. Luke therefore depicts the creation of the Church through the Gift of the Spirit accompanied by “the rush of a mighty wind and tongues of fire.”
Luke places the giving of the Spirit not on the day of resurrection, but on the fiftieth (Greek: pentecoste) day after Passover. The fiftieth day after Passover was for the Jews a harvest feast. Therefore it was fitting that the first Christian harvest be assigned to what was already a joyful harvest celebration. Grace builds on nature. The story of confusion and separation of humankind at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 is also reversed. Luke writes, “Devout people of every nation under heaven heard the apostles speaking in their own (the people’s) language,” the gifts of tongues and interpretation of tongues.
Paul devotes chapter 12 to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, “different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit.” What is his purpose here? To bring together a community divided in envy Jealousy, and power-seeking. He reminds Christians that just as each part of the body has a different function for the good of the whole body, so it is with the Church. Each member has her or his own gift to contribute for the good of the whole Church.