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We so often associate the feast of Pentecost with depictions of “tongues as of fire” resting over Jesus’ followers. Fair enough. But when the Church was born in the coming of God’s Spirit, it was a moment marked, above all, by unity—a unity today’s gospel reminds us is born of, and sustained by, our power to forgive.

May 28, 2023: Feast of Pentecost

Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11

Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34

1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13

John 20:19-23

Pentecost: the Spirit of Unity Through Forgiveness

A reflection by Thomas DeVoyd

What is Pentecost? It is the feast on which we celebrate the founding of the Church by the coming of the Spirit upon the apostles. When I was learning about this feast, so that I really had a better handle on it, I found that this was the time in the narrative when Jesus’ disciples came to be seen as spiritual leaders in their own right. Art depicting the disciples before Pentecost typically portrays them as ordinary people, but after Pentecost they are given halos signifying that they are living in the power of the Spirit. Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus, so the date (like Easter) changes every year. For Catholics, it is an incredibly important day, for other Christian denominations, not so much. Our celebration of Pentecost is primarily liturgical as opposed to social (like Easter or Christmas) although maybe we should mark this feast in public as well? … Any reason for a big meal with friends and God is good with me.

So how does this story begin? The disciples are gathered in fear when they hear a violent wind coming into the house. When it stops, there are tongues as of fire hovering over them and the Holy Spirit fills them so they can go out and preach the gospel. People from many different countries were there but heard the Word of God in their own language. They were astonished. The disciples were Galileans who, seconds before, could not speak anything but their own native tongue. Now they were speaking to all! In more recent times, there is speaking in tongues. This is when someone is filled with the Holy Spirit and speaks in an unknown language. I am not sure this is the same thing that happened to the disciples, but it could be. With the coming of the Spirit, the disciples go from fear and isolation to a compelling mission to preach the Gospel to all corners of the earth.

The theme in First Corinthians is that we are all baptized under the same Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the bond between Jesus and God. Without the Spirit, we would not be able to truly believe that Jesus is the Christ. In this letter, Paul was attempting to unify the Corinthians, which was not an easy task. Paul exhorts his readers, “In the one Spirit, we are one.” Looking around our world today, it seems that we need unification. We are so divided. If someone has a different opinion, they are shouted into silence. In our LGBTQIA+ community, we can push each other away. We can be so quick to label different voices as homophobic or transphobic. When did we become so rigid? Part of the joy of communication is the fact we may not agree on everything. It keeps the world interesting.

The gospel for Pentecost is about Jesus sending the disciples out. Jesus comes to them and the disciples are joyous. Jesus says to them, “To those they forgive, they are forgiven. Those that are not forgiven their sins will stay.” That is an awesome responsibility. Confession is the one thing that I am not great at. I think it is because I think that I should ask God for forgiveness, which I do (a lot). I do feel my sins lifted. Jesus through God and the Holy Spirit gave the disciples (and through them the whole Church) the power for forgiveness. According to tradition, most of these disciples went out to preach this Good News and were martyred. People were still afraid of this call to forgive, and silenced it.

During this time of Pentecost, we are called to bridge the chasms we are creating. When we are divided, we are easy to manipulate. We begin to hate each other until we reach the point of hurting others. And what does that make us? Is that what the church that we celebrate today is based on? I do not think so. Instead, today’s Scriptures remind us that we were born of a spirit of unity based upon forgiveness. Therefore, we can allow people to disagree; keep our exchanges civil; and open our minds to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.