A Fresh Perspective

According to John’s Gospel, when Jesus appeared to the disciples in an Easter epiphany, he said, “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” Then the text says that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Only a literal reading of the text would regard this as the first connection the disciples had with the Holy Spirit, who is also called the Advocate or Comforter and the Spirit of Truth in John’s Gospel. The language of “Holy Spirit” is just another symbolical way of talking about God and God’s relationship to the world. One of the key things the Gospel of John teaches about the Holy Spirit, I believe, is that present day disciples of Jesus experience the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. The Christ image is the Christian’s dominant image of God. We understand the Spirit of God as the Spirit of Christ. When John says that Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” he wants his readers to recall the creation story where God breathes into the human ...

Writer Robert Roberts tells about a fourth grade class that played “balloon stomp.” In “balloon stomp” a balloon is tied to every child’s leg, and the object of the game is to pop everyone else’s balloon while protecting your own. The last person with an intact balloon wins. It’s a game rooted in the philosophy of “survival of the fittest.” In this particular fourth grade class balloons were relentlessly targeted and destroyed. A few of the less aggressive children hung shyly on the sidelines and, of course, their balloons were among the first to go. The game was over in a matter of seconds. The winner, the one kid whose balloon was still intact was the most disliked kid in the room.  But then, says Roberts, a second class was brought into the room to play the game, only this time it was a class of mentally challenged children. They too were each given a balloon. They were given the same instructions as the other group, and the same signal to begin the game. This time,...

A common theme in both the passage in Acts and the one in 1 Corinthians is the togetherness and unity of the church that coalesces around the gift of the Spirit. Luke tells us that the disciples who experienced the Spirit in such a dramatic way on the day of Pentecost “were all together in one place.” Paul explains to the Corinthians that while there’s a diversity of gifts and though members have different capacities and abilities, there is one body and one Spirit. This oneness extends beyond social status and nationality: Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – all are made to drink of the one and same Spirit, says Paul. In a society infused with the Spirit there is no patriarchal dominance or favoritism. The Spirit is given to all – sons and daughters, slaves and free, Jews or Greeks – all get baptized in the Spirit. The Spirit breaks down social and cultural barriers and divisions commonly upheld in one’s culture. The Spirit creates a different kind of community. And we kn...

In Acts 2, the Spirit fills the disciples gathered in Jerusalem . Language barriers are broken as Jews from “every nation under heaven” (a bit of hyperbole) hear the good news in their native tongue. One obvious intention of this account is to show that the work of the Spirit is designed to reconcile, include, gather up and bring together diverse people to form egalitarian communities. In explanation of what took place on the Day of Pentecost, Peter claims fulfillment of a passage in Joel that says the Spirit will be poured out upon “all flesh”— no distinctions, exceptions, or exclusions. It is poured out on the old and young, men and women, slaves and free people; everyone receives the gift of the Spirit. In the Spirit immersed community there is no hierarchy—no elevation or subjugation of any gender or group. Paul depicts the first churches as egalitarian communities. In his letter to the Galatians he says that “there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or fr...

In a spiritual reflection for Pentecost Sunday Richard Rohr says, “Pentecost is actually every day, if we expect it; but, not surprisingly, this is the greatest forgotten major festival of the entire church year.” Some of the reason for its neglect may be intentional, because talk of the Holy Spirit is always a bit mystifying to some people. Some of this, I think, is due to the way we have tried to describe the Spirit in our Trinitarian formulations. The Spirit in both the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament is another way of talking about God’s presence and activity in the world. God engages creation and particularly human beings through the Divine Spirit. For Christians, the Spirit’s major task is to reveal Christ. In the Gospel reading for Pentecost Sunday Jesus says, “He (the Spirit of Truth) will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:14). The function of the Spirit in the Christian community is to make Christ known. But not in th...