Biblical Reflection for Solemnity of Pentecost
(By Father Thomas Rosica, CSB)
Christian theology of the Holy Spirit is rooted in Judaism. The term Spirit translates the Hebrew word (ruah) and even in the pronunciation of it we detect God's wind and breath. The wind of God, the breath of God, the presence of God are all ways of referring to God's presence.
The expression "Holy Spirit" was used only seven times in the Old Testament, whereas the terms "Spirit of God" or "Spirit of the Lord" occurs 67 times in the Hebrew Scriptures. In the very first line of the book of Genesis 1:1, God's Spirit was gently hovering over the primordial waters waiting for the opportune moment of drawing order from that chaos.
Jesus, himself, uses the sensory image of the wind in the mysterious, nocturnal conversation with Nicodemus when he talks about the Spirit as the wind that blows where it wills [cf. John 3]. This, then, is the Spirit's first function in the Scriptures: to be the mysterious presence of God in history, not reducible to human or earthly logic.
The second function of the Spirit in the Old Testament is that of putting things in order. The Genesis creation account [Chapter 1] reveals a descending Spirit upon this formless world and its descent produces the miracle of creation, the transformation of chaos into cosmos, of disorder, into order, of anonymity into community.
The third function of the Spirit in the Old Testament is life-giver. In Genesis 2:7, we read: "The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the Spirit, the breath of life and man became a living being. As a result of this divine breath, the human creature is transformed into a living being, no longer to be simply a creature but a partner made in the image and likeness of God, with whom and to whom God speaks and confides responsibility for the world."
The fourth function of the Holy Spirit is guide. We read in Isaiah 11: "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord." The fear of the Lord is not something that terrorizes people but could be understood as our ability to say "wow," "awesome" before God's handiwork and God's creation.
The fifth function of the Spirit is healer, articulated so powerfully in the prophecy of Ezekiel 36:26-27 -- "I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees." The Spirit enters, recreates, restores to health and vanquishes sin.
The sixth function of the Holy Spirit is the universal principle. We read in Joel 3:1-2: "I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, even upon the men-servants and the maid-servants, in those days I will pour out my spirit." The day will come when all humanity will be truly possessed by the spirit and that day will coincide with the eagerly awaited Messianic age of which the prophets speak. It was this principle that captivated Jesus'activity and ministry in a remarkable way.
The seventh function of the Holy Spirit takes place on the feast of Pentecost when the disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The coming of the Holy Spirit signals the start of a world-wide mission for Christians beyond their geographic boundaries of Israel, first from Israel to Rome, and then from Rome then to the ends of the earth. It is a mission that overcomes human obstacles and has the Spirit as its driving force.
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