2121AFC052121- Together Again
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John 20:19-20 – 19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Acts 2:1-4 – 1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Yes, Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. We’re going to look at two of the readings from the Mass During the Day on Pentecost. The first occurs on the Day of Resurrection – the first day of the week. Jesus had a busy day on that first day of the week. First the Resurrection, then instructing Mary Magdalene to carry a message to the Apostles, a walk with two other Disciples on the Road to Emmaus, and then – that evening – a surprise appearance in the Cenacle – the “Upper Room” where a number of his closest followers were gathered together as they tired to figure out what to do next.
Can you imagine how frightened they were? Jesus, the Messiah in whom they placed their hopes for the restoration of Israel, had been arrested, severely beaten, dragged through a preposterous trial, and the Jewish leaders and the Romans conspired to crucify him! He died. Right in front of his Mother and a handful of close friends, he died. Were his followers next? If they could capture and kill the Messiah who was God’s anointed Savior, what would they do with a bunch of common men and women whose only “crime” was loving and following the Man who they believed was the King of Heaven.
Then there were those outlandish reports from Mary, from Peter and John, and from the pair who saw him disappear from the dinner table in Emmaus. It was all unbelievable. Nothing like that could possibly happen. Then Jesus simply popped into the room unannounced without so much as opening the door and says, quite calmly, “Peace be with you.” Talk about a “Kodak Moment!” Fear was converted to incredulity, disbelief transmuted to Joy, sorrow and grief were disintegrated in an explosion of validation. “Look at my hands and my feet. Reach in and feel the wound in my side. Here, WHOOOOOSH, receive the Holy Spirit. Now you can forgive or bind sins just like me.”
For forty days, he met with them, taught them further about the kingdom of God, appeared to hundreds of them at a time, ate with them, walked with them – I’m willing to wager he even laughed with them, maybe even sang some songs like the ones they sang (↔ Click Link) just before he was arrested. At the end of those forty days, they were still struggling with what happened to Jesus and to them. And what about this clear and stern warning to stay in Jerusalem, a very dangerous place for all of them? Here’s a little memory refresher on that commandment found in Acts 1:4-5 – 4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” John the Baptist had talked about that, but what did that really mean anyway? And why on Pentecost? What does that mean, “When the day of Pentecost had come “?
To help answer that we need to know about the Convocation Festivals ordered by God for the nation of Israel. Pentecost: It is the central Convocation Festival (↔ Click Link) in the list of observances Jehovah commanded should be celebrated by Israel. Here are the feasts described in Leviticus 23, the section of Leviticus devoted to “Holiness Laws”: 1. Passover (Pesach) – 2. Unleavened Bread (Chag Hamotzi) – 3. Firstfruits (Yom Habikkurim) – 4. Pentecost (Shavu’ot) The Feast of Weeks or Festival of Harvest – 5. Trumpets (Yom Teru’ah) – 6. Atonement (Yom Kippur) – 7. Tabernacles (Succoth). The “Feast of Weeks” was a festival of seven weeks. All Jewish males were required to travel to Jerusalem to attend the rites and rituals for this Harvest Feast. It occurs exactly fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits. It is one of the Three “Solemn Feasts” 1. Passover, 3. the Feast of Weeks, and 7. the Feast of Tabernacles. All able-bodied males were required to attend these festivals and to offer specific sacrifices. Jesus’ resurrection is characterized as the “First Fruits of them that sleep.” (See 1 Corinthians 15:20) Then, in accordance with God’s Perfect Plan, Jehovah commanded that eight days be set aside by Israel to celebrate Passover. For Christians, there are eight days from the start of Christ’s passion on Palm Sunday through the Day of Resurrection. Jesus was the “Passover Lamb” sacrificed for all earthlings, the pure and spotless victim of our sin and the curse of death. Fifty days later, Peter preached a real whopper of a sermon, remember? (↔ Click Link) On rare occasions – like this year – the feast of First Fruits occurs on the Day of Resurrection.
On Pentecost Sunday, Peter preached at Solomon’s Portico, and BOOM! The Church happened when 3,000 new believers were claimed in the name of Jesus, chosen by God (↔ Click Link) for eternal life. As Jesus had commanded, the Gospel went out beginning in Jerusalem (See Luke 24:44-49) as the Holy Spirit Jesus had promised ignited the hearts, minds, and spirits of thousands upon thousands – the First Fruits of the Church – in a matter of days! You have experienced how we Christians are always telling each other “God is good.” “All the time.” “All the Time.” “God is good.” Well, there it was – the New Spiritual Harvest of the New Covenant – just as God planned it! (and remember Belovéd, “as” ≡ “important”).
Alright, so on the Day of Resurrection, Jesus popped in and started convincing the Apostles and other Disciples that it was really him. Have you ever wondered why the Resurrected Jesus asked them to touch his wounds or why he is shown with the marks of the nails and spear still there? That is to show that his Resurrected Glorified Body is the same human body that was tortured to death on the cross, but now it is restored to the Divinely Ordered body as it was in Adam before his sin. The new Adam is like the original Adam, only now without sin and death.
I’d like to show you something that I made at least 25 years ago, but have never used – until today! Here is what I call “The Seven C’s of the Catholic Church.” The things we celebrat as Catholic Christians are included in this little diagram:
If we “sail the Seven C’s” we cover the essential parts of our catholicity. Everything is centered around building and being Community in Christ because God is community. We should know and understand our Creed, the summary of our faith. We should understand the celebration of Word and Sacrifice in the Mass. We should understand the value, importance, and Divine institution of the Sacrament of Reconciliation often called Confession. We should confirm and sustain our commitment to the Gospel, to the Magisterium, and to Apostolic Tradition. We should understand that we the people of God are The Church and that when the Mass has ended we should be evangelizing as soon as we reenter the World. Lastly, we should know that Communion, the Eucharist which is “the source and summit of our faith” is participation in the Divine Life of Jesus Christ and that to receive it in an unworthy manner is a grave sin. We should “sail The Seven C’s” every moment of every day. To do that, we must open our hearts and minds and spirits to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as Pentecost is upon us again – and this time it can happen like is did in the Second Chapter of Acts not just once, but every day! We will find that doing that does indeed bring us “all together in one place,” and in that place, the Holy Spirit will refresh The Church. (↔ Music Link) Knowing that, Belovéd, let us pray:
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit. Enter the hearts of thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy Holy Love.
Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created and thou shalt renew the face of the Earth.
O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit has instructed the hearts of the faithful, grant that in that same Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.
Thou, O LORD, shalt open my lips,
and my tongue shall announce Thy praise.
Incline unto my aid, O God.
O LORD, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father, … AMEN.
Romans 15:13 – 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
