Pentecost: From Harvest to Holiness

Pentecost: From Harvest to Holiness

“When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.”

This is the beginning of the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles for Pentecost Sunday.  But it must be remembered that when those in the upper room experienced the gift of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost was originally a feast of Judaism.  Pentecost was one of the three pilgrim festivals that required adult, able-bodied men, to travel to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice.  Deuteronomy 16:16 provides this statute, saying “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place which he will choose: at the feast of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of booths….”  The feast of weeks, Shavuot in Hebrew, mentioned here is another name for the feast of Pentecost.  This feast was originally a harvest festival in Judaism.  Exodus 23:16 reads: “You shall keep the feast of harvest, of the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field.”  This feast was a celebration of the wheat harvest in the spring in thanksgiving for God’s protective care and generosity and was celebrated 50 days after the Passover.

The old feasts of Judaism took on a new meaning in light of Christ’s resurrection from dead.  For example, to commemorate God’s saving Israel, Passover was celebrated through the offering of a lamb, sprinkling its blood on the doorposts and lintel, and consuming the lamb offered in sacrifice (see Exodus 12).  But in light of the resurrection, Passover took on a new meaning.  Jesus was now the perfect and unblemished Lamb.  Unlike the Old Testament lambs, which could only save from physical death by the angel of death, the consumption of Jesus’ body, the perfect lamb, saves us from spiritual death.

Just as Passover took on a new meaning, so too, did the feast of Pentecost, which took place 50 days after Passover.  The Passover event and the Exodus from Egyptian slavery coincided with the feast opening the spring grain harvest season.  The closing of the harvest season, Pentecost, coincided with the giving of the gift of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  So, when the feast of Pentecost occurred, the Jewish people were praising and thanking God not only for what He had done for them in the harvest, but also for what He had done for them in the great events of their national history.

Since the day of Pentecost mentioned in Acts 2 was 50 days after Jesus had risen from the dead, that would have caused the Jewish Christians to recall the gift of the Law on Mt. Sinai, but also the meaning of the Law now that Christ had risen.  Ironically, the first century Jewish philosopher, Philo of Alexandria, wrote about how the Law had been given.  Philo speaks of a noise like a strong, driving wind and fire from which God’s voice was heard.  This description by Philo of the giving of the Law to Moses, is similar to the description of the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in the first reading.  Acts 2:2-3 reads:

 “And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them.”

The presence of wind and fire are typical biblical images that represent the presence of God.  The sound of the mighty wind and the presence of fire not only recalls the great Theophany on Mt. Sinai where God gave Moses the 10 Commandments (Exod. 19:16–20:20), but also signifies in this new Pentecost the giving of the Holy Spirit.  With the descent of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost takes on a new meaning.  It originally commemorated God’s generous bounty in the wheat harvest and God’s giving of the Law in the covenant with Moses.  Now, Pentecost commemorates the giving of a new Law, the Law of the Spirit which is written on the hearts of believers (Romans 8:2; 2 Corinthians 3:4-6).  With the aid of the Holy Spirit, this new law assists us in achieving holiness in a way that could never be accomplished by following the old law alone.   Luke, the author of both the Acts of the Apostles and the gospel that bears his name, indicates that the same Spirit that was upon Jesus (Luke 4:1, 14, 18) now rests upon those gathered in the upper room.  The giving of the gift of the Holy Spirit becomes the springboard for all the activities of the Church.  The Spirit continues to sanctify us by means of the sacraments and is the way by which her members may become saints.