On Fire, burning up Sins
Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23
Why Pentecost? Do we need the Holy Spirit? Jesus was convinced that his disciples needed the Holy Spirit and that was his gift to them. According to our gospel reading today, the action of Jesus’ disciples showed fearfulness. The disciples of Jesus Christ went into hiding after seeing how ingloriously he was beaten, spat upon, crowned with thorns, made to carry a wooden cross to Golgotha, crucified with nails running through his hands and feet. A lance was driven through his side to certify that he was indeed dead! Criminals were his companions on the cross. The message was clear – imitate or identify with this Jesus Christ and what happened to him will happen to you!
Who can blame the disciples? It makes human sense to become fearful when threatened. The instinct of self-preservation makes us avoid being killed! We take to flight before whatever threatens to kill us. The disciples did just that. This was the situation of Jesus’ disciples, the reason they went into hiding – they smelt death and potential death sentence hovering over them. Even at home, the doors must be securely locked to avoid death. What a depressing and psychologically challenging situation to be in. It sounds somewhat like 2020, when covid-19 imprisoned the world and made fear a shared virus!
Our gospel reading confirms the fear of Jesus’ disciples in his absence: “the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews”. In this statement, their “fear” was confirmed, and the “source” of their fear was mentioned – the Jews. Although they were Jews themselves, they saw how a fellow Jew – Jesus Christ – was treated. They imagined how they would be treated if they identified with Jesus Christ. They were victims of identity change, from Jewish to Christian. It was in this fear of death context that “Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’”.
Jesus was not oblivious of the fear of his disciples, he came and took that fear away in three gestures: “peace be with you” (a simple greeting), he breathed the Holy Spirit upon them – “receive the Holy Spirit” (Pentecost/Confirmation), and he sent them out to proclaim forgiveness of sins (mission). Every “fear” needs the “peace of Christ”; each “Pentecost” takes away fear; and forgiveness of sin is liberation from the fear of physical and eternal death.
Do we not need the Holy Spirit to take away our fear of living a simple Christian life in our society today without being afraid that the police will be called for us and that the Constitution recited against us? Can we even boldly wear a religious symbol despite the negative comments of our friends and neighbors? Why is it that we worry so much about pleasing our neighbors’ feelings and hurting God’s? Do we not need the Holy Spirit to help us stand up to “the civilisation of death” that surrounds us – we cannot even have enough babies to guarantee that machines will not bury and replace us?
From our first reading, two specific attributes of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost are personalization of gifts and gospel linguistic unity: the Holy Spirit descended on each person present (no generalization) at the Upper-room and they each spoke different languages. Each person was uniquely attached to God through the Holy Spirit and received a particular gift to synchronize with the gifts others had received – a call to a symphony and synergy of gifts.
Pentecost was instantaneously pragmatic. The first exercise of the symphony of gifts was the unity of the gospel message. Peter spoke on behalf of all the disciples, to those present on Pentecost day. There weren’t challengers to the message of Peter by other recipients of the Holy Spirit; there was unanimity of faith in the veracity and authenticity of the speech of Peter. The reaction of the audience was a testimony that all the languages spoken by the apostles was on the message of salvation and that that message cut through to individual hearts leading to conversion!
If the fear of the disciples necessitated Jesus’ post-resurrection physical intervention – “peace be with you” and “receive the Holy Spirit” – the absence of the physical Jesus necessitated the intervention of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Day to take away the disciples’ fear. Our second reading confirms that the Trinity remains the united source of the power that drives out fear and the source of every gift: “there are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit . . . the same Lord . . . the same God who produces all of them in everyone”. The unity of God is the unity expected of his children. God is One, but his gifts are as many as there are human beings. However, wherever the Holy Spirit is present, there is unity and peace, despite the threats of death.
Why Pentecost? Do we need the Holy Spirit? Our times loves and wallows in sexual sins. We relish fear and intimidation as tools for compliance! However, the indispensable underlying presence of the Holy Spirit are boldness/courage in contexts of fear and indescribable happiness in all circumstances! The disciples of Jesus Christ experienced that, after Pentecost, so must we! Many saints experienced what the apostles experienced after Pentecost.
Do you feel the Holy Spirit? Is he in you? Perhaps St. Philip Neri’s experience of the Holy Spirit is not generalized; that is, to feel an expansion and stretching of the heart consequent upon excessive joy and feeling as if one’s heart is about to explode! Or to crave irresistibly for martyrdom like saints Ignatius of Antioch and Francis of Assisi. Even closer to our times, to be so drawn by the Holy Spirit to the preservation of virginity and chastity that one does not feel the pain of physical stabbing, but to become preoccupied with letting the sinner know the disastrous consequences of fornication, as it was the case with St. Maria Goretti. These saints were “on fire, burning up sins”!
These may seem extreme and rare occurrences of the indwelling and takeover of the human will by the Holy Spirit. But consider the men and women who stood up for justice and paid the ultimate price for it. Imaging telling someone that they will be killed for helping others or for telling the truth or for proclaiming Jesus as Lord, but all they do is insist on doing what endangers their physical lives because they want to protect strangers and those on the margins of our society.
Each time one stops being afraid of death and becomes dogged in living like Jesus Christ, therein is the Holy Spirit, there is another Pentecost! This is being on fire, burning up sins. So, do you have him in you? Do you feel him? Or are you like Jesus’ disciples who went into hiding after his death. They were strategizing their physical survive – how to put food on the table – what kind of job security they may get. Preaching the resurrection message and eternal life was the last thing on their minds. This is life without the Holy Spirit; this is what happens to those afraid of physical death.
However, the apparent folly of those who die in defense of virginity and martyrdom, those who experience intense joy that sadness is far removed from them, those on fire, burning up sins, provide two recipes for a Christian live today, and the urgent need for another Pentecost. On the contrary, cowardice and sadism are clear marks of the absence of the Holy Spirit, and Pentecost replaces both with happiness and courage. The disciples who went into hiding because their Master was killed in cold blood, received the Holy Spirit and became joyful and courageous preachers of the Word of God – they became ablaze, on fire, burning up sins.
The problem is not temptation; rather, it is the joy of overcoming temptation and winning over the tempter to God like Maria Goretti did, even from the grave! The challengeisn’t the blood sucking murderer because they are myriad, but a martyr’s blood that becomes the seed of the faith, in the words of Tertullian. The dilemma is not a probable Third World War, but the joy of the Holy Spirit that human beings can never become the lords of history and destroy what they never created!
Pentecost is the feast of hearts filled with joy and courage to face up to the sins and destructions of human carnal imprisonment. The coming of the Holy Spirit is the feast of those already liberated from the entanglements of earthly allurements and whose hearts are “stretching” (like Philip Neri’s) in full elastic capacity towards the joys of heaven and the sacrificial services of the spiritually and materially poor of our times.
Indeed, you have and feel the Holy Spirit when you loath sin and crave for God; yes, the holy Spirit dwells in you when holiness of live is attractive to you and the desire to improve the lots of those who suffer makes you happy; of course, when you refuse to accept that sin is attractive and live out your life to manifest the joy of Lord, then, your Pentecost has arrived!
Assignment for the Week:
Mark today’s date (May 28) on your calendar and see how far you can go without a conscious commission of a venial sin (not imperfection).
Thanks for Fr Ayo