Pouring Out, Filling Up

The gift of the Holy Spirit to the church, and to individuals in particular, is an event that is described cautiously, in all of 4 verses of Scripture (Acts 2:1-4). And yet, it’s an event that has captivated the imagination of generations of Christians.1

Picture the scene: Jesus has ascended into heaven; the disciples have chosen a replacement for Judas, and they continue to meet regularly for prayer; one day, a sound from heaven “like the rush of a mighty wind” (2:2), fills the house they meet in; tongues “as of fire” (2:3) hover over each one present. The Holy Spirit has arrived: filling everyone, leading each one to speak in a foreign language (2:2-4).

It’s easy to see why this strikes a chord with our imagination. But Luke does not want us to get sidetracked in the details of a fireworks show; rather, he’s interested in the transformation of the human heart. The real Pentecost is not a spectacle, but the empowerment of the disciples by the Holy Spirit.2 Said differently, Pentecost - the outpouring of the Holy Spirit - is in the first place an account of the disciples experiencing the resurrected Jesus: the risen Jesus manifests himself in the lives of the disciples through the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s what Pentecost is about.

To be sure, transformation of the human heart has always been God’s purpose for us, even in the beginning, before sin and death entered the world. And it’s certainly the case since our rebellion against God in the garden of Eden.

And more than that, God has always pursued us, God has always initiated reconciliation and transformation; and since the Fall, we’ve always run away from him, we’ve always fought against him. And we usually still do!

Take God and Moses for example: God appeared to Moses in the burning bush: God’s plan was to free the Israelites from the grips of Pharaoh; initially they agreed, but eventually they rebelled.

That was also the case when God sent Jesus, God with us, God among us, the word made flesh (John 1:1) as the gospel of John introduces him; but he was rejected too, we hung him on a cross.
But his death was not in vain: he died for the life of the world (John 6:51), he died, so that the world may live. For this reason, God raised him from the dead, and seated him at his right hand, and whoever calls on his name will be saved (2:21).

And since Pentecost, human transformation into the image of Jesus - or said differently, freedom from slavery to ourselves, the world and the devil - comes by the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter, in his first sermon after Jesus ascends into heaven, quotes the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28-32), who says that God will “pour out” his Spirit “upon all flesh” (2:17-24).

It’s impossible to overemphasize God’s generosity here. The connotation is of pouring out liquid, or filling up3, as when you fill a huge glass with water right to the top after a grueling hike on a hot day: you’re not going to be stingy, because nothing quite refreshes you like a glass of cold water. In the same way, God does not hold back his generosity. He fills us ‘to the top’ with his Spirit.

Another image might be of a torrential downpour. I used to live in Latin America, and during certain times of the year we’d have heavy rainfalls. When that happened, everything got completely drenched: gutters overflowed with water, streets turned into streams, and anyone caught outside ended up in ankle-deep water.

The city became a gigantic lake. But very often, people didn’t mind, because the earth was dry, parched from previous heat waves. The rain was just what we all needed. This is the picture we get in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit: God waters the dry soil of our hearts, he fills us with his Spirit.

The message of Pentecost is that in the current age, we should expect to find the church filled with the Holy Spirit who makes real to us the resurrected Jesus.4 It’s actually the reversal of the tower of Babel. At Babel, human pride led to confusion and chaos. Here at Pentecost, humility and openness to God leads to transformation and reconciliation.5

Are we open to this? Are we open to the risen Christ among us? This is Peter’s challenge to his hearers, and this is the challenge the Spirit lays on us.

I speak to you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen ✠

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1- Luke Timothy Johnson. The Acts of the Apostles. Sacra Pagina Series. Volume 5. Ed. Daniel J. Harrington (S. J.), (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1992), 41.

2- Luke Timothy Johnson. The Acts of the Apostles. Sacra Pagina Series. Volume 5. Ed. Daniel J. Harrington (S. J.), (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1992), 41.

3- Luke Timothy Johnson. The Acts of the Apostles. Sacra Pagina Series. Volume 5. Ed. Daniel J. Harrington (S. J.), (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1992), 17.

4-http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/index.php?action=getCommentaryText&cid=5&source=1&seq=i.51.2.2

5- Jaroslav Pelican. Acts. Brazos Theological Commentary of the Bible. (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2005), 52.

Wedding With Jennifer

Today I attended a wedding with Jennifer, as one of her friends got married.

I didn't really want to go, actually, as Paraguay also played against Brasil for the eliminatorias for the World Cup 2010, and I'd rather have spent the entire day just enjoying the atmosphere that such an important game brings with it. But that was never going to happen, as I'd known about this wedding for weeks in advance. And in fairness, the wedding was quite nice.

I was able to watch the game in full, because it was played in the afternoon and fit in perfectly between the ceremony (morning) and reception (evening). Paraguay lost 2-1. We're in qualifying trouble now. Having had the lead for over a year, we're now in 3rd place (24 points), behind Brasil (27) and Chile (26), and in front of Argentina (22). The problem is that Ecuador (20) is now also in the hunt for a qualifying spot. And to think that at one point, only 4 months ago, we were in 1st place, 6 points ahead of 2nd place Brasil. Oh how things have changed......

Anyways, the point of today's journal entry was not fútbol. It's about the wedding I attended with Jennifer. And there's really only one point to be made: I'm finding it increasingly difficult to take us - Jennifer and I - seriously. I'm finding it more and more difficult to see us getting married and having a stable married life, for the simple reason that she and I speak different languages, when it comes to our view of the world. We have no foundation upon which to build our lives.

We speak different faith languages. She believes only in the seen: that which cannot be seen is not worth believing in. She believes in herself, she belivieves in the whims of the day. Therefore, God is not a part of her language. I cannot go along with that. To me, that seems foreign to what it means to be truly human. Believing in only that which can be seen eliminates not only God, but all the characteristics that flow from him: grace, mercy, compassion, justice, forgiveness, beauty, and most of all, faith, hope, and love! None of these things are "tangible" in a way that science demands, and yet, a world without any of these seems empty and meaningless at best, and tyrannical at worst.

Of course, Jesus Christ makes all of these qualities "tangible" in a way that no one and nothing else can. But that road, it seems, is not a road that Jennifer is willing to explore in any serious way.

And my vocational question does not make the matters any easier. In fact, it complicates them. I feel more and more compelled to work in the church "militant here on earth", as the Book of Common Prayer says it so appropriately. I cannot imagine preaching the gospel, while sleeping with the person that does not share my conviction and love for God. Not only does she not share my convictions, she despises that which I love. She hates matters of faith. And she espeically hates all things Christian. "It's irrelevant to my life", is her sentiment, "It's divisive." All this talk can't help but remind me of the title of a movie released 18 years ago: to marry her means that I would be "Sleeping with the Enemy."

To marry her would defeat the whole point of Christian marriage. Christian marriage points beyond itself, beyond the man and woman making the covenant, towards God tying the knot with humanity, and to Christ and the Church. That's why marriage is a sacrament: it points beyond itself to a much greater reality. At the core of human marraige is self-sacrificial love. Without this quality, marriage cannot last. The reason the world exists, is because of God's self-sacrificial love for humanity (exemplified in Israel in the OT); the reason we are still here is because of Christ's self-sacrificial love for the Church. He died for her, and in the process he tied her to himself in a bond that cannot be broken, no matter how faithful - or more appropriately, unfaithful - we are. To marry someone who does not see this is as the primary purpose of marriage makes a mockery of this sacred symbol.

So, it seems to me that time is ticking. Time is a gift from God, we must not waste it.