Pentecost Understood through the Perspective of the Liturgical Church Calendar

Written by Dan McDonald

 

            I write this article recognizing that many and perhaps most Evangelical Protestants do not follow the yearly church calendar that brings forth the rhythm of the focus of worship around a calendar year in Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopal, and to a large extent Lutheran, and Methodist worship.   This article is written by one who has a bias towards favoring worship guided by such a traditional calendar.  In fact, I believe that what I am writing about Pentecost is an understanding of the Pentecost event that seems much clearer to me because it is a sort of natural perspective for one to understand who on a yearly basis makes a journey through a church worship year including seasons of advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and a Holy Week in which Jesus is greeted into Jerusalem by the multitudes on Palm Sunday, communes with his disciples at the Last Supper, is betrayed, crucified, laid in the tomb, raises to life on Easter Sunday, lingers for forty days to teach his disciples about the kingdom of God which they are to shortly be given responsibility to proclaim to the nations, ascension, and finally Pentecost.  Making a journey on a yearly basis through seasonal focuses on these highlights of the redemptive work of Christ creates within an observant worshipper a sense of the logic of the events of Christ’s redemptive life.

The understanding of the ancient church regarding these events was that these events had two-fold importance.  First, Christ came into the world to save sinners and he did so by fulfilling the ancient Old Testament Scriptures within these events.  The ancient church, very early formed a church calendar with most of these events included in the annual church calendar.  This was probably a natural phenomenon.  The early church was a Christian church that emerged from within Judaism.  The early Christians, especially those from within Judaism did not see their belief system to be a rejection of Judaism but the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel and to the Jewish people.  So it was natural for Christians to begin to highlight Christ’s fulfillment of Judaism with a calendar of events that corresponded to the ancient Jewish calendar.  Judaism (both past and present) has a yearly religious calendar.  It is clear from the New Testament Scriptures that Jesus was crucified and buried during the Passover.  The Passover was the Jewish celebration of how the children of Israel were spared from the judgment of God upon Egypt during the time of Moses through the painting of the blood of a lamb on their doorposts.  Those households which took the blood of a sacrificed lamb and painted it on their doorposts were spared from the death of the firstborn that night when God acted to redeem Israel from Egypt’s slavery.  Christ was recognized by Christians as the fulfillment of a great type from that ancient feast so central to the religion of Judaism.  Christ was the Lamb of God, slain on behalf of sinners.  We were redeemed by his blood.  St. Peter writes that the Christian has been sanctified (set apart) unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.  (I Peter 1:1-2)  The blood of the Lamb in Moses’ day had been placed on the doors of the household of Israel to set them apart.  The blood of Christ had set apart the believer in Christ as one for whom Christ died and one who was bound through Christ’s death and resurrection to die to sin and to rise in new life unto obedience.

The Jewish religious feasts within ancient Judaism were connected to the observation of the Passover.  This was especially true of the Feast of the Weeks, commonly described by the time of Christ by the nickname “Pentecost” which meant fifty days.  Following the Feast of Passover the Jewish calendar marked off seven full weeks and then on the following day, the fiftieth day after Passover began the Festival of the Weeks or Pentecost.  Pentecost was a harvest celebration.  These harvest festivals were especially festive celebrations.  The Old Testament Scriptures even had provision for part of the religious tithe being spent on wine and strong drink to be used in the feasts.  (Deuteronomy 14:22-26)  That is not to say drunkenness was encouraged, but it is to say that this was a time to be especially joyous and some wine and strong drink were not frowned upon as long as one drank within reason and not unto excess.  Wine was a Jewish symbol for joy.  A balanced understanding of this can be drawn from the Psalms.  Psalm 104 lists a number of God’s blessings upon his people including “wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.”  (Psalm 104:15)  Psalm 4:7 on the other hand recognizes that there is a joy that is deeper than that which can be produced by fine wine and even fine grain.  The Psalmist says in Psalm 4:7 “Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.  I will lay me down in peace and sleep: for thou Lord makest me dwell in safety.”  The Psalmist is not contrasting something to be despised against something to be valued; but rather he is contrasting something to be valued as against something beyond what is ordinarily valued.  Wine, a bountiful harvest, sleeping in a secure home in a secure land, are all things the Psalmist values, but in the Lord he has found blessings and peace and joy that far exceed those to be found in the best of ordinary human circumstances.

In the old Jewish yearly calendar Passover was celebrated and then fifty days later would come the Feast of Weeks to celebrate the harvest.  Jesus’ disciples had watched their Rabbi, the one they hoped would be the Messiah, die by crucifixion during the Passover.  He had then risen from the dead and lingered for forty days teaching them of the kingdom of God; and preparing them to take the Gospel of the kingdom of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations.  He ascended on the fortieth day leaving them instructions to gather in Jerusalem and to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Then ten days later, during the celebration of Pentecost when thousands of Jews from both local and distant places gathered in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples.  They began to proclaim Christ and some three thousand souls were added to the church by baptism.

This was a fulfillment of what this harvest celebration connected to Passover meant for the first Christian community.  They had gradually discovered that their Messiah had not been defeated by being crucified, but that he had become the Lamb of God whose blood redeemed men from their sins.  He had risen from the dead and then had lingered on earth for forty days instructing his disciples and telling the church that they had a mission to fulfill in his name, but only after he had gone to the Father and would give them the gift of the Holy Spirit.  It was during the forty days of lingering that Jesus gave the Great Commission to the church that is described in Matthew 28:18-20.  Then on the fortieth day Jesus ascended out of sight into heaven to be seated at the right hand of God and given all authority on heaven and earth.  It is in this capacity that he with the blessing of God the Father and with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit would send the Holy Spirit to guide, govern, encourage, strengthen, and empower the Apostles and the Church to carry out their mission.  Their mission would be the fulfillment of the promise of every harvest celebration ever celebrated in the history of God’s people.  The Church would be granted the privilege of proclaiming the good news of Christ’s redemption, bringing men and women to repent from their sins, to be baptized and set apart for obedience unto Christ, to be called to be a holy people to give praise and honor to God throughout the generations even to the day of Christ.

This is the era of harvest, of Pentecost.  Christ’s work of redemption has been accomplished and now the work done by him is done under his authority as he prays on behalf of his church, makes intercession on behalf of sinners, and as he is present to guide the Church and his people through trials, tribulations, persecutions, and in the harvest so that when all is said and done there will be men and women from every tribe and tongue and nation on this terrestrial ball to give honor, praise, and obedience to their Lord and Redeemer forevermore.  The significance of tongues is as a sign that as God had protected Israel in the midst of nations separated from the commonwealth of Israel for generation after generation (Ephesians 2:12) that with the completion of Christ’s redemptive work and the commissioning of the Holy Spirit to be upon the Church that now was the season of harvest, and this harvest was not to be merely the salvation of the people of Israel but of men and women from all the nations, tribes, and languages of mankind.  This was a season when God’s kingdom would not merely speak the language of Israel but all the languages of the earth would praise God in their own tongues in the name of Jesus Christ.  One day we will all speak the same language in the perfected heavens and earth, at least I think that is so.  But now let us rejoice that throughout this world men and women are praying to God the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit in virtually every language spoken by men and women in this earth that has been redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ.  This is the great gift of tongues that God has bestowed upon the church as he has called men and women from all the nations to believe upon him, to repent from their sins, to live by faith, to live unto obedience to the name of Jesus Christ.

There is a sense in which Pentecost is meant to be the Church’s liturgical response to Christ’s work of redemption set forth throughout the first half of the Christian liturgical year.  Think, especially those of you who do worship using the church calendar how we have made a journey through the highlighted events of Christ’s redemption.  We see Christ’s work highlighted in the first half of the Christian year leading up to Pentecost.  There is a sense in which Pentecost marks the liturgical response of Christians and of the Church to Christ’s redemption.  I will try to explain briefly.

The church year began with the season of advent.  Advent is a period of waiting for the coming of Christ.  Historically, from the time of the first promise of a seed to be born of the woman who would crush the head of the Serpent the people of the Old Testament waited for the coming of their Messiah.  In the Christian year, we begin as the people of God to wait for our Redeemer.  We are a captive people, but not a people without hope.  We have sinned and are worthy of death, but we live under a promise of one who is coming to redeem his people from their sin.

We are brought in our journey of the Christian calendar from Advent to Christmas.  He is born an infant in a manger.  But we know this ordinary little infant, yes he is ordinary fully human, fully vulnerable, fully in the weakness of ordinary humanity in every way – He is yet also even in this manger scene the Emmanuel “God with us” whose name shall be Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin.  For twelve days we celebrate his birth in the old tradition of the Christian calendar, beginning with the lighting of candles near midnight on Christmas Eve to signify that the Light of the Christ has come into the world.  He has arrived.

Following the season of Christmas, we are brought in our journeys of faith into the season of Epiphany.  God announces to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews that Christ is dwelling on the earth.  The wise men see his star and connect it to the promise given to Israel.  They are directed to seek him in Bethlehem by the Biblical scholars in Jerusalem.  Herod is angered because he wants no competitor to his kingly throne in Jerusalem.  Epiphany which means “manifestation” is the season in which God begins to show to the world that this Jesus is the one who has come to fulfill the redemptive plans of God.  In the final days of this season John the Baptist, or as the Eastern Church so wonderfully describes him, “John the Forerunner” proclaims the one who will come and then he recognizes him when he comes to be baptized for the sake of those for whom he came to bring forgiveness or remission of sins.

Then there is a season of preparation for Christ and for us as Jesus goes to the wilderness to fast and to be tested for forty days and nights.  We observe Lent, as he is preparing himself to be our sacrifice and redeemer.  We meet him in the wilderness to prepare ourselves for repentance and faith and seek to prepare ourselves to live in the redemption he is to bring.  We recognize that He must struggle against the beasts of this world, against demons, against every sinful thought, and against Satan who has become the commander of evil in a monumental war against God.  Here is this ordinary man and this Son of God, yes these two natures are neither mixed nor confused but dwelling in perfect union in this Jesus.  Satan tempts him and he answers as a man relying upon the Word of God.  Then when Satan has done his best to get Jesus to sin, in an instant this Man of God and Son of God says to Satan, “Be gone.”  Satan departs.  Jesus is ready to begin his ministry upon earth.  We observe this during the Lenten season as we move towards the culmination of his earthly ministry.  We journey towards Holy Week from Palm Sunday to Good Friday and then to Easter Sunday, and then forty days later to the Ascension and then to Pentecost.

Do you see how Pentecost is the harvest of the redemption of Christ?  It is the Church’s turn to respond to what Christ has done.  We who are the harvest are harvested to bring honor, praise, and glory to our Lord who has ascended on high and has been given all authority in heaven and upon earth.  The Church by the power of the Holy Spirit is given the message of Christ’s Gospel to take unto the nations.  Through this message God will bring Christ’s redemption to mankind that we may by faith respond in obedience to this message and be added to the harvest of Christ’s redemption.

Pentecost looks two ways within the Christian church calendar.  First it is the culmination of the first half of the Christian year.  Christ has done all his work to redeem mankind and now is the season of harvest in which men and women are brought to Christ.  Secondly, Pentecost is the celebration that marks the beginning of the second half of the Christian year.  What was the response of the Church following Pentecost?  They gathered together, to break bread, to say and make prayers, and to hear and study the Apostles’ Teaching.  In the second half of the Christian year, we hear the teachings of Christ in accord with the Apostles’ Teaching.  Pentecost is at once the Spirit of God coming down upon us to reap what Christ has done; and Pentecost is our liturgical response to what Christ has done.  In the midst of Pentecost as the Gospel is preached we who hear the Word of God begin to respond.  We cry out “what must we do to be saved.”  We hear the call to repentance, to faith, to being washed in baptism, saved by the sprinkling of blood; and we give ourselves to gathering together to break bread, to say prayers, to hear the Apostles’ Teaching.  If we have learned this in our journey through the church calendar then perhaps it may be said of us that the Kingdom of God has come upon us in the power of the Holy Spirit through the redemption of Jesus Christ unto the glory of God the Father.  Amen.