Pentecost

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

PENTECOST

Acts 20:13-16

13 We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot. 14 When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. 15 The next day we set sail from there and arrived off Kios. The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus. 16 Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.

NIV

All these cities mentioned in these verses are in the Greek Isles surrounded by the Aegean Sea. From there it is straight sailing across the Mediterranean Sea to the coast of Israel. This day of Pentecost was the traditional feast of weeks or Shavuot. It is celebrated throughout Israel and without going into all the details, it is fifty days after the seventh Sabbath. This is why Pentecost which means fifty. However, it would not appear that Paul wants to celebrate Shavuot as much as he wants to celebrate the birth of the church, which occurred on that famous day of Pentecost when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and how he appeared as tongues of fire on the disciples in that upper room where they were waiting and praying as Jesus had told them. From that day the Spirit has been at work in the church, in fact, Paul baptized people in the Holy Spirit and some of them spoke in tongues. This is why he was in such a hurry to get to Jerusalem to celebrate with the elders, the Apostles that glorious day the Spirit arrived. Although according to the Jewish tradition, the day of Pentecost was fifty days after the feast of the first fruits, or the sprouts that just broke ground, and was brought as a wave offering to the Lord. Today, we in the post-modern church are not so much about the first fruits of grain, but we celebrate the resurrection or Easter Sunday which Jesus is the first fruit of many as Paul mentioned in his first letter to the Corinthian church. This is why we believe that Paul is looking to celebrate fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus when the Spirit filled the church. What a blessing that we have both these days of celebration because first, we serve a risen Savior, which also means that because Jesus is the first fruit of God, the beginning, and then because he ascended back into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father who gave him the Spirit to send to earth to bless those who follow him, we have this day of Pentecost, which we are sure Paul wants to celebrate not as a Jew, but as a believer in Christ who received this promise of the Spirit. We too have received this promise, this guarantee, this seal of the Holy Spirit who marks us as one of Jesus’s own. And just as with Paul and so many of those days, we have the power of the Spirit working within and through us to be a blessing to others who will follow Jesus. Praise God for Jesus and for the Spirit, for Easter and for Pentecost.