Dcn Tom Lindell

My brothers and sisters,

As we enter the longest season of the church year, Pentecost, it is appropriate to remember the Jewish roots of this event/season. Pentecost, meaning fiftieth in Greek, marks 50 days from Easter. Pentecost is mentioned twice in the Septuagint, which was the authorized translation of the Hebrew into Greek, the primary form of the Bible for Hellenized Jewish communities. Septuagint in the Greek means “seventy,” connoting that this original translation was done by seventy-two elders in Alexandria Egypt in seventy-two days in the third century BCE.

Pentecost was one of the designations of the “feast of weeks,” or Shavuot (recently celebrated on Friday May 26), fifty days after the second day of Passover. It was originally a harvest festival, but is now commemorated as the giving of the Law (the Torah) to Moses on Mt. Sinai.

Luke’s version of the Pentecost story in the Book of Acts reads as an ebullient celebration by those gathered who received the Spirit as the rush of a violent wind that filled the house where they were gathered, most likely in the Temple court. It was marked by the appearance of “tongues, as of fire” where followers were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages. Skeptics charge of drunkenness, but Peter rebuked them by reminding them that it was still morning. Luke understands that these foreign languages articulate witness to a promise of what will happen among the nations when the Gospel will be preached to the gentiles.

We have also received the Holy Spirit, whether we recognize it or not. It is not a singular event, rather a gentle “breath” always and everywhere. If the Spirit is internalized, what will we do with it? Is there any responsibility associated with what we have received? Abraham Joshua Heschel coined the word “requiredness” as a gentle demand. This is not a command, but a recognition of what we have received. We are obliged to give the Spirit away to whomever we meet on our path. Can you imagine what would happen if we all acknowledged what we have received and began giving it away?

We also owe our Jewish heritage the roots of the ritual of the Eucharist. In Jesus’ era it was customary for Jewish men to gather for a mid-week evening meal or a chabûrah supper, which had its own ritual form from which the Eucharist, as we know it, was probably derived.[1]  There was a recognized customary that was recorded in the Berakoth (or blessings) of the Mishnah (the teaching of Jewish law by a rabbi or other authority). The chabûrah supper was a ritual that reminded them of who they were as Jews and why they were meeting. The purpose of these weekly gatherings was to speak of mutual recreation, social interaction, and things religious (and possibly political) that concerned them all.

So how did this become significant for the early Christians? Jesus met with his friends in the week that preceded the Passover celebration in Jerusalem.[2]  Scholar’s debate whether this “Last Supper” was on the eve of the Passover or a day or two earlier. Absence of any mention of lamb being consumed may indicate that it was not a Passover meal, rather more likely a chabûrah supper. Was there anything unique about this meal with Jesus’ friends that was of significance to the continuing Christian tradition? At these meals, it was customary to share bread early and at the end of the meal, a cup of wine was blessed and passed around. Sound familiar?

[To be continued…]

—Dcn Tom

[1] Dom Gregory Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy, A&C Black, London, 1945, pp. 50-58.

[2] Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week: A Day-by-Day Account of Jesus’s Final Week in  

  Jerusalem, HarperSanFrancisco, 2006.