Homily For The Solemnity Of The Pentecost Year B.

 

Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104:1.24.29-30.34; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7.12-13; John 20:19-23.

“PENTECOST: THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!”

By: Rev. Fr. Charles Onyeka Ezejide.

·      Today the church celebrates the solemnity of Pentecost - The outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and apostles of Jesus and by extension the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the whole church.

·      Today is indeed a special day in the church, where the church seizes to be a Jewish church and become a universal church. Where the church seizes from a timid and hiding church to a bold and courageous church with the auction to function and to announce the Good News to the ends of the earth.

·      Today is that day we all have gladly wished and prayed for, that God will rain down on us the strength of his spirit to courageously carry on the mandate he has given us to be good ambassadors of the gospel. We have prayed novenas, fasted, confessed our sins, and kept vigils to welcome the Holy Spirit, that day has come on us and God will surely manifest his power.

·      The solemnity of Pentecost fell exactly 50 days after the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead. It fell on the 50th day after the feast of Passover, which is originally an agricultural festival of thanksgiving to God for a good harvest while praying for more blessings. 

·      This Passover feast was mandatory for every serious Jew, there is usually what you may call a mass return to Jerusalem. Many converts who are not originally Jews also came to experience this festival. Some also were there for marketing purposes. What is clear is that a multitude of people gathered in Jerusalem and God manifested his power by pouring out his spirit upon his apostles in the upper room.

·      In the first reading (Acts 2:1-11), which is more or less a narrative of what the Pentecost experience was like. Notice that they were waiting on the Lord in prayers in the upper room. They were not idle or just hiding, they were aware of the challenge ahead and beckoned on God for intervention. God indeed intervened by manifesting himself. 

·      We also noticed that no name was mentioned in the group of people who gathered in the upper room in the first reading. It was deliberate by using “when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1). Another part of the scriptures tells us that “where two or three are gathered in my name I am in their midst” (Matt. 18:20). This means that when we gather in prayer, praise, and worship just like we are doing now, we must dispose of ourselves for the promptings and direction of the Holy Spirit. 

·      Having been filled with the Holy Spirit, they also received the gift of utterance which is the courage and boldness to witness to the gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth. From then on, none of the apostles of Jesus ever returned to Jerusalem, they carried on the message to the ends of the earth even unto death. 

·      The gospel reading (John 20:19-23), on the other hand, takes our minds back to the promise Jesus made to his disciples after his resurrection when he appeared among them, he greeted them with the gift of peace and breathed his spirit on them, “peace be with you” (Jn.20:21), “receive the Holy Spirit “(Jn. 20:22). After he gave these two important gifts, he did not just leave them, he sent them out to witness just as the father had sent him. He gave them power and authority to carry on in his ministry till the end and that is what the church still does today.

·      To be sent out means to carry on an identity or a character of God. This time those sent carried on them the identity of Christ Jesus inspired by the Holy Spirit. Under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, they spoke the language of God which is also the language of the Holy Spirit. 

·      The first reading records that all could hear them in their various languages irrespective of their tribe, color, or race. They all spoke one language which everyone understood. The universal language of the spirit is inspired by the gifts of the Holy Spirit which the second reading (1 Corinthians 12:3-7.12-13), talks about. And these gifts are seven namely: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

·      We sure know that gifts are nothing unless they bear fruits. Hence, we who desire the outpouring of the Holy Spirit must desire to bear fruits of the Holy Spirit which are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity. These fruits bear a universal character. When we are loved we know and so on.

·      Friends in Christ, no one receives the gift of the Holy Spirit in isolation, it is for the service of God and his church. Hence, we must not boast about them but put them to humble use for the expansion of the frontiers of the kingdom of God here on earth. 

·      Today the Lord has freely bestowed on us the sevenfold gift of his spirit, we must then become courageous witnesses spreading far and wide the message of God. Having received the Holy Spirit, we must ward off from ourselves all kinds of behavior that contaminates the spirit and live lives that are pure and spotless.

·      For the many times, we have lived lives not proper of children born of the spirit, for the many times we have allowed fear and intimidation or the quest for material things to rob us of the opportunity to testify to the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, we must make amends and resolve to turn a new leaf and like they say “Lord, send forth your spirit and renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 104:30).

·      May the good Lord bless his word in our hearts through Christ our Lord, Amen!

·      Happy Pentecost Sunday!!!