the fiftieth day
I like the story of Pentecost. There’s something almost primal about it. Fire, strange sounds, off behaviour…it’s not like most of the other stories of the Gospel. For me, it seems almost reminiscent of the Old Testament stories, like the story of Elijah and the worshippers of Ba’al, where Elijah called down the fire of God to light the offering. There is something seemingly simple about the story of Pentecost, something almost obvious and easy to understand about it.
But it’s also a story which represents events hidden, a shift in the spiritual paradigm. This is the playing out of the tearing of the curtain on Good Friday. On the Pentecost - literally meaning “the fiftieth day” - the division, the separation between humanity and God is finally and fully removed. Just as the law separated Man from salvation, just as the curtain separated the Holy of Holies, God’s seat in the temple, from the faithful, so too, was God separated from all humanity. And just as the law was satisfied and fulfilled, and just as the curtain was torn, the division between God and His people disappeared. With a rushing wind and tongues of fire, God entered the people and became a present Spirit within each of us.
