by Dr Lani Wilson
Good morning, prayer and fasting warriors! Hanging in there with this cold-asthma-bronchial virus that’s got many of us at least sniffling and some of us dragging a bit. However, the mere fact that we are still here is proof positive that God has plans for us. What’s that old saying - “Down but never out?” And there you go…IMUA (“Onward!” in Hawaiian)!
The word that was given to me a couple of weeks ago is urgency. When I began researching it in different translations of the Bible, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t find it. And of course, I did.
That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: "Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren’t drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk-it’s only nine o’clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen: "In the Last Days," God says, "I will pour out my Spirit on every kind of people: Your sons will prophesy, also your daughters; Your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams. When the time comes, I’ll pour out my Spirit on those who serve me, men and women both, and they’ll prophesy.
Acts 2:14-18 (TMB)
Here is the same passage in the NET translation.
But Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed them: “You men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, know this and listen carefully to what I say. In spite of what you think, these men are not drunk, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And in the last days it will be,’ God says,
‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people,
and your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
and your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.’
Acts 2:14-18 (NET)
Of course, we know that Peter was responding to critics of those who experienced Pentecost or at least what we Christians know as our Pentecost.
There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, "Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene; both Jews and proselytes; Even Cretans and Arabs! "They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!" Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: "What’s going on here?" Others joked, "They’re drunk on cheap wine."
Acts 2:5-13 (TMB)
Diaspora Jews were in Jerusalem for the second of the three major Jewish festivals, the Festival of Weeks (or Harvest). The Greeks called it “Pentacost” because it is celebrated 50 days after Passover. About 125,000 Jews returned to Jerusalem every year in Jesus’ time for their Pentecost.
pentékosté: fiftieth, Pentecost, the second of the three great Jewish feasts
Original Word: πεντηκοστή, ῆς, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: pentékosté
Phonetic Spelling: (pen-tay-kos-tay')
Short Definition: Pentecost
Definition: Pentecost, a feast of the Jews, the fiftieth day after Passover.
Strong’s Concordance
Most Christians think that Pentecost was defined solely by the descent of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Christian church.
The Christian feast of Pentecost, fifty days after the Resurrection, is often called "the birthday of the Church." It is this festival in which the Gospel was spoken in a variety of languages to a variety of peoples. Most commentators on this passage have tended to focus upon the theological importance of Pentecost. Ben Witherington, in his socio rhetorical commentary on the book of Acts, has argued that the "major point of all this is that the Spirit overcomes all barriers, even of languages [inherent the story of the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11)], to witness to the various parts of the known world, even to 'the ends of the earth.'" Furthermore, much energy has been devoted to interpreting the importance of Pentecost for the contemporary church in the world, underling the fact that the Church is universal and multi-cultural.' Lamin Sanneh has argued that Pentecost lays the foundation for the "translatability" of the message of Christianity. There is no sacred language. There is no sacred culture. There is no sacred space. The message of Jesus was intended to be translated into different languages, and thus, acculturated into different cultures.'
Grafton, D.D. (2009). The Arabs of Pentecost: Greco-Roman Views of the Arabs and their Cultural Identity. Theological Review, 30(2), pgs. 183-184.
However, according to Grafton, there were fifteen (15) different groups or nationalities at the birth of the church.
The listing of peoples present in Jerusalem at Pentecost raises very important questions for the identity of the original Church, especially for the Church in the East. A quick survey of the peoples mentioned in the text demonstrates that of
the fifteen groups mentioned, five of those listed belonged to territories outside the jurisdiction of the Roman Empire (the Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, and Arabs). They were excluded from the advantages of Pax Romana. More importantly, they were outside of the direct influence of Greco-Roman language and culture.55The catalog of peoples includes: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Judeans, Cappadocians, people of Pontus, Asians, Phrygians, Pamphylians, Egyptians, Cyrenians, Romans, Cretans and Arabs. Judea was annexed by the Romans in 6 C.E. However, Cappadocia was annexed by Rome in 17 C.E., Arabia in 106 C.E., and Mesopotamia in 116 C.E. (for a brief period before the Persian conquest).
Ibid., 184.
There were Arabs at the birth of the Christian church as we know it. Arabia was not a defined geo-political entity until Rome conquered that area south of Judea and proclaimed it the Roman Province of Arabia. Up to that time, “Arab” referred to the culture of nomadic people who roamed that vast desert peninsula and parts of North Africa. They were mentioned in historical texts as early as 853 BCE or BC.
The first is from the Assyrian king Shalamaneser III, who fought against the king of Damascus, Ahab, and a consortium of other kings at the battle of Qarqar in 853 B.C.E. In this inscription we read: Qarqar, his royal city, I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire. 1,200 chariots, 1,300 cavalry, 20,000 soldiers of Hadad-ezer, of Aram . . . 1,000 camels of Gindibu, the Arabian. We are not told who Gindibu is, or where his kingdom is, but only that he is associated with camels.
Ibid., 189.
After the Roman conquest, these people, who shared a culture but not a country, chose to take advantage of the Pax Romana and began to settle in cities. Interestingly, they enjoyed the reign of many female queens. The lingua franca of antiquity for almost a thousand years was Aramaic, but the politico-cultural languages were Greek and Latin, and these people who became the managers of trade routes through north Africa and Arabia locally spoke Arabic.
Some of the most prominent historical converts to Judaism who were "proselytes" were Queen Helena and her son Izates of the kingdom of Adiabene, with its capital at Arbela (present day Erbil in Iraq). They converted to Judaism in about 30 C.E. Like other prominent Diaspora Jews, at their death their bones were taken and buried in Jerusalem.'
Ibid. 187-188.
What possible difference could this all make to Christians then and now, you might be asking? Interesting, but “so what?”
- Islam was born at the beginning of the 7th century, 600 years after Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected.
- Those whom we now call “Arabs” are blood descendants of Abraham.
- Arabic Jews lived throughout the Roman Empire before, during, and after Jesus’ lifetime.
- The first Christian converts were Jews and they proselytized throughout the Roman Empire, including Arabia.
The great evangelist Paul said,
Even then God had designs on me. Why, when I was still in my mother’s womb he chose and called me out of sheer generosity! Now he has intervened and revealed his Son to me so that I might joyfully tell non-Jews about him and without going up to Jerusalem to confer with those who were apostles long before I was-I got away to Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus but it was three years before I went up to Jerusalem to compare stories with Peter.
Galatians 1:15-18a (TMB)
The difference is in the headlines of today and the impertinent struggle for the world with the rise of neo-fascism in the heart of modern democracies, America. If we are true to our theological history and to the mission of The Nazarene, we must reflect deeply on just Who Jesus was, where, and when He was born, and into what kind of geo-political reality he was thrust. Christianity was born of Judaism; Jesus was a devout Jew; the first Christians were Jews, and at the Jewish festival of Pentecost, God descended on Jews from around the known world of the Roman Empire to cement the plan for the redemption of the world after the revelation of The Christ. Jesus was born into the most fragmented and furthest-flung, rebellious outpost of the empire under the rule of an Idumean (Arab), proselyte Jewish royal despot, Herod Antipas. Herod was Jewish only because the Hasmonean king Hyrcanus required those he conquered to adopt Jewish customs. But Herod was never really practiced, was accepted or respected as a Jew.
Although he [Hyrcanus] struggled in vain to destroy Ptolemy, he successfully thwarted Syrian incursions by alliance with Rome and conquered the unfriendly neighbouring territories of Samaria and Idumaea (Edom). He forced Idumaea to convert to Judaism, the first example of conversion imposed by the Jews in their history.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Hyrcanus-I
The Roman Empire at the time of Jesus
http://www.bible-history.com/maps/roman_empire.html
When the rest of Jerusalem gathered at the place where they heard what sounded like a roar of wind as described in the Bible, the first people identified as likely suspects making this great noise were Galileans.
They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, "Aren’t these all Galileans?
Acts 2:7 (TMB)
In other words, this ragtag, boorish, uneducated, unsophisticated crowd from Galilee, of all places, are speaking languages from around the empire. How could that be?
How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene; both Jews and proselytes; Even [sic] Cretans and Arabs!
Acts 2:8-11a (TMB)
Even more astounding to those sophisticated Jerusalemites was the fact that “even Cretans [from Crete] and Arabs” were represented by language. What does this say to us today as we identify as Christian? If you believe what is written, you must acknowledge that:
- God deliberately brought people from around the world to speak in languages they could understand.
- The conversion of pantheists, those who worship many deities, to monotheism was one of the first steps in preparing the world for redemption.
- The acknowledgement of one God, pure Spirit, is at the heart of the conversion experience for all of the three major modern religions.
- What makes us one humanity is far more powerful than what culturally distinguishes us in our response to being alive on this planet today, in our search to understand Who is guiding our living and our post-physical existence.
It should be Christians who understand that when God revealed Her multinational plan for redemption at Pentecost, there were people from all over the known world there. It should be Christians who understand that God Himself does not care what we call ourselves or how we refer to each other, but it is how we defend, uplift, and reinforce each other that is the measure of our Christ-ness. It should be Christians who understand that Jesus Himself said He had “other sheep” and that we are not privy to the mind of God. It should be Christians who believe that at the very first instance of a church at the Jewish festival of Pentecost, we became one humanity under the blood of The Nazarene who lovingly bang the drum of inclusion, welcome, acceptance of anyone seeking shelter, protection, love, and comfort.
There is fear in the land now. It is palpable. Our young people are experiencing the kind of oppression they only read about in books, if they ever read them at all. Although injustice has been present all along, the extremes that lurked just below the surface of the composite mainstream American psyche have surfaced. There is value in feeling urgency. It makes us move forward quicker than we might have. It stirs us to action. After Jesus had returned to his hometown, He remarked,
Jesus told them, "A prophet has little honor in his hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child." Jesus wasn’t able to do much of anything there-he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that’s all. He couldn’t get over their stubbornness [my emphasis]. He left and made a circuit of the other villages, teaching.
Mark 6:4-7 (TMB)
Jesus must have felt at least a little despondent as He walked away from his own home, away from all He had known as a child. The people stubbornly refused to accept the evolution, the change, the revolution, the revelation of God in one of their own. And then, he sent the disciples off and they vigorously, urgently proclaimed that life could be lived differently, in joy despite despair, in love in the face of hate, and in hope when we can’t see forward.
Then they were on the road. They preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different; right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits.
Mark 6:12-13 (TMB)
Jesus never seemed in a hurry. Even when He would slip away from those who wanted to stone Him after He drove the demon-possessed pigs over the cliff or the many times when the temple cult tried to arrest Him, He never seemed in a rush. We could say that because He knew He was God’s Beloved and He knew “the plan,” He was assured of His safety until that time for the cross. But we believe that The Christ was human and therefore, He felt the same adrenaline coursing through his arteries when He was confronted with danger as we do today when we read the headlines that reveal what Godlessness looks like in a supposed Christian country. But it was His response that we must dwell upon; it was how He answered and reacted to danger, hate, and the basest of human behaviors. The calm assurance that God is always there, always watching, and forever able to intercede is how it seems Jesus lived, even as He was tortured and then murdered. It is the long view of God through The Nazarene to which we must cling and respond and act in times of hatred. Everybody was there at Pentecost. Everybody.
Oh, God of all who ever lived and those unborn, we thank You for Your revelation. We thank You for The Christ, The Nazarene Who is alive with us today. Even as we are sometimes mocked by unbelievers, the forlorn, we cling to Your life and the lifeblood that courses through our souls. Even as we mock ourselves when we set up barriers of class and brand and affluence and property, we thank You for pinching our spirits to remind us that none of that matters. We thank You for The Nazarene Who continues to jump in front of the judgement and sentence we deserve and pleads for our very lives even as we are living them. We ask You to help us stand fast in the face of public horror and defend all and everyone who needs defending. Please give us the patience, calm, and steely toughness even in the urgency of these times. Please remind those of us who have lived through a maelstrom or two that we must model determination, perseverance, and titanium-strength love to our young who are experiencing public hatred they have never known. And finally, give us all the comfort of that Spirit you sent on that fiftieth day after Passover 2000 years ago to make it through to a more just and enlightened world. Surely, it is You who reigns, regardless of whomever is seated in the feeble seats of human power.
You are a just God.
You are a loving God.
You are a righteous God.
You are a longsuffering God.
You are a remembering God.
And we worship You.
Bring us back to thee, we pray, bring us back to thee.
And, O Jesus, how we love to say and sing and shout your Name.
Hallelujah, JESUS, hallelujah!
Amen.
