All Who Are Thirsty
(Free Version)- Day of Pentecost/Whitsunday- Numbers 11:24-30; Acts 2:1-21; John 7:37-39
This Sunday marks the day of Pentecost. Because we have recently explored the primary readings, we are looking at the alternate readings this week (Feel free to search the archives if you are preaching the primary readings this week!). As always, you can discover much more from our Paid Subscriptions.
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, when the church celebrates the giving of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church. The day is full of themes ripe for exploration and celebration. We are compelled by God’s presence with us in the Holy Spirit, the commissioning and unity of the church, the power of God for witness, compassion for others, and many other related themes. This week, we are specifically drawn to the universality of the promise. All who are thirsty are invited to Jesus.
In our Old Testament reading (Numbers 11:24-30), we hear the story of the Spirit shared with the seventy elders. Moses acknowledges his own weakness, his inability to carry the weight of being God’s representative to the people and the people’s representative to God on his own. Moses obeys God by gathering 70 elders (two of which apparently remain back at camp) at the tent. God is faithful to take “some of the spirit” that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. The elders then “prophesy,” a mysterious term in the Pentateuch, which seems to refer to someone who is marked out by their experience with God. This gives us a glimpse into the heart of God, which is always shared and always community. Likewise, Christian leadership is not intended to be purely between God and the subject, but between God, the community, and the subject. “Some of the Spirit” given to Moses “was placed” on the elders.
In yet another mysterious turn of events, the Spirit falls, not only on those who are “inside the tent” but those who remain at the camp. Joshua is deeply concerned by this and wants Moses to tell these two, in essence, to “cease and desist.” Moses, by contrast, is not bothered at all. He wishes that all of the LORD’s people were marked out and knew God in such a way. For the Christian, this story serves as an antecedent to the story of the Spirit’s work at Pentecost, when the Spirit is indeed poured out on all flesh.
Our Acts reading (2:1-21) speaks of the event the event we call “Pentecost,” the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh. This happens in the midst of the Jewish festival of Pentecost, Shavout,or the “Feast of Weeks.”
Of course, God who has always pursued relationship with humanity and, by extension, with his world. Just as the “Feast of Weeks” celebrated God’s giving of the Law, and therefore his covenant relationship with his people, so the Pentecost event reminds us that God has been faithful to what he said in Jesus. We are not alone. God is at work: surprising and upending us every step of the way. In Christ, a whole new world has opened up. God pursues relationships not just with the “in” group, but with all people, not just communicating with them, but inhabiting their space, embracing them right where they are. With this comes a “sending,” that the Church might live out this comforting, helping, advocating reality in the world by the Spirit.
Our gospel reading (John 7:37-39) includes Jesus’ promise that anyone who is thirsty are invited come to him and drink. Water is a consistent image of life and renewal in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus was speaking near the end of the dry season in the Holy Land, a time of anxiety and wondering if the coming rains will be enough to bring forth the harvest. Jesus also speaks in the context of the feast of Sukkot, which also included prayer for rain and for the resurrection of the dead. In this context of thirst and anxiety, Jesus promises the Spirit who brings life, growth, health, and healing to a parched soul. This is not only for the insiders, but for all who thirst after him.
Our readings speak to the human desire for control, for safety. When God moves among the elders, Joshua is anxious not to allow the “outsiders” to be seen as set-apart by God, out of concern for what it might mean for Moses’ leadership and this “special” thing which has happened. Moses is right in saying that this is unnecessary. We do not control the Spirit. And, how beautiful it is if everyone comes into close relationship with God!
The Pentecost reading reveals a God who messes with our categories, whose mighty wind and tongues of fire rattle our sensibilities and our language. Yet, our God is compassionate, willing not only to speak in native languages, but to lovingly explain how his work is a sign of his ongoing faithfulness.
Jesus declares that the Spirit is not received by the “insiders,” those who come from the right lineage or who have followed the rules, but for all who thirst. May we know that we are thirsty, and hungry, and may God reveal to us what we truly hunger and thirst for.