SOME MIGHT WONDER if we have
to talk about a “Johannine Pentecost.”
Is this something different from what we used to know—namely, the 50th
day after Easter, which we celebrate in the liturgy after the feast of the
Ascension? If by Pentecost we mean the
bestowal of the Spirit upon all believers, then we have much ground for saying
that the Gospel today is John’s version of Pentecost. We have to understand that for theological
reasons, Luke, who wrote the Pentecost account in Acts 2:1-13, separated the
Christological moments of redemption. In
his account, there is a day for the resurrection of Jesus, another for his
ascension, and still another for Pentecost.
John, however, has a different way of looking at these moments. For him, Jesus’ resurrection is bound up with
his exaltation and the giving of the Holy Spirit. When he rose from the dead, Jesus at the same
time was exalted and bestowed the Spirit on the gathered believers. It is not surprising, therefore, that when
Jesus appeared to his disciples, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the
Holy Spirit” (John 20:22).
But how does John describe the Pentecost? In depicting the event, John does not use
words and images that evoke the giving of the Law at Sinai, as Luke does in
Acts. It is instructive that in describing the giving of the Holy Spirit, John
uses the words “breathed on them” (John 20:22).
Since the term “to breathe on” or “to blow in” popularly lined with Gen
2:7, there is no doubt that he harked back to the creation narrative when God
breathed into the nostril of Adam who became a living being. That is to say, just as God gave life to Adam
by blowing into his nostrils, so Jesus was giving a new life to the community
of believers by giving them life. A similar view is held in wisdom literature;
“the one who fashioned him, and breathed into him a quickening soul, and
infused a vital spirit” (Wisd 15:11).
At the same time,
he alludes to Ezek 39:9-10 where, in the vision of the prophet, the dry bones
came to life after the wind “breathed into them.” Since this text has reference to the
gathering of Israel from the land of exile, it is clear therefore that John has
in mind the reconstitution of God’s people as a new creation. John seems to be saying that with the death
and resurrection of Christ and the giving of the Holy Spirit, God recreates his
people by letting them share in the life of the Risen One. Jesus possesses this new life, but at
Pentecost he shared it with the community of believers. In other words, with the coming of the Holy
Spirit, those who are given this new life become members of a newly created
people.
When the Holy Spirit descends on a people to re-create
them, what happens to them? As the
attribute “holy” indicates, the people are cleansed from their sins. The idea of outpouring of the Holy Spirit is
linked with the cleansing from sins: “I will sprinkle clean water upon you to
cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse
you. I will give you a new heart and
place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and
giving you natural hearts. I will put my
spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my
decrees” (Ezek 36:25-27). No wonder that
the early Church linked the sacrament of baptism, in which the Christian
receives the Holy Spirit and becomes part of the new creation, with forgiveness
of sins: “Now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor
6:11).
But if we
strictly follow John’s theology, we notice that into this re-created people,
the unity of the Father and the Son is communicated, and they become one people
living in one divine life. As the Father
is in Jesus, and Jesus in the Father, so the community is in Jesus and the
Father (John 17:21). The members are
bound into a corporate unity, but each one is known by their shepherd (10:3-4)
who lays down his life for them (10:17).
They imitate him by serving one another in humility (13:15). What holds the community is its spiritual
relationship with Christ. As disciples
to whom divine life is communicated, the members are sustained by Christ
himself, who is united with them and remain in them (15:1-5).
What does this mean to us? It means many things, but we can point out
one. To be a Church, the life its
members live is of paramount importance.
That life must be one that our Lord communicates to us at baptism and
shared in the community of believers. It
is just dismaying to know that when we talk about the Church, most of us look
at it in terms of secular standards. We
tend to forget this inner life, and we regard the parish as good if, for
example, the parish church is well constructed, the celebrations well attended,
the church organizations are in place, the parish councils have plenty of
projects, and the parish has much money in the bank. In the light of Johannine Pentecost, however,
all these are secondary. Money, projects
and infrastructures are never an indication that the community flourishes. The proper questions to ask are: do the
members of the parish know each other?
Do they love one another? Is
their love expressed in helping those in need?
Do they form one community? Does
their love grow? Are they more forgiving
than before?
The parish may have the
best infrastructures, but if it is lacking in love, forgiveness, unity, and
mutual concern, it is no different from a secular body that has no soul. In the end, what really matters is the life
in the Spirit of Jesus.
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