In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
What do you do, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, when you encounter the living God? When you come into contact with the God of Heaven and of Earth? When you hear the teaching how do you react? How do I react? Do we keep ourselves at a distance, trying to analyse what is being said for ways around a problem or do we fall down and worship the living God?
There were two groups at work in the Temple, the chief priests and Pharisees conspired together and there were also the temple guards: they both heard the words of this wandering preacher. But those who studied the Law, who were expert in Scripture, could not recognise Christ; those who had not studied could see in Jesus one who speaks with authority, “Never has Man spoken in this way.”
Therefore they sought to take him: but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. And many of the people believed in him, and said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more signs than these which this Man has done?”
John 7:30–31
“Seeing they may not see,” says the Lord of the chief priests and Pharisees, “And hearing they may not understand.” (Luke 8:10, Mark 4:12; see also Matthew 13:14–15, Isaiah 6:9–10)
And I must look and consider myself, do I stand in judgement over the Lord and over his Gospel? Am I one of the chief priests and Pharisees? Are you? Because to hear the Word of God and remain unchanged is to identify with them. Or do we stand with wonder with the crowds, with the Temple guards, with the Church? We may not be able to understand the true depths of the Word but he is to us Life and we cry out with the Apostle Peter,
Lord, to whom [else] shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
John 6:68–69
And then having chosen to follow Christ, “Out of [our] heart[s] shall flow rivers of living water.” Bringing life, an abundance of life: life so that even the grave cannot take away our lives. For if we allow Christ to change us, to wash and to cleanse us, we will be forever alive with him. Live, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this mystery, this life, so that Pentecost remains not a yearly event but a constant presence in our lives.
And knowing these things and being transformed by them, may we constantly glorify and praise our incarnate, crucified and risen Saviour Jesus Christ, together with his unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-creating Spirit. Amen.
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were amazed and wondered, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontos and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
— Acts 2:1–11
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'” Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This is really the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers then went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!” The Pharisees answered them, “Are you led astray, you also? Have any of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, who do not know the law, are accursed.” Nikodemos, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee.” Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
— John 7:37–52, 8:12