This is a superb question, not just for the Jews and Jewish converts that were gathered in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, but it remains so for us today. It is as relevant, if not even more so, today with Christians spread throughout the world in every country. There can only be one answer to why that was and remains possible. It is because the God of whom the Gospels speak is ONE, and the SAME, for everyone, no matter their race, color, culture, or language.
Division was never the intent of God our Father. The divisions humankind has experienced since Adam and Eve are the product of sin. They do not come from God, but only God can heal these divisions. When Jesus came in the flesh, he came in human form for ALL of humanity, for every single human being is made in the image and likeness of the One God who is infinite, unconditional, all-encompassing love. When he died, he died for all, to save all from our greatest enemies, sin and death. And he promised to send the Holy Spirit to all, to be our Advocate, our guide, and to “teach [us] everything and remind you of all that I told you” (Jn. 14: 24). Notice he said he would send ‘the’ Holy Spirit, not many spirits, but the one and only Spirit.
Jesus fulfilled that promise on that occasion, which is described in the Acts of the Apostles, that we call the Pentecost. We see in Acts 2 these words: “And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim” (v. 2-3). The wind was the Spirit, as were the tongues of fire, which enabled the apostles to go out onto the balconies of the house and begin to proclaim the Good News to all humankind. The word of God is for all, not for some, to the exclusion of others.
Jews and Jewish converts from all over the Mediterranean world had heard the sound of that great wind and gathered about the house. They were from places as scattered as Mesopotamia, and various parts of North Africa, from Cappadocia, Asia, and, of course, from Rome. They represented cultures and languages of every kind. Yet, they were hearing the same word spoken to them about the “mighty acts of God’ in their languages (v. 11). The centerpiece of this event from the Acts of the Apostles is not the distinctions represented here, but the power of the unifying word of God, of Jesus Christ, who identified himself by saying; “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know the Father as well” (Jn 14: 6-7). The message that the Apostles proclaimed from the rooftops on the day of Pentecost was a universal message from the One God, a message that, despite our diversity, can unite us all. Though we human beings are of many cultures, races, and ethnicities, and we speak many languages, what unites us is our universal dependence on God for our salvation from the forces that divide us: sin and death.
It is only in and through the Holy Spirit that we can say “Jesus is Lord,” according to Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 12: 3. He tells us also that, “there are many kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but same Lord; there are different workings, but the same God who produces them in everyone. To each individual, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit” (vs. 4-7). And he uses the analogy of the human body to reinforce this truth. “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in ONE Spirit we were all baptized into ONE body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given drink of the ONE Spirit” (vs. 12-13).
This is the word of God. So, why do will still divide ourselves over so many false distinctions? Why aren’t all Christians united in this One Body? Love is the only force that can bind us together as fellow human beings, indeed, as brothers and sisters. Need we be reminded of the wisdom revealed to us in 1 John 7: 8? “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 Jn 4: 7-8). This is exactly what the Holy Spirit is. It is exactly what the Holy Spirit is teaching us.
The Holy Spirit is the love that unites the Holy Trinity, and when we come to know God, we will know love. This is not merely human ideas of love, but the Love that is the very source and goal of self-giving, self-sacrificing, unconditional love itself. It is this love alone, this love that is God, that has the power to end all the false divisions that so stupidly separate us now. Brothers and sisters, let us, then, begin today with the help of God’s grace, the hardest work of all, that is, to learn to love one another as God loves us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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