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Lectionary for May 11, 2008

Day of Pentecost - view calendar

Numbers 11:24-30 or Acts 2:1-21

24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent.

Commentary on First Reading
by David Bartlett

It is fine to preach on this text as the story of the birthday of the church. We want to remember, however, that for Luke the church is not the end of the story.

The church is the vanguard of the Kingdom, of the realm of God that is both coming and yet to come. When Peter preaches on Pentecost he changes slightly the quotation from the prophet Joel. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, Joel says: "After these things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." (Septuagint, Joel 3:1)  Luke, through Peter, makes clear that what is happening at Pentecost is the beginning of the great time when God brings all of human history to consummation—in Jesus Christ. "In the last days, it will be, God declares, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh."