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.
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."
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David Bartlett
Professor of New Testament
Columbia Theological Seminary
Decatur, GA
1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
I would have fit in well in Corinth. The Corinthian Christians' struggles, which Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 1–4, resemble my own: jealousy, striving, arrogance, and a propensity to measure one's worth through comparisons with other people.
Although the specific activities that manifested these attitudes in the Corinthian church might seem foreign to many of us in 2008, the disease behind the symptoms remains common in Christian communities across time. I suspect that American believers are especially vulnerable to temptations to nourish rivalries, given our culture's historical embrace of competition, individualism, and a social Darwinist ethos.
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Matt Skinner
Associate Professor of New Testament
Luther Seminary
St. Paul, MN
37 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.' "
This abbreviated reading from the Gospel of John has already been heard as the Gospel lesson for the second Sunday of Easter (20:19-31).
On the Sunday after Easter the focus is on "doubting" Thomas, a character unique to John's Gospel. Sadly, Thomas has been the victim of identity theft over the years of biblical interpretation. According to the Greek text, Thomas does not "doubt" but is apistoi that is, "unbelieving," and yes, there is a difference, at least for the fourth evangelist. In this initial appearance of Jesus to the disciples narrated in our text for today, Thomas is not present to receive the Spirit, yet he will come to believe when in the presence of Jesus, made evident by his all-encompassing confession, "My Lord and my God" (20:28). Situating our text for today within the narrative of the disciples' first encounter with the risen Christ is important for the interpretation of the coming of the Spirit according to the fourth Gospel. The focus of 20:19-23, at least according to the lectionary, is the first part of verse 22, "When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" But believing, according to John (not "belief" or "faith"—it is never a noun in the Gospel of John) is central to this passage (cf. 20:30-31).
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Karoline Lewis
Assistant Professor of Preaching
Luther Seminary
St. Paul, MN