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Pentecost Sunday (Year A)

Pentecost… What an odd name. And, it isn’t originally a Christian feast. It’s actually an Israelite celebration of when the Mosaic Law (also called the “Torah”) was given to Israel by God through the figure of Moses at Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:22). Another name for Pentecost is the “Feast of Weeks.”

You see, Israel was released from slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt. 50 days later, God formed a covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai in the desert, and the Law given is the Law of the Covenant – the stipulations of the covenant. The term Pentecost basically means Fiftieth, referring to this 50th day after Passover.

Jesus fulfills the Old Testament. His words and deeds bring fulfillment to the Law and the prophets, to the old feast days and ceremonial observances. The Four Evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – are careful to show how this is so. They’re concerned with how Jesus is really and truly the reality to which the Old Testament points to and prepares for.

When it was time for the Jewish celebration of Passover, Jesus (at the Last Supper) indicated that it is he who is the paschal victim: the unblemished lamb that is to be sacrificed so that Israel might be freed from slavery to sin. So, Jesus fulfills Passover by becoming the definitive paschal lamb.

For 40 days after the Resurrection, Jesus spent this time with his Apostles, explaining to them the Kingdom of God, and then on Ascension Thursday, he ascended into heaven to reign as King over his Catholic Church. For 9 days, his disciples prayed a novena in the Upper Room for the sending of the Spirit, and on the 50th day – that is, during the celebration of the Feast of Pentecost – God gave his Law once again, as of old, but this time, the New Law of the New Covenant was given: the Holy Spirit !

In Christianity, we do not have a written law. Christianity is not moralism. Let me repeat that once again. Christianity is not a life lived upon the principal of doing this and avoiding that. Unfortunately, all too often Christianity is misrepresented as such, as if the 10 Commandments are how we “be Christian”. Far from it, or to be more precise, far above it!

In the New Covenant, the Law – the terms by which the covenant is kept – is not written on tablets but on human hearts, through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. This new principle by which man lives – the very Life of God present in the human soul – enables man to live a life far more profound and deep than mere “commandment keeping.” Rather, this life is relational. God has truly become our Father and his Holy Life, merely prefigured by the Law, is now ours.